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madamoiselle

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Posts posted by madamoiselle

    The Positivity Thread

    in The Lobby

    Posted · Edited by madamoiselle

    @surprise_quiche I SAW BLACK PANTHER AND IT CHANGED MY LIFE!! You're gonna love it, it's mindblowingly amazing. I wish I could see it with fresh eyes again.

    On another note, I'm about to go on a huge trip for France's February school vacations. I'm going to Luxembourg tomorrow, then Lisbon, Berlin, and the U.S. for campus visits! I'm going to be exhausted (furthest trip from luxury, since I am merely a broke 22 y-o language assistant who has grown an affinity for Flixbus), but I'm so excited!!!

    PhD in the US

    in Languages

    Posted

    Hello!! Welcome to the language board :) Congratulations on your acceptances!

    I'm not an Italian specialist (I'm in French), but our departments have a lot of overlap, so I can try to breakdown the typical 5-year timeline. Note that these are generalizations based on my own programs, so your results may vary! 

    First, it's going to depend on if you're coming in with a masters or not. Since you're European, I'm assuming you do. This is a somewhat important distinction because most with a B.A. actually take around 6 years (although 5 is what is projected.)

    The first two years are qualifying coursework (the en route "masters"), but I've heard that that can be cut down to one year for those already with a Masters in certain programs, if your credits transfer and are applicable. During so, year two typically sees the beginning of teaching as well (but I've heard some programs start as early as year 1). 

    Year 3 is teaching plus the bare bones of research; reading list, prospectus, getting the graduate committee together and advancing to candidacy at the end of the year.

    Years 4 and 5 are idiosyncratic and depend on the student, but they're typically the research and writing years. Year 4 tends to include teaching, and year 5 -- at some programs -- don't require teaching so that students can work on their dissertations. This is also the job search year. If students need extra years, year 6 and year 7 are very common, and typically funded by teaching opportunities. 

    In terms of qualifying coursework, it is typically done in 2 years. For language departments, a year or two abroad (especially for research/guest lectureship purposes) is incredibly common if approved by the committee. I'm not sure about doing the entire dissertation from abroad, unless it's specifically a distance program. I would anticipate spending the majority of your time in the U.S. 

    Definitely ask your departments, since most of them should be able to give you a rough timeline (and if they can't, that's a bit of a red flag). If you can do campus visits, get inside information from graduate students as well. I hope this helps a little bit, and congrats again! 

     

    Cornell 2018

    in Meet and Greet

    Posted

    Hi! I've been admitted as well and I'm leaning towards Cornell. I would be going for French Literature. The Humanities Program there is fantastic, I love the interdisciplinary nature, the fit is near-perfect and the funding is outstanding. My one concern is Ithaca and now isolated it is, but I must admit that I've never been. I'll be visiting in a few weeks though, so hopefully that will solidify my decision! 

    And I JUST learned about that fun Cornell fact! One of my professors/writers went to Cornell and he loved it, saying that this is actually quite formative in the school's identity as an elite, but incredibly egalitarian, institution. 

    "Let's just TALK about it..." Decision Edition

    in Decisions, Decisions

    Posted

    I'm so stressed out with making a decision, that it's actually keeping me up at night. 

    I have three great schools that I'm all locked and loaded to visit. However, I feel like my final decision is going to be between two. 

    One has been a favorite of mine for a very long time, but their funding is notoriously difficult and it's in a RIDICULOUSLY expensive region, so finding housing is famously near-impossible. This being said, the department environment is awesome and I've been told that I'd fit right in (by old professors and faculty at the school themselves). They're a gigantic school with tons of professional options and training for students, have a graduate-student run journal that's really prestigious, etc. They're giving me five years of funding, but completion tends to be 6 or 7 (I only have a B.A.) and after 5 years, I've heard it's sink or swim. That is really not the dilemma I want to be facing as an already-broke PhD student. 

    The other school is a smaller school in the Ivy League. Ranking/prestige are about the same in my field. Their funding is ridiculously generous (I'm still in shock at how good it is, and that will most likely be the deciding factor). However, the environment issue is really stressing me out. I almost wish I could just push that school somewhere else. This was a relatively new school on my watch list, so I haven't been hyping it up as much as the first school, but they've been really impressing me with how well put-together they are and how good the fit is! 

    I know that campus visits will help a lot, but I'm still stressed. To make it even harder, every single person I've been in contact with at every institution has been way, way too nice for me to even stomach the thought of turning down their offer. There's one school in particular (the rough funding one) where I feel like the staff have been my friends for years. I'm an empath and am also extroverted, so I love personal interaction and also become emotionally attached quite easily. I know this isn't the most important part of picking a program, but it is weighing on me. 

