À_nous_deux

Congrats on your acceptance. I would say whether or not you accept LSU's offer should depend on your ultimate goal. If you're doing the Ph.D. for the sake of the degree itself, and you like the faculty there, the location, and the course offerings, you should go for it. If you want to stay in academia, though, and you're confident you can raise your GRE scores with additional preparation, I would encourage you to take a year and reapply in the next season. Unfortunately higher education is very, very brand-conscious, and LSU doesn't have the status of the other programs to which you applied. That doesn't mean it's not a good program, but perceived prestige really does matter on the job market. I would encourage you to Google "does Ph.D.-granting institution matter?" for some discussion of the issue.

Congrats on your admission to NYU's M.A. program. I'm sorry to be the doom and gloom train, but I would really strongly discourage anyone from going into debt for a humanities graduate degree. The job prospects are absolutely abysmal, with VERY, VERY FEW recent Ph.D.s finding tenure-track employment. The market will likely stay the same or worsen in the future, as many institutions replace tenure-track lines with visiting positions. Many recent degree recipients--if they are lucky--are now adjuncting or taking on visiting assistant professorships or lectureships or other temporary positions. These positions tend to pay very poorly, and it will be hard enough to make ends meet (http://chronicle.com/article/From-Graduate-School-to/131795/). You don't want to find yourself paying off student loans on top of everything else. Good luck with the pending applications!

Hi everyone, Good luck with your applications and with the decision-making process. I finished my PhD in French in 2012 and just wanted to offer some advice on choosing a program. In my opinion, the single most important factor should be your potential adviser. In today's job market, you need somebody who will go to bat for you. Although ideally this person will have a reputation in his or her field, it is not enough to be advised by a star if the star only cares about his or her own research (this is, unfortunately, a very common problem in academia). If you have received an acceptance already, do not be afraid to ask your potential adviser(s) very detailed questions. I asked for the names of former students and for information about their dissertation topics. Some potential advisers could barely remember the names of their CURRENT students, while others could go back ten years, give chapter-by-chapter summaries of their students' dissertations, AND give me their current contact information. This is a very telling difference; you want somebody who continues to look out for their students after they finish. If you are currently at an institution that subscribes to Proquest Digital Dissertations, you might consider looking up your potential adviser's name and reading the acknowledgment sections of dissertations written under his/her direction. There are certain rhetorical expectations, but you should be able to see through these. I would also ask current students working with your potential adviser for details on what it is like to work with them. Instead of asking "Is X a good adviser?"--which can lead to an evasive response like "Yes, he/she is fine"--, ask questions like "How long does he/she take to return chapter drafts? What kinds of comments does he/she offer? Does he/she help with issues related to professionalization that go beyond the scope of the dissertation (e.g. assistance with article drafts, networking, conference papers, etc.)?" I would also ask the potential adviser about their former students' job placements. They may only mention the one or two success stories, so do not be afraid to push (politely). I would also recommend a book called Getting What You Came For by Robert Peters. Good luck!