Kate W 🏺☕️

catholic worker movement. archaic greece enjoyer. @uchicago ‘23. @harvarddivinity ‘26. @uchicago history of religions ‘??.

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

after ripping my hair out over application anxiety for almost a year, I'm returning to UChicago for a PhD in History of Religions!!! this was an insane cycle but I feel so lucky to get to study what I love in the place I first learned to love it :)

[Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper]

If you know how much Chicago (or any other university) is paying to give everyone on campus Claude Enterprise, my DMs are open. I am curious how this expense compares to the apparently “too expensive” humanities PhD programs Chicago has cut. I bet the answer is illuminating!

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@MCMCD_ congratulations!!!

[John Attridge @John_Attridge]

Show him come across a book so seemingly relevant to his project that he orders it on interlibrary loan. Now make it completely useless

[Gnostic Informant | Neal Sendlak @Gnosisinformant]

This is like one of those crazy stories you read in Herodotus that nobody would ever believe if they couldn't see it for themselves.

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@reillysteel Yes, and Harvard’s unwillingness to pay a reasonable wage causes students to take on extra outside work and thus jeopardizes their research quality + degrades their placement (at least in my subfield). they’re shooting themselves in the foot by not compensating competitively

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@PopCrave damn I didn’t know we were balling out like that

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

also (ik no one is reading this, I’m just mad), the ave. humanities PhD for Harvard is 8.5 YEARS. people shouldn’t put their lives/families on hold for that long. Chicago (for example) gives me 7 guaranteed years and 2 years of work after I finish. Harvard does jack shit.

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

be so serious…. 50k in Boston is tough already, esp for parents (which many of them are). AND when you exceed your 5th year (which you always do), your salary can drop to TWENTY SIX. anyway here’s an estimate of rent for the average 1 bed :)

[Ashvin Gandhi @ashdgandhi]

I'm a former Harvard PhD student. Based on my experience, current social science students probably make a bit over $250k + healthcare over 5 years, with just 784 hours of required TA work. That's almost $320/hour for the "work" and the rest is classes and your own research.

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

bc let’s be fr, Harvard gen eds (courses of 200+ students) are run by grad teaching fellows. for many of these huge classes, the profs are purely decoration. it’s sad, this is not how esp humanities should be conducted, but it’s true.

[Harlo Pippenger 🥕🛠🎀 @PippengerHarlo]

you say you’re “from the hood” yet we found your family’s tomb complex containing complex engraved goods, emblazoned pottery, bronze figurines depicting local deities, and luxury trade goods indicating a more far-reaching trade network than archaeologists had anticipated 💀

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@ptichushka congrats!! St. John’s is so cool :)

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@lordmiles yesss my moms family is from Armenia and we’re gonna go next year!! I’m so excited :)

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

in 2 years when my bf returns from his research year and actually moves full time to chicago, we're gonna get a 2-3 bedroom (so we can have a study!) and a little bird!! i am coveting those days. for now i am paying the singles tax crazyyyyy

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

i'm trying to create a @simonsarris-esque vibe in my new apartment but i'm moving into a very small one-bedroom in the south side of chicago.... how does one balance such things??

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

like I'm trying to do all real wood, natural colors, no unnecessary plastic things, but I don't have control over 1) layout of walls or 2) permanent things like overhead lighting, wall colors, or cabinets. also i am a grad student so most of the stuff I'm getting is used

[tiny @saltduckegg]

grad school (masters): embarrassing kinda, unemployment for normies :/

grad school (phd): cool and esoteric, real scholar, unemployed but in a cooler way

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

@nontautological they gave me 7 years of funding so hopefully that or less lol

[Kate W 🏺☕️ @kwhitaker_]

after ripping my hair out over application anxiety for almost a year, I'm returning to UChicago for a PhD in History of Religions!!! this was an insane cycle but I feel so lucky to get to study what I love in the place I first learned to love it :)