The After MAPH
What happens next? What do people do after earning an MA in Humanities at Chicago? Follow these links to learn about some of our alumni and about using internships and programs of study to prepare for specific careers.
Further Graduate Study
About half of the students in MAPH plan to go on to pursue doctoral study. They find that MAPH provides both an ideal setting for clarifying their academic and professional goals, and a year of intensive preparation for competitive PhD programs. Their applications are strengthened by letters of recommendation from our faculty and by the more accomplished writing (often taken from the MA thesis) that they are able to submit as a sample. The rate of successful placement is high. On this page, we list some of the doctoral programs where our alumni can be found, continuing the research they began in their year in MAPH.
Career Paths Outside the University
Many MAPH students use their year to make career transitions, to revitalize their intellectual lives, or to explore new career options.
MAPH's emphasis on critical writing, analytical thinking, and scholarly research proves invaluable for those interested in positions in business, government, teaching, journalism, cultural institutions, and nonprofit sector work. This page gives you a sampling of the kinds of careers MAPH students enter after graduation, and describes some of the internship and other career preparation opportunities available to MAPH students.
Internships
MAPH has worked directly with several area employers and institutions to develop a small, but growing, number of paid internships designed especially for MAPH graduates. Three academic year positions with the University of Chicago Writing Program involve teaching undergraduates in the University's Common Core program, serving as intellectual and social mentors to current MAPH students, and assisting with the administration of the MAPH office. The Smart Museum of Art offers various summer internships to MAPH graduates, including positions in Smart's public relations and marketing division, the educational division, and as assistant to the senior museum curator. Other MAPH summer internships have included positions with the the Chicago Review, the Chicago Historical Society, the Illinois Society for Prevention of Domestic Violence, the Newberry Library, Chicago Public Radio, Coman Brohan Davis (a local ad agency), Browne & Miller (a local publishing agency), Steppenwolf Theatre, and Merit School of Music.
In addition, MAPH tracks and advertises to students a wide variety of external internship opportunities.
Career Preparation
In Winter and Spring terms each year, the University of Chicago office of Career Advising and Planning Services provides special workshops for our students, including a resume and cover letter workshop and a career exploration seminar.
MAPH sponsors successful courses meant to provide students with skills in such areas as community college teaching, arts review writing, and writing about academic issues for a broad audience.
MAPH maintains strong relationships with Chicago area community colleges in order to open teaching opportunities for our graduates, both short-term opportunities for students who plan to pursue doctoral study eventually, and long-term, tenure-track teaching positions. MAPH now offers a course called "Teaching in the Community College." We compile an annual Community College Teaching Resume Book and hold a winter reception to introduce current MAPH students to area administrators and faculty, who are then likely to interview MAPH graduates for open teaching positions.
Because our students can design their academic programs to suit, they can use coursework outside the Humanities Division to prepare for specific careers. For example, a student interested in gallery or art museum careers could combine art history and language coursework with the Law School's course on arts and the law (which covers, among other things, intellectual property issues, free speech issues, and provenance issues), and with Harris School courses on management. Such a student could gain hands-on experience in any of several internships at a museum. Two members of the class of 2006 combined academic coursework with yearlong internships at the Smart. One was the primary curator for the University of Chicago MFA show, working under the supervision of a senior curator; the other engaged in crucial research on recent acquisitions.
Writing in the Aftermaph
Graduation is just the beginning for MAPH students pursuing the art of writing. MAPH alumni have formed writing groups to keep the conversation going in the aftermaph. They have organized readings to showcase MAPH writers spanning the decade of the program's history. Several MAPH alumni founded the online literary journal Contrary, whose editors welcome work from MAPH alumni as well as from writers across the globe. Alumni have organized groups to attend readings and other cultural events in the Chicago area. MAPH alumni have coordinated these efforts and many others through Irony, the program's alumni listserve. If you're a MAPH alumna and you're not a member of Irony, you can join now to get in on the action.
