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will do! am going to PM you with my e-mail address so we can keep in touch.

that's the right attitude! i also made my decision today: going to columbia next year. i got accepted off the wait-list last minute (wednesday of last week), and after probably the most agonizing and indecisive weekend of my life decided to go there. patrick, we'll probably see each other around still—i have a feeling i'll be spending a lot of time at NYU, too. congrats to everyone; finally the hard part is over (until classes start!...)

I'm so psyched that people have been posting here. My bumping was not in vain! Just thought I'd drop a line here saying I'm attending Columbia next year—any working-class or poverty-class folks who are also there, send me a PM, would love to chat.

Thanks for the advice y'all. You were spot on, JungWild&Free, about the presumption being basically: Why would you go anywhere else? At the same time, all of the professors I would work with at that university were out of the country when I visited—it felt very ad hoc. Nevertheless, the four students (out of thirty) that I met were quite... if not unfriendly, bizarre. I'll take all of this into consideration; you've helped me decide how to weight it, too. Any other thoughts? Am I missing something??

Hello all, Posting here in the hopes that I can help myself clarify how I feel through discussion or advice. I've been admitted to fully-funded PhD programs at NYU and Columbia, both in French literature. The funding packages are fundamentally comparable, with slight differences in the distribution of the money, but overall about the same. The project I want to work on is historical and translation-studies-based; there are people who share my preoccupations at both schools, but there are methodological differences: at Columbia, more historical-style scholarship, and at NYU, more translation studies people. Potential advisers at NYU are extremely well networked, while Columbia is—well, Columbia. So it feels like quite the draw between the two and I have no idea what other criteria I should be looking at or how to progress out of this deadlock. And, I should mention, I had a dreadful time visiting one place (the students and some professors were quite rude) and a very pleasant experience at the other—how representative do you think that is? Should I take these small sample sizes as important markers of some sort of departmental culture, or just chalk it up to chance that people were the way they were on that day? Thanks for your help!

My first question would be: What's the difference in cost of living between Davis and Gainesville? I've been using this calculator, which I cannot actually vouch for, I have no idea if it's accurate, but voilà: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx It's hard not to be swayed by money, but think of how much of it is going straight to tuition... Other than that, I don't have much advice!! Sorry.

Congratulations, Patrick! That's really fabulous + I'm delighted that you're so happy. Still on the fence over here, but a strong chance we will be classmates!

I just read through basically this entire thread, and without really wanting to discuss my own situation, wanted to bump it & make sure people saw it if they wanted to take some solace in the fact that they aren't alone. Thanks to everyone who posted; this cheered me up after a struggle over whether to disclose class background with a potential program.

I can really sympathise with this! All the chips have fallen on my apps---except Columbia, naturally---so now I'm between NYU and UCLA. I could follow my interests at either school, and if I'm lucky, the funding will be about equal (waiting for word), so the choice doesn't seem nearly so stark as it does for you... What kind of questions are folks asking themselves as they make their decisions? Is it really, ultimately, about faculty and interest fit? Or are you weighing other factors?

I e-mailed Penn---they told me I had been rejected. 'Bout time!

I received an e-mail telling me to check my account, which I did, and I had to confirm that I wanted to remain on the wait list that day---otherwise I would lose my spot. And then Elisabeth Ladenson wrote me an e-mail. So I'm not sure! They told me it was a "very small list"...

Congratulations!!! That's such exciting news. Curious: How did you go about asking about the wait list? I've been wondering if I should pester Columbia, but I'm not sure it'll be a fruitful exchange. Re: decisions, I would try to visit if possible, but definitely talk to people. I was pretty set on NYU, until I visited UCLA and talked to professors. Very pleased with the professors, academically and in terms of student support and so forth. Also... You'll be working with these people for 5, 6, etc., years, so it's a good idea to see if you click!

Congrats! It's a great program, and a number of current PhD students I met at NYU had gone that route---so not a bad option at all!

Glad you're staying positive, and sorry to hear about the news. It's so eviscerating to get these impersonal (well, often impersonal messages...). And I can sympathise, since I just got rejections from both comp lit and French at Chicago. Pretty heartbroken, even if it was expected.

Hello all, Writing from New York, here for the NYU visiting days. Maybe I'll be meeting some of you this evening? I just got in! In New York-related news, I just got wait listed by Columbia... So there's that! Don't quite know how to feel about it.

To whoever e-mailed the graduate chair: Care to pass on their message re: admissions? All decisions have been made, I imagine?

I'm still waiting... Wish they would send all decisions at once.

~*~*~losing my mind~*~*~ also, hello everyone, i have been lurking for a long time, more an habitué of the french forum

So... Penn has released its decisions. Any lucky acceptances? And does anyone know if historically they release their rejections significantly later than their acceptances?

Ugh, so sorry Michelle and Fransces. What a bummer. Good luck w/the interview, F.!

Amen to that. And you've got other possibilities hopefully coming in soon, too! Meanwhile, UCLA has very kindly offered to let me visit the week after they originally invited people to campus: March 7. Wondering if anyone else will be there then? I'm looking forward to seeing what LA's like. And, speaking of funding, whether they have any...

Sad news, Patrick! Did they mention anything other than the offer to go into the MA program? Funding, esp.? Nice of them to phone at least, and with some kind of offer---better than the impersonal system update.

no news except NYU on my front---it's the day before UCLA's campus visit, so i think i'll probably go to NYU instead (it's closer to Montreal + I'm much more interested in NYU than UCLA)... so maybe some of us will meet in new york at the end of the month! p.s. is it weird to put accepted for NYU? i guess it's not really an acceptance. can't change my signature on this post now.. oh well!

T'as plus de sang-froid que moi alors! No, I was half kidding with my despairing message above, but seriously, what a dreadful process.

Bon, je suis pas mal angoissé par cette nouvelle de Columbia qu'on voit aujourd'hui au tableau, alors que celle ou celui qui l'a eue s'annonce pour que je puisse dissiper l'angoisse dans les félicitations !