graciela

Hi Cara! I live in Brooklyn. I´ll be starting my Ph.d this fall at NYU. I did my undergraduate degree at Eugene Lang (like Parson it´s a division of the New School - which I have so much admiration for!) New School housing is very expensive. Unless they had a lot to spend most students I knew ended up living in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is very close to downtown Manhattan (where you´ll be). Depending on where you live in Brooklyn your commute could be as short as 10 or 15 minutes though the average would be about 45 minutes. It´s very hip right now to live in Brooklyn so prices here have been steadily rising, but it´s still much cheaper than living in Manhattan and you will more than likely have more room. Craigslist is very reliable and practically the only way to find an apartment and especially a share type situtation. Unfortunately, it´s near impossible to find a place from overseas or out of town. Usually if you´re interested in an apartment in craigslist the next step involves going to the apartment and meeting your potential roommates. Things go relatively quickly and sometimes there is lots of competition for desirable rooms/ apartments. Depending on what neighborhood you live in or what size your room is, rooms in Brooklyn go for about $615 - $1000+ a month. Your best bet might be getting a sublet for a week or two while you look for a permanent place. Let me know if you have any more questions. Best of luck!

The results survey waitlist notification was mine. I'd thought I would post to relieve any anxiety. I don't think any acceptances or normal waitlist notifications have gone out. My circumstances were a little special... my application was transferred to Spanish from another department. Good luck to everyone waiting on NYU.

Anyone applying to UT´s Comparative Literature Program? I´m applying to the program and don´t really know whether the guidelines for financial aid, which say to submit a sheet detailing teaching experience, would apply to me. I have a BA, would be starting out there to do my masters. I do happen to have three years experience teaching English in Spain, but that was in elementary schools and I feel it is not really the sort of teaching experience they are seeking out. I have no university teaching experience and do not yet posses a masters so would I even qualify for teaching assistanships? They also ask candidates that would like to be consider for a position in the Spanish department to send a two minute cassette. My parents are Cuban so I grew up speaking the language, did coursework in college, and lived in Spain, but I have no degree or major in Spanish. My question is, what kinds of students normal TA in language courses, Spanish departments? Are they only native speakers, or students with masters in Spanish or would someone without a specific qualificaiton and near native fluency stand a chance?

Thanks for your response Aquinas. It's so interesting to hear about other people's language training/preparation. Do you foresee yourself further polishing up your French or embarking on any new language studies as you do your Phd? Congratulations on your acceptances, and good luck with any schools you are still waiting to hear back from. All the best. g

Hi! I hope to apply to comparative literature programs for Fall 2011 admission. Right now my only very strong foreign language is Spanish. I did advance coursework in it, have taken literature classes in it, my parents are Cuban (not that it is by any means any formal qualification, but...), and during college I spent a summer in Spain taking classes as at the University of Salamanca. This is my second year in Madrid working as an English language assistant in a bilingual school. So living here has strengthen my Spanish even more, but I realized this past summer when I was considering applying for Fall 2010 that I didn't have any other languages. I had a year of French in college followed by a summer in Montreal where I took French classes, but after that I (inexplicably-- WHY? with what regret I look back on this!!) dropped it. So my French is very, very basic and hazy. I also realized that the literature I really admired was in two languages: Russian and German and that I didn't know either. After many many considerations, and bugging just about anyone that would listen about quandaries, and about how it would be possible for already 'old' twenty-four year old me could possibly learn a non-romance language ( I teach English to children so the idea of someone over 18 learning a language well enough seems an impossibility at times). So after much discussion on how i ever could learn such notoriously difficult languages, and talk of plans to pack off and be an English teacher in Russia just for the chance to read Babel or Dostoevsky... I decided to learn German. I'm taking a course now at the Goethe Institut in Madrid, A.1.1 (On the Common European Framework ) - in other words a lost beginners' introduction to the language. I've decided to stay in Madrid another year just to make it possible for me to 1) Take German classes during this year and the next (nothing intensive because I'm also working full time) & 2) Go to German during this summer (2010) and the next (2011) & take intensive German classes at some university. If this very, very nicely laid out & perhaps too ambitious plan works out... I hope to reach B2 level by the time I fly back home to start a graduate program or barring that fly further east to continue my life as an itinerant English teacher. B2 level on the European Common Framework (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages ) means you are a pretty good user of the language but not yet proficient. According to the Goethe Institut it takes 600 to 800 45-minute teaching units approximately to achieve this level. I don't know what this equates to in college semesters of German. Does this seem like enough? More importantly however I am more interested in knowing about you. So a few questions for all the past, current or future comparative literature applicants. How much language training did you have? Were there (or are there) any languages whose literature you really admired in translation that you didn't (or don't) know? If so, what language do you plan on learning in the future? Have any of you felt limited in comparative literature by the languages you know? Have any of you started learning a language later? How did it go? Do you find you can do close reading -- can you pick up the subtleties -- do you have a good feel for the language? And by chance if there is anyone who is already in a comparative literature program... how much of a chance do you get to improve you language skills in your program? I think these are all the questions I can muster up for now though I am sure I have many more. Apologies in advance for the length of this post and a thank-you in advance for those who respond. Please share, I'm curious.