madamoiselle
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Posts posted by madamoiselle
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@HomewardBound Thank you so much!! I do feel relieved, very excited to know where I'll be going. A little heartbroken having said "no" to some fantastic programs that I also fell in love with, but Berkeley was just an academic glove fit, the grad students were doing some super innovative work, the bay is an incredible environment, and they renegotiated my funding during visits. I just loved the intellectual energy of the place. It's super non-traditional and very cutting-edge, theoretical and brilliant, yet uncensored (which as a modern feminisms scholar is very important!) Resources are aplenty, and I even ran out of time to speak to the professors I wanted to speak with because they were all so fantastic and interesting. Things have been moving pretty fast too, I set up my email and applied to graduate housing today (seeing my new "berkeley.edu" email address is mind boggling, I used to dream about it while thesis writing!!)
It sounds like you had a similar experience with Penn State, being immersed in a great environment and making a solid decision. I still feel like I should be constantly thinking and preparing something, so I'm trying to force myself to relax for the time being (hope you're doing the same!)
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54 minutes ago, Frenchlady said:
ok so now Austin comes in with an offer (I was on the waiting list) and that's a lot of money! I have not accepted LSU yet
That's definitely a tough decision! The Walther Fellowship is super generous, I remember all of the grad students being pretty comfy down in Austin while I was there!
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I have crossed my t's and dotted my i's, and I'm super excited to be matriculating to UC Berkeley!!!
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@HomewardBound CONGRATS ON YOUR DECISION!!! Penn State is an absolutely outstanding program and I'm ecstatic for you!!
That being said, I have also formally made my decision today! I'm going to tie together all of the administrative nuts and bolts over the next 24 hours, and then I CANNOT WAIT to share it with you all! <3
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@Carly Rae Jepsen bummer about Stanford, but you have such amazing options and I'm sure you could thrive in any environment! I'm so happy that this lightens the weight on your decision, though, especially if you felt wary about fit vs. environment. Best of luck with your visits!! I'm certain you will have a lovely time.
@HomewardBound You hit the nail on the head. It gets exponentially harder when you meet these people, exchange numbers, look them in the eyes, smile, hug, have drinks, etc. and they're more than just photos on a website or signatures on a letter. Either way, as much as we are armoured for rejection, waiting and bad news while applying, they must feel the same as we make our decisions!
I am, however, STOKED to see where we all end up and how this journey continues! No matter what, every program I've seen mentioned so far is awesome (there is no collective "best" or "perfect" program for every single person!) and I'm sure the Frenchie universe will take us all where we need to be
These things always work out for the best, even rejections, waitlists, or the treacherous unknown.
Just some advice, since I've already told two schools "no" in some form -- be prepared to say where you will be going, since they like to collect that information and both have asked me so far. I don't know just yet, I'm between Berkeley and Cornell (and am waiting for my Berkeley visit to finish on Monday), but I told them that I would be making a decision soon and would let them know! You're not obligated to apply, but try to be nice/civil and don't be taken aback if they ask you "why?" or "who?" That was the hardest part for me. They have to know so that they can offer another person a spot, so rip it off like a bandaid!
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Just felt like venting, but I have my last visit tomorrow and I am pulling my hair out thinking about making a decision! It's such a lucky problem to have, but I'm equal parts incredibly excited and full of existential turmoil!
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@awhiterussianGive it some time! I went to visits and about 1/3 of us were auto-admits, the rest on the waitlist. It should cycle through relatively quickly, don't abandon hope just yet!
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@awhiterussian They let me know! They said decisions have to be notified by April 15th (as they typically are) and that they're hoping to have responses by late March from all the acceptances!
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Withdrew myself from NYU (got note that I was at the top of the waitlist), so good luck to everybody else who's waiting for news from them!!
@Monsieur Vénus Glad to hear Michigan went well, it's really a fantastic program!
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On 07/03/2018 at 10:52 PM, Monsieur Vénus said:
@awhiterussian that might actually be good news for you if you still haven't received a rejection from Duke!
@HomewardBound You're right, I'm very happy with my options! I wasn't able to make it to Boston's recruitment day (they scheduled it for the same day as my only two midterms of the semester, womp womp), but the graduate assistant was very accommodating and scheduled a private visit for me a little later this month! I'm excited to get a feel for their program in general, but I'm ESPECIALLY excited to sit in on Dorothy Kelly's seminar on gender and sexuality in 19th century literature.
@everyone my visit to UMich is coming up this weekend and both my excitement and anxiety levels are skyrocketing every day. Is there anything I should absolutely remember to bring? Should I bring copies of my CV or is that a silly idea my nervous brain has made up?
I wouldn't sweat about it too much! Bask in it! Post-admissions visits are meant to be super fun, and they'll spend the entire time trying to woo you into their program. Relax, enjoy yourself, and let them tell you about their resources/give you tours/feed you (I was just at a visit and I'm still full, haha!) No need to impress anybody if you're already in
However, do prepare to talk about your basic research interests a few hundred times.
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@Frenchlady welcome, welcome! Keep me updated on UT Austin. Who are you planning to work with there? That's where I did my undergraduate and I had a great experience!
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Hey all,
I wanted to know what options there would be/livability for somebody offered 30k a year (26k over 2 semesters, 4k summers). I know someone mentioned a similar question a while up, but seeing as how the market is getting so expensive so quickly, I wanted to ask in regards to current value.
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Just a fun story. I'm in NYC after a campus visit, just hanging around town in a hostel, and a woman came into my room who told me she is a prostitute. She's incredibly nice, she talked to me about her business, and we hit it off. 20 minutes after meeting her, I've told her about graduate school and why I'm here, and she has weighed in on where she thinks I should go!
This decision-making process has definitely been a fun one!
