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Bonjour à tous ! I am not applying to a PhD program this year (grad school for French is now in my past), but I saw this in the "waiting" section and just had to pop in and say courage!! The Grad Café helped keep me sane during my waiting process, and I even made a friend. Take care and I hope you all get your top choices.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for the information. Good luck in your program.

Hello! Please bear with me. I'm a career changer and this is my first semester as a post-bac student for SLP. It's my understanding that students applying to grad school should have completed certain ASHA-required science courses (chem, bio, physics, stats and a social science). To my knowledge, all SLP graduate student applicants should have completed these and must have them before starting their fellowships. I was talking with a few of my fellow post-bac colleagues, and they have no idea what I'm talking about when I say I need my ASHA science classes. Just to confirm, we do have to have these in our undergrad, correct? My issue is that I wasn't required to take chemistry or biology in undergrad and have to make up for that, which is why I would like to know what exactly I need. Thank you!

Thank you! From what she has told me, she did have a good experience there. And of course, it's in my home town, so I'm biased, but I love it there!

Hi! You caught my eye because I see you're applying to NMSU. I'm from the city and got my BA there in 2012, and a friend of mine did her graduate degree in SLP there. Good luck applying!

This blows my mind, to be honest. My MA program was exclusively in French. If you spoke English, they would redirect you to French. I can certainly understand your frustration. Yes, you are expected to speak the language by that point, but why not then use and maintain it? Baffling. Anyway, perhaps you could contribute your ideas in French? That may encourage others to respond to you in French and to provide their own contributions in French, as well.

Don't mind me while I die of laughter.

Hi everybody. It turns out I got this same email, and I checked here to see if it was unique or automatic. I'm not Art History, however; I'm in Linguistics. Good luck to everybody! Edit: In response to pastette, I study French and expressed an interest in Romance linguistics; I'm not sure if they are simply recruiting applicants for any language or if they considered me as a potential candidate for Portuguese in particular (it didn't say). Honestly, I'd love to study any of the languages on the list, hehe.

Hi hellibor, From what I've noticed from these forums alone, choosing to email POIs is a personal choice. Some adamantly recommend writing POIs early; others say to avoid it. I personally choose not to contact POIs out of fear of being "needy", as you put it. My friend, who is applying to similar programs, contacted every one of her POIs as early as September; another flew to France to meet with a POI personally. It's a choice you should make based on how you feel you wish to be perceived, keeping in mind that every POI is going to be different, so there is truly no one "right" answer. Not being a "contacter" myself, I am not fully aware of the timing etiquette; my instinct is telling me it might be a little too late to contact POIs now. I feel it might appear to them as a gesture of formality, rather than a thoughtful inquiry. I'd love to see other answers to this, though. I could be off the mark. Best of luck!

Hi klader, I'm very happy to read about your passion for such a wonderful language. I was exactly where you are now -- passionate about the language and doing everything I possibly could to get better. I had the upper hand only because I had already completed AP French in high school before majoring in French in my undergrad. I'd like to add my two cents if you're open to it. You have a hand up on me because I didn't even start thinking about grad school until I was a senior and it was too late to apply. I ended up taking a year off from school (which was depressing) before applying to grad schools. I'm not even remotely interested in French literature; rather, I am a linguistics enthusiast, and there are only four-five programs for me, so my options are more limited than yours are. First and foremost, I never studied abroad in France or in any francophone country. My abilities to speak and use the French language came solely from my dedication to improving myself with podcasts, music, movies and lots of studying. It sounds like this is very much like what you're doing, so I encourage you whole-heartedly to continue doing that. (Edit: I also STRONGLY recommend finding a penpal. I had a couple, and that was one of the most important parts of my development, not having studied abroad.) Speaking in French was always the worst area for me as well -- not because my accent needed work but because I had anxiety about making a single mistake, and it severely hindered my ability to communicate in French. In fact, the two times I did visit France, I bottled up and resorted often to English (the first time moreso than my second time, but it did happen). I'm not proud of that, but it just happened. Anyway, I applied to all of the French Linguistics programs available at the time (for Fall 2013 admission): U Florida, UT Austin, Indiana U and UC Davis. Long story short, I was accepted to three of the four (UT Austin rejected me, but from my experience, it's the most competitive), even without having studied abroad or even done immersion programs like you've done in Montréal. The good news is you don't really need to know what you want to do with yourself upon entering grad school; the understanding is, however, that you'll have a better idea of yourself and your interests coming out of it. It is rather peculiar that you don't necessarily want to teach French, as that's usually what people strive to do when completing a graduate degree in French. However, I'm sure you have your reasons. I will say that there is at least one student in my program who is doing exactly as you wish to do -- studying French just for the sake of getting better at the language. You don't necessarily have to want to pursue a career in it, but it makes more sense to the admission committee if you do. Regarding your speaking ability, when I entered the MA program, I was right around a B2 in proficiency (although my speaking I would place somewhere around B1, like you). Recently, I reassessed myself, and I'm easily at least a C1. Pursuing higher education in French WILL make you more proficient. Truthfully, I'm no longer committed to French podcasts, music and movies as resources for improvement like I once was; just being in French lectures, having to express myself in French and writing research papers in French are what have made me better. I'm also significantly more confident in my ability to speak the language, even (if not especially) with natives. My accent has improved just by being around natives; I get complimented on it frequently. The bad news is that when you come to grad school for French, you become hyper-aware that the job market is shit (excuse my "French" -- hehe). While I was always committed to the idea of being a professor of French, I'm significantly less committed now that I'm almost done with my MA. I'm revisiting the other life-long dream of going to med school because I'm starting to realize that a degree in a foreign language is a life of hardship. However, as you expressed that you're not necessarily interested in teaching French (what is it you'd like to do?), you might not be faced with this problem. Lastly, please don't go anywhere that does not promise full funding. The fact that I'm funded and get paid a salary for working as a TA makes it justifiable; I would never pay out of pocket for it. On the topic of teaching, I do teach beginning French courses every semester, so if you're interested, PM me and I'd be more than happy to help you or to be a French speaking partner, or whatever it is you'd like to do. I don't meet many French majors, so you've got me all happy and filled with the need to assist. Je vous souhaite de la chance!

