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.

Thanks @madamoiselle ! I'm hoping for some good news there which is why I'm going a bit crazy. Anyhoo, shall wait and watch. You seem to be on a roll though! Berkeley, Cornell and an invite from NYU... i'm sure i've missed something too! BIG BIG congratulations to you too! @Carly Rae Jepsen Congrats on UI Bloomington as well! You have some difficult decisions to make I didn't realize there was a limit to how many times you can react to posts in a day. I've maxed out on mine. But congratulations on all the acceptances and bon courage to all those who have interviews and visits lined up!

Hi all, Wow! Inundated with good news on this forum! I've been crazy busy the last two days so I couldn't post anything on the forum. Congratulations to all of you on the acceptances, the interview calls and the campus visits! I got my first acceptance from UI Bloomington for their PhD program too theirs was my first application and they're a good fit so I'm really happy! They will send a more details about funding etc soon. I got a reject from Yale and Chicago. So just waiting for what the others have to say. Has NYU sent all their decisions? Rather impatient about that.

Yes, Boston University does have a strong faculty in my research interest. Hadn't heard of the same at University of Iowa.

@madamoiselle I've applied to Yale but when I spoke to one of the professors there, Prof. Dudley Andrew ( who was really sweet), he said the joint PhD program was really challenging and really specialised. Basically, for people who have a very strong knowledge of Film and French. I've applied to the regular PhD program though, without high hopes :/ It's strange but I looked through so many schools that I can't remember why I didn't apply to Duke. Oh well...

@Carly Rae Jepsen Oh my God, Stanford! That's amazing news! A friend of mine goes there and I've visited the campus... it's absolutely gorgeous. Huge and green and wonderful Best of luck for your interview! @awhiterussian do you have your Columbia interview this Thursday? Wow, deep breaths, it'll go great! Even I'm interested in post colonial/ immigration studies but my focus is that and cinema studies. What would you guys say is the best fit for that? ( Considering how much more you guys seem to know about professors and schools etc. )

I read on some other forum about trolls and how some of these posts aren't real. Either that or there is someone out there with an amaaaazing application !

That's a lot of good news on this forum! Congratulations @madamoiselle Berkeley is way up there. Awesome! And felicitation @Carly Rae Jepsen!!! Congrats and Best of luck for the interview @Saltshaker !! I've had no news from any of my 8 schools. So, waiting... And watching ...

Congratulations @awhiterussian! Bon courage for the interviews at Emory and Columbia!. To the others, Chin up guys! It ain't over yet. #fingerscrossed

Thanks @Carly Rae Jepsen Wow, 7. But I'm sure there are many more of us out there right? I've been following the posts on this forum and on older French PhD forums. It was interesting to hear about the number of applicants and the acceptance rate in these schools. But it's still such an investment that the schools make in PhD candidates that they're super selective even with a smaller application pool.

Hello all! Sorry about joining this soirée rather late but I've applied for PhD programs this fall too. And now we wait... I've applied to UI Bloomington, Harvard, Brown, NYU, Boston University, Rutgers Chicago and Yale. My research interests are mostly french cinema, francophone studies, immigration etc. I'm glad I found this group. It's heartening to know that we're more or less in the same boat. My third recommender didn't submit her recommendations until early January even though I had been in touch with her since November. So that was crazy. But it's all done thankfully. I'm not hopeful about Harvard or Yale but desperately waiting to hear good news from UIB, BU and NYU. @frenchlover I'd love to know more about these awful things you heard about NYU because their joint PhD in French and French studies really appealed to me. PS - I'm an international candidate so narrowing down my choices to these 8 schools was an insane task. That's it from me for now. Have a good weekend guys. Hope we hear something next week.