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ondine

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  1. Mouais je suis à Yale si vous avez des questions... My advice would be to look at the job list right now, because these are dark times... French departments are contracting (SUNY Albany just closed its language departments altogether) so my advice is get a French PhD if you absolutely must and can't imagine your life otherwise. I love my program, but I'm really uncertain about my future. I'm not sure I would have done a PhD at all if I had known how dire the job market is. That's not very uplifting, but I wish I had looked at the job postings when I was applying so that I knew exactly what I was up against. I thought if I went to Yale/Columbia/Princeton, I would be guaranteed a job. And, well, things are worse than I thought. You should definitely ask the DGS and Chair of departments you're researching about their placement and what they project the market will do. I also recommend talking to junior faculty about this because they were on the market more recently, and older grad students in the program who are currently on the market.
  2. Congratulations! That's fantastic! Only waive your place at NYU if you're really 100% certain Columbia is right for you. Otherwise, go to the visits/meet with the department and students to get a strong idea before you turn anywhere down. They are different creatures, and you should visit before you decide. I know it sounds bad, but program prestige is one thing to consider, if you want to teach at the university level afterwards...
  3. I wouldn't. You might if you need to know for a specific reason (such as, you're otherwise going to accept another offer--but even then, I'd just wait). I know the waiting is awful.
  4. You might write the professors you're interested in working with and reiterate your enthusiasm, especially if you know them already and if your work fits in with what they're already doing. Remember that you have to demonstrate that you're compatible, not necessarily that you're the best. That is surely the most important thing when you're applying to humanities programs. If you think your accent or speech truly belies your obviously strong language ability (and I mean truly--if you feel that is your only/greatest weakness), you might ask them if you can further prove your written level. I probably would not go there, though--not in this country. I had little black marks on my application, but I consciously ignored them when I presented myself. Some applications had a space where you could explain anything you believed the application did not capture, and I never touched those. If I may, your writing style echoes that of the narrator in Pale Fire by Nabokov. I wonder whether you might have been able to somehow play that up in your personal statement (if you did not already) and bravely make use of the comparison, as English is your third language. You might have been able to use squeamishness of human interactions to your advantage. I'm not sure whether that would have been the right strategy for NYU, but it's a thought. Of course, it's the wrong time to speak of that. In any case, it's not bad news--don't despair--it just means you're going to have to push your application a bit harder. Good luck!
  5. Ah, I am glad--let us know how it turns out. (In the event that it might be useful information for others, the interview I described above apparently went well; I was accepted to that program.)
  6. ondine

    French

    Bonjour, How many people heard from Yale? Just acceptances? Has the website status changed yet? Any word from Cornell? Bon courage a tous
  7. I had a recent phone interview, also not in my native tongue. My voice does not transmit well over the phone, and especially older people often have trouble hearing me. My action plan: First, I went to a nearby family home in the country, where I knew I'd have quiet and access to a land line. Second, I read my interviewer's bio. Third, I decided to stick post-it notes that addressed: -what had occupied the chief good and market of my time over the past year -why I wanted to attend that program (here, if you don't already know, emphasize compatibility--remember you are right for the program, your work fits in with what your professor does there) -plus some good questions that I knew would animate my particular interviewer To warm up, I spoke with a couple of friends about an hour before to practice speaking in the language, and they gave me pep talks. After the interview, I wrote the person a brief "thank you" email. You probably know your research better than they will. In my interview, we only spoke casually of my intended course of study, as my interviewer had a different research interest. Couldn't hurt to jot down some potentially relevant phrases about your work in relation to Derrida, etc. My interviewer did most of the talking, which was fine by me--they are also trying to sell you their department. At NYU I only know a few people in the comp lit department, so I hesitate to give advice... I will say I know a bright applicant who was rather risque, in-your-face who got in all the top places except NYU. Since my writing sample was already pretty racy, I played a very focused application at NYU, and I got in. You've already made it past the first round. You'll get it. And maybe I'll see you there in September.
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