I'm completely on your side. Also, I love your signature. Alea iacta est is exactly how I feel during the application season. Hi OP, I'm very sorry to hear of your predicament. Grad school has that nasty tendency to fill people with doubt and frustration, myself included. I'm wondering what your intention is regarding schooling after you finish your year of leveling. You mention the school being far away but that it is designed to be like a flexible distance learning program. Are you able to complete the remainder of your schooling without the commute, or will there still be courses or work that needs to be completed on-site? Along the same vein as what 1Q84 was saying, grad school in the humanities is hard to do without funding. Depending on how you're paying for your schooling (out of your salary, with student loans, etc), this can be very troublesome. It is often strongly encouraged to not pursue education in the humanities without funding; HOWEVER, each student has a different situation. Are there fellowships or grants available through the department? Ultimately, the worth of attending grad school out-of-pocket is contingent upon whether it's worth it to you and what you wish to accomplish. The job market post-graduation is tough for us cursed with a passion in the humanities, but it's not impossible. What struck me quite a bit about your post is that you said it took you six years to decide to apply to grad school. I don't know you or your situation, so I can only say what I feel I would tell myself in a comparable situation: I feel that, IF you're willing to pay the cost of tuition and willing to make the commute for one more semester, you owe it to yourself and to your past six years to try it out. Are there other students in the program with whom you could discuss your concerns? I'm not wholly familiar with the degree program, so somebody who has gone through the leveling program and/or who is completing the MFA might give you a better perspective on what you should do. No matter what you decide, I wish you the best of luck and also the peace to be content with your decision!

Ack, sorry that nobody responded to your question. Where did you end up? Welcome to Gainesville! I didn't expect to love it here as much as I do when I moved here in Fall 2013. Hi TonyB, I haven't heard that story about Gainesville being voted as one of the "meanest cities". In fact, my experiences with Gainesville have been very, very positive. People are very friendly here (until you get on the road, in which case everybody drives like a psychopath -- natives of Gainesville have sworn to me it's because of the students who come from Miami, haha). Anyway, not sure how Florida compares to Ohio, but we do tend to be quite conservative in the STATE but far less so in the CITY. Gainesville is a huge melting pot of all different views, but from what I've seen, it's rather more liberal than the traditional Floridian city. I see you're no longer applying to Florida, but maybe this well help another.

A venting board! Let's just say grad school is like Hyrule. I've got my bomb bag, and I can carry 20 bombs comfortably. The problem is that I've passed all the easy temples, and now I need a bag with a bigger capacity in order to beat these new ones... but I can't find the vendor. So, I'm just runnin' around, chillin' with Epona, and I'm kind of hoping I bump into a new NPC I've never noticed before who will toss me a 30-slot bomb bag. 30-slot bomb bag, where r u thx. I'm in a really weird mood.