    /end vent! 

    Anything particular to note when it comes to campus visits?

    in Decisions, Decisions

    Posted · Edited by madamoiselle

    Hey all! 

    I'm about to pack my bags and head to three campus visits in late February/March, and although I'm feeling super lucky and excited, I'm already really, really torn between the programs (to the point that it's keeping me up at night). Thankfully, my programs have been pretty transparent with placement, funding, etc. and they're all a good academic fit and similarly ranked (great schools for my goals, and the differences are incredibly marginal). They're also all in vastly different environments, which I definitely plan to keep in mind. Everybody has told me that visits will really solidify fit/environment, and the decision would be pretty clear after making the visits. 

    With this being said, are there any certain departmental quirks that you all are planning to look out for, or found important while doing your campus visits, beyond the city/administrative details such as funding and placement? Anything hit you as a red flag? Green flag? Any stories or specific notes you took while meeting with cohorts?

    I know it's just my nerves talking and over questioning, but feel free to commiserate with me as we plan for campus visits! :)

    Fall 2018 French

    in Languages

    Posted · Edited by madamoiselle

    Looks like an international candidate got into Rutgers in the results page, so best of luck to all of y'all -- hopefully you guys get some good news soon! :) 

    @awhiterussian I'm sure you did better than you think you did. Was it mostly in French? 

     

    Crying in front of professor

    in Coursework, Advising, and Exams

    Posted · Edited by madamoiselle

    I had a professor from Paris once (during my undergrad in Texas), and was warned that the cultural difference between me and him would be a shock. I'm really bubbly and tend to talk a lot, but also take school incredibly seriously. I busted my ass in his course because I needed it to qualify for honors. I worked for hours on a paper, and when we got the drafts back, he had red-inked the entire first section with an X and just the comment "NON!" (no!) A little bit later, he called me after class to scold me for laughing too loudly during a group exercise. I was 19 at the time, really bright-eyed, and I was crushed. I went into the stairwell, called my friend and sobbed. I was late to my next class, with a professor who would end up being one of my thesis advisors (we were super close). She noticed I was a mess and asked if I wanted to talk in her office. 

    To this day, I don't think I've cried that hard in front of anybody. I'm talking full-on, blubbering meltdown. Fear I wouldn't get into honors, fear that I picked a stupid major, shame because I left a sick parent to pursue my education, undiagnosed anxiety, and now, a Frenchman had come to destroy my life and send it to hell in a pretty gift-wrapped box. 

    Sadly, that French professor would make me cry many more times before I finished undergrad for a variety of awful, sexist comments (he later got dismissed for unrelated, but similar reasons). However, I was really lucky to have other faculty in the department who would reassure me, calm me down and be enthusiastic with me and my endeavors. One of the greatest lessons I learned from that experience was that, as crappy as it is, I couldn't please everybody, even if I worked incredibly hard. I did, however, have to focus on the people who worked well with me and would help me grow through my hard work. Going through academia, this proved to be an indispensable lesson. In addition, because of the stress I was feeling between school and my family, I was re-directed to counseling services and my professors helped me through that process in such a fashion that I have no idea where I would be without them. I have since made it a promise to myself that I would always let students cry in my office or be appropriately honest with me, no judgement.

    Crying is great, cathartic and tends to be a turning point in self-realization. Don't fret :)We're all academics, we're all human and we've all been there!

    Fall 2018 French

    in Languages

    Posted · Edited by madamoiselle

    @Green.Mango CONGRATS ON UI BLOOMINGTON!!! I'm super, super happy for you, I always love seeing new acceptances on the board.

    I got an invite from NYU, but since there were so many deadlines and programs at the IFS and French Studies Faculty, I wouldn't fret too much about it getting a response very soon. It seems that even visiting days have "shifts" because there are so many candidates. From the results page, it looks as though they send announcements until April (!) because they're such a huge department, and they seem to extend offers to people who did not attend the invite. I almost have to treat it as an anomaly since it's such a giant program that is incredibly different from the others!

    Fall 2018 French

    in Languages

    Posted

    Good news -- I just got an email inviting me to NYU's visiting days!! Travel expenses covered and that jazz. I'm not sure if I can make it because I already have a trip booked to Berlin, but dammit, I'm gonna try! 

    And HELL YEAH @HomewardBound, you are just kicking ass! I'm so excited for you and Penn State, what an awesome school :)

     

     

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