Prospective Students

MAPH at the University of Chicago

Since its founding in the 1890s, the University of Chicago has been committed to rigorous interdisciplinary study at the graduate level. Unlike many top-tier institutions in the United States, the University of Chicago has a far greater number of graduate students than undergraduates. In a 2010 interview with the New York Times, former Columbia University provost Jonathan Cole argues that the University of Chicago stands as America’s “closest approximation to the idea of a great university.” Cole praises the U of C in The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why it Must be Protected, citing a commitment to graduate-level research and serious inquiry as a key marker of the University’s preeminence. 

Campus Days

MAPH students play a vital role in this community of scholars, participating in the same classes, workshops, and discussions as doctoral students. All MAPH students work with faculty thesis advisors, and have the same priority in registering for classes as doctoral students do. MA Humanities students are equally citizens of the University of Chicago graduate student community, and members of the faculty demand a high level of dedication and performance from MAPHers in their classes.
 
It is important to note that the completion of MAPH does not guarantee admission to any University of Chicago doctoral program. While in many cases, the MA in the Humanities—and especially the particular kind of rigorous academic training the University of Chicago offers—improves a student’s chances for entrance into top-tier humanities Ph.D. programs, MAPH is not merely a stepping-stone for those seeking further graduate study. Rather MAPH allows students to challenge presuppositions about what humanistic inquiry is and does, as well as to test and imagine new intellectual directions for themselves and their communities.

MAPH welcomes prospective students throughout the year. We are very happy to have the opportunity to meet students interested in our program and to help them get a glimpse of what the intellectual life at Chicago is like. Campus visits can be arranged by contacting us.

In addition to individually scheduled campus visits, every year MAPH hosts admitted students at a two day event we call Campus Days. Campus Days offers students a chance to get a more in-depth view of what a year at MAPH has to offer and to get some first-hand experience of the program.

Campus Days includes faculty discussion panels and office hours as well as opportunities to sit in on classes. MAPH alumni come to discuss life after MAPH, careers, doctoral work, and taking your commitment to the humanities into the world at large. Campus Days also has a rich social aspect with many opportunities to meet and talk informally with current students, professors and alums to discuss the program and studies at Chicago, life here in the city, and more.

2012 Campus Days for admitted students will be held April 15 and 16. Please RSVP online for Campus Days by March 30. Check the Campus Days page for more information Please note that we are not able to schedule individual campus visits the two weeks preceding Campus Days.

Can't Make Campus Days? Visit us anyway! Contact Us.