Green.Mango

Thanks for the advice and for the kind philosophical words about our French journeys. I hope we carry these interactions forward even after we've made our final decisions. It's nice to see final decisions being made. Best of luck everyone!

Yup, that's the one! It was really interesting and that prof made an effort to summarise what they had done already so that we weren't as lost! There was one student from a the comp. lit background I think, which is why it was in English. @Frenchlady I don't think it'll be as bad as no spoken French for 5 years! But it'll definitely NOT be all French all the time. I'm hoping it's a healthy mix. But hey, you've made your choice! congratulations!

Good luck with the visit! Everyone is really nice there! Really! And yes, the department is really diverse and they're doing some interesting courses.

@Monsieur Vénus Ah, that's got to be a weird mix to follow... some students referring to the original text in French and some referring to its translation. But I guess that's what you get for being truly "interdisciplinary" hehehe. On a serious note, the small number of French PhD students can be an understandable reason to open the course up to others and it does help in getting multiple perspectives on the topic. I sat in on a grad level class at IU which was in English too. But from what I was told, the term papers and everything that the grad student needs to submit must be in French. I think that's how it'll be at most departments.

@Carly Rae Jepsen and @meliboeus good to know your visits at Stanford went well. Hope you hear good news soon! @Monsieur Vénus glad to hear that you had a good visit at UMich. Did they tell you that all classes were in English? coz that's strange. Like the others have said, it's usually the cross-listed ones that are in English and others are in French. @awhiterussian congrats on the funded masters at NYU! You have some amazing offers for a PhD as well right? Tough choices ahead. All the best! I had a great visit at IU! It seems like a really good fit and they have a very good department and program. Got to know I'm kind of on a waitlist at Boston University, so will only know their final decision by the end of this month. And I finally heard back from NYU and it's a NO from them... a little disappointed because it was a really good fit and they were keen on my application.

Re-analysing application choices and why we didn't apply to so-and-so place vs why we chose to apply to certain places where the chances were next to impossible etc etc are thoughts that plague me (and I'm guessing a lot of us) all the time. But you have some solid reasoning to go ahead with a funded MA program and I wish you all the luck. I have been wondering about the dismal job market too. It seems like everyone wants to prepare prospective students about this, professors, current grad students, everyone. Which is a good thing in a way because one needs to be realistic about this. But the funny part is that despite this impending doom of no jobs and the constant pressure of building a successful life in academia, why is it that most of us still choose to get into the PhD? It's like we know what's coming for us but we live with the hope that it'll all work out. Apologies for this random post. I've been in a reflective mood the past few weeks I guess. On other news, I'm still waiting to hear from NYU. Wondering if I should email someone at the department. Got rejects from most other places. I'll be visiting IU next week so I'm excited and nervous about that. Congrats on UVA, Northwestern, CUNY, Maryland you guys! And for the rest who are waiting to hear something, hang in there and best of luck! Fingers crossed for good news!

A no from Harvard for me too. It was a long shot but anyway. Waiting for the last few now.

Oh yeah, I remember you've applied to a LOT more places than I did Best of luck to you too for all your responses!

Thanks! I'm finding it hard to function now. Anytime my phone buzzes with an email notification I jump a little only to see a mail from Fitbit or something. Hoping for some good news this week. Are most of you done with your results?

Awww, you're sweet! Yes, fingers and toes crossed for Harvard and all other responses that are left for us!

Haven't heard anything from them either. Total silence. No idea about whether they do interviews. This wait is a slow killer.

Thanks for the encouragement! You must have an awfully strong application to get so many acceptances! Really, congratulations! And I've mentioned professors I'd like to work with in each of my SOPs too and I've spoken to a few profs but not in all the schools I've applied to and all of my rejections have come from places I hadn't spoken to a POI beforehand. I was just trying to see a pattern ( where there isn't one I guess. ) This process makes one introspect much too much!

I've been wondering, is it necessary to have a POI at all the schools you apply to? Or does one also get accepted based purely on one's application without having spoken to a professor beforehand. Just trying to figure this process out better, albeit in retrospect!

Congratulations for Rutgers @Yanaka and @Carly Rae Jepsen I got a rejection from them last week. Still waiting to hear from a few more so not completely bummed.

Thanks for letting us know @Monsieur Vénus I'll keep this in mind when they make their offer. @Carly Rae Jepsen I would like to do a campus visit ( and hopefully bring my partner along as well) but I'm yet to schedule a conversation with a professor to get more details about funding and other program related things. Good to know you're trying for March, I'll keep you in the loop.