frenchlover

Woo! Great! At least you will get some practice for your other interviews! I have been watching TV shows to keep myself in tune with a more informal register of French. Some master's programs want me to record myself reading a passage. lol

I sent only a few emails, but just to kind of get a better sense of the departments where it was unclear. I did this a while back, though, and was advised that it's most appropriate before applying. Talking to grad students helped me a lot more; for instance, I heard some AWFUL things about NYU so I decided not to apply. Yeah, I saw the MAPH thing too. This person my from my college went there for a year. Seems like a cash-cow program to me, for the most part, from what she said.

I am finishing my undergrad soon, so it is unlikely that any PhD programs will admit me, tbh. But I dipped my toes in the process and now I know how to apply to grad schools. Honestly, I am still unsure what to do if none of my grad schools pans out: probably will elect to get a 'useful' degree in France (some sort of trade school? GROSS) but I can't have my parents fund a master's degree in French and I wouldn't take out loans for one. I am taking the DELF soon, though. I am /also/ applying to master's programs in French in the US that provide funding. If I can't make it to those, idk, I will probably do something else with my life. All these programs would probably be doing me a favor, given the state of academia. Oh well so well.

Yeah, I was given the same advice: national language departments look down upon comp. lit PhDs, as comp. lit PhDs may not have the grasp over French, Spanish, w/e that a French PhD might have. But oh well, it's not like we are all trying to enter a profession with lots of jobs, so if you want to do it, might as well get a comp. lit PhD.

Apparently UChicago's decisions will come out later this month. Eek. Same for Michigan and Penn, but I didn't apply to those.

Completely feel ya. Want to cut out Columbia from my list; it's ridiculously competitive. Other schools too. Ugh.

Who is applying?

Hello English folks! I plan to apply to programs in French literature, and I was wondering what a good GRE score looks like for you all. I got mine today -- 163 in Verbal -- and I'm concerned that it isn't good enough for "good" programs in French literature. Should I retake it? It is an expensive test so idk but let me know what you all think.

Hi, @rising_star, thanks for the note. Of course, it definitely looks like waffling (I am a rising senior), but if I decide that a PhD in literature isn't for me, what I'm generally looking is going into non-profit work, particularly on the research side. This means I need a degree in something like economics or sociology with a heavy side of statistics (so my French lit degree is not of much direct use). I did an internship in this domain of work and really enjoyed it-- with the caveat that I was lost with the regressions and other statistical work. The theme of this internship was in the issues of immigration in southeast Asia, so my work there has definitely rubbed off on me. I also attended Sciences Po Lille for a while, where I studied under a well-known expert in French migration. So even in literary studies, I try to look for this theme of writing. Unfortunately I do not have as much as is required for a statistics grad program, so I am looking into data science programs (what I've found are data science programs applied in the social sciences) instead. I have taken several courses in computer science and have done fine in them, so the programs I've investigated are ok with my profile. That math course... it was just far too theoretical for my taste (using the pullback and differential forms to explain integral calculus is just ... no), and in the world of math, I'm a programmer. I guess the point of this thread was whether going to grad school in French lit would still be a possibility if I take the steps of getting a master's degree in lit and focusing my interests clearly. I'm just unaware of what the level of competition is (it looks fierce!) so I'd rather back off if it's impossible for non 4.0 students with multiple publications and double lit major degrees. I have time, and that is what I'll use to figure out what I want to do. I have like taken several courses in each of these disciplines (poli sci, econ, french, comp sci), and public policy research seems like a good intersection of them all, but I do really like literature a lot and would like to continue it at the graduate level, as what I like about them most is the discussions I have in my courses and the papers I produce. As for my French preparation, I'm on the point of passing the DELF C1 examination. I've read a wide range of authors in my classes, from Balzac to Proust to Sartre to Ionesco to Cixous, and will take more courses next year in 19th century poetry, 20th century fiction, the Middle Ages in France, and literary theory.

Hi there, So I currently attend a small LAC that does quite well in placing students in graduate school, including in French Lit/Studies, but obviously I am aware of the competition and the need to be very good and have matching research interests with potential schools regardless of my school. I speak two non-European languages in addition to English and French, and want to get a PhD in the theme of French studies. NYU in particular is very appealing to me. I really like the period of modernity generally but am also broadly interested in 19th/20th century literature, particularly in travel literature (like Loti) and French colonization of the south of India (here's where my linguistic training will be useful). I will spell out more specific research interests and research programs more deeply once I start applying (probably for the Fall of 2019/2020, depending on my master's program). But I have two issues: I dillydallied around choosing my major for a while and did poorly in one particular course in mathematics during junior year. However, I have good grades in French language and literature courses, and in the social sciences and the humanities, and will hopefully continue that trend next year. I was wondering what advice you all would have for me. My professor recommended that I go to a general literature program at a school like Northwestern or Chicago, and get my masters and further literary training there before applying to PhD programs. This is, however, out of financial reach for me. Even then, I'd rather go to Université de Strasbourg or Université de Montpellier and get a masters in letters (comparative lit) or a social science discipline like sociology (if I decide to go a more interdisciplinary route) because there is little to no tuition, and it would give me the opportunity to perfect my French in ways that Chicago couldn't. I'm also not sure about what kind of people I will be competing with; I have 0 research experience, and probably won't until I finish writing a thesis next year, which is somewhat in the lines of research experience. So I also don't have any conference presentations and things like that, but maybe I can manage something in the next few years. The only thing I know is that I love French, and have developed a strong desire to continue studying literature. I also like the idea of doing comparative literature, but it seems like a long degree that isn't quite favored by hiring committees in 'national language' departments. I'd like to set myself up, from the beginning, to get jobs outside academia if that doesn't pan out (which it doesn't for a lot of people I suppose). In any case, I don't want to go to a school if it's not a top school with good placements (like Columbia), so I was wondering what y'all think about me even trying this path. I'll have excellent LoRs but my academic background isn't spotless, but maybe a master's degree in France and my coursework in literature could help. The alternative would be to get a data science masters from a business school in France or even a general university and put my literary ambitions aside, and do that instead. Probably more practical, and somewhat appealing and a worthwhile investment, but not nearly interesting as going to graduate school and teaching. I'm also thinking of public policy work instead, and working in the domain of public policy looking at immigration in France and Europe generally. Again, more "practical", but hey I couldn't care less about haha.