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Yeah!!!!!!!!! Congratulations @awhiterussian!
@HomewardBound thanks a ton, I'm very lucky and happy that all of my decisions have been made!
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So you know how I said I had all of my results? That was a lie... I just got into Northwestern! I actually thought I had withdrawn my app, but I apparently did it wrong and got an acceptance email this morning.
There seems to have been a silent waitlist since they just finished visiting days. I'll likely politely decline, but I'm still very happy and flattered!
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And I'm out of Stanford -- Bummer, but fit wasn't amazing, and I'm glad to have all my results!
@awhiterussian wait on NYU because they have a silent waitlist after visiting days and a lot of people seem to get admitted afterwards!
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@Saltshaker
that's really rude of them. Even if funding is low, I feel like there should be SOME level of, "please come see/feel free to ask more about where you're gonna spend the next 5+ years of your life, working for us."
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@Yanaka I'll totally look into that and let you know if I can stop by!!
And... it's a no from Harvard! I'm surprisingly not disappointed at all, but kinda peeved because they encouraged me to apply (even though my advisors told me not to, but the fit was too good.)
However, the minute I submitted my results to the page, I got a super nice email from Cornell about visitation scheduling so I guess I'll be ok
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@Hortense&Co Thanks a ton for your kind message, glad someone else is feeling the same. It's ok, we'll celebrate (and commiserate) together on this board!
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1 hour ago, SkunkStyle77 said:
* is also an interesting choice, but it works better in some languages (e.g. German) than in others (example above, it'd be tou* or tou*s). Of course, the implicit problem with this type of writing is that one might forget all the other instances where gender is displayed. It's not enough to use it with nouns, adjectives and participles, but you should also change articles and entire suffixes. Concretely, if "la paternité d'une oeuvre" is sexist, changing it to "la genitorialité d'une oeuvre" doesn't solve the problem, because it has "geniteur" as root, and not "genitrice". The solution might be "genit*é" but then it gets unreadable, apart from recalling "génital".
You raise an interesting point here! It's fascinating when you consider genital-isms in French as well, for the physiological term for the female sexual reproduction organ** is masculine and a large amount of euphemisms for the male counterpart are feminine. Of course, that all goes back to utilitarian etymology in Latin (vag***a meaning "sheath", etc.) so there's a lot to unpack there in merely a longitudinal sense.
As for myself and inclusive language -- and I must warn that I'm not a linguist haha -- I've been taught to use it almost exclusively in a second person sense (person addressing a person and/or group of people) and that's the only way I've ever encountered it. I see what you're saying about it applying to entire suffixes and the inherent inclusion of gender in French, and most romance languages. But the way I'm seeing it be used at the present moment tends to revolve around a more sender-receiver sense (the person receiving the modified statement) as opposed to modifying French words as a whole.
Of course, sexisms in gendered language have been a hot topic, especially when considering adjectival phrases and perceptions of masculine/feminine nouns. It's so interesting seeing the way inclusive writing is heading. I went to a seminar on LGBTQ studies in Paris last year, and one of the largest questions was how French society is trying to tackle such a gendered language that runs on strict dichotomy, in an era where the gender binary is shifting and use of third-person pronouns is picking up in anglophone countries (or neuter pronouns in countries where they were already established).
**I'd type it out, but I don't know if gradcafe would like that lol
- senorbrightside and Yanaka
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I don't know where else to vent about this, but I'm starting to get incredibly stressed and my heart is hurting because I went through this process with my best friend, a beautiful soul who works her butt off, and she applied to a field where numbers are super competitive (my process is ~5 admits per 30-40 applicants, whereas hers is ~6 for 500+). I wanna talk about my options and the decision making process because she understands me more than anybody, but it's hard because she's still in the waiting game, and her top programs just did sweeping rejections. I am so lucky and always try to keep my blessings in perspective, but this is so emotionally draining, even after acceptance.
Anyone else going through a similar situation?
On a happier note, I'm on vacation from work and traveling a bit, and my visits start next week! I'm excited to finally see the programs and person and hopefully solidify a decision. All of the staff has been so incredibly nice and I'm pumped to be back in a university environment!
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@Yanaka yes!!!! All about that écriture inclusive
in fact, one of my first French professors from France introduced us to it, and then a lot of the students I worked with in Paris use it. It's cool!
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@Carly Rae Jepsen the kindness is killing me. I know I'm lucky and should always count my blessings, but French departments are so intimate and hospitable that I cannot stomach saying "no" to anybody right now.
Lower-Ranked Ivy - Worth It?
in Decisions, Decisions
Posted · Edited by madamoiselle
I just made a similar decision for my Ph.D. between Berkeley and what may be considered a "lower-ranked" Ivy. I ultimately chose Berkeley in the end, but your results may vary!
There is no doubt, whatsoever, that universities in the Ivy League (all of them, not just HYP) come with some stellar resources such as Ivy Plus in the libraries, certain consortiums, etc. When you think about the Ivy League, think about resources and what those academic interconnections might be able to give you, over name, reputation and Ivy League sparkle. On that note, please do not get sucked into this "high ivy" versus "low ivy" mentality; they're all fantastic schools, and getting into one is an accomplishment! I'm only really versed on funded Ph.D.s and I know masters have more varied funding; that may also be a consideration you need to take into account.
At the end of the day, I chose the public institution based completely and totally on fit (money and environment were pretty equivalent). If the Ivy I looked at were a better fit, I would have gone there. You do say that Brown is a perfect fit for you. Have you been able to visit (or will you be able to?) If you like the intellectual energy and feel as though it will cater to your academic needs, then go for it! At the end of the day, you won't be picking Brown because it's an Ivy League and you're following the name, but instead because it is a place where you work can flourish.
Best of luck for your decision-- both are great institutions!