Ciboney

Take one thing at a time. If you still want to spend 5-6 years of your life working on a doctorate, apply next year. And apply to as many programs as you possibly can. I am planning to apply to 11 doctoral programs this coming fall. Hopefully, 2 or 3 will accept me. It is horribly competitive and political. One can be an excellent researcher and bring an impressive background to a program, but that will still not get you in. More often than not, an admissions committee only has two or three spots; meanwhile, they have 30 or 50 good applicants for those spots from many countries. Imagine, making a decision! In the meantime, I hope you can get a job when you finish your master's. You might like to check on employment websites like this one: https://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/search.cfm?JobCat=157

Pero eso fue para el año académico en el que ya estamos.

I have to disagree on letters of recommendations. If the letters come from an institution where a member of the committee graduated from OR if the person writing is an internationally respected scholar from a respected program, that letter will carry a lot of weight.

For those applying for a Master's first, I would suggest my program. It is highly ranked in the US. However, they expect students to take one course in each area. The doctorate is more area-focused, but they require a Master's to apply. Unfortunately, the deadline is tomorrow. https://www.colorado.edu/spanish/graduate

Actually the course offerings are are pretty balanced. But check the official website, including the courses they had for the fall and the ones for spring--and the faculty in your area. Also, communicating directly with the graduate faculty by email is a good idea. I know that right now most of those in the dissertation stage are in European literature. They do expect an MA to apply for the doctorate. That I am sure about. Good luck; it is extremely competitive.

Since it is the time when most people planning graduate studies in linguistics or literature will start deciding where to apply, I would recommend or encourage applicants to check on my program and its outstanding faculty (compared to many other programs'): https://www.colorado.edu/spanish/graduate/ma Good luck on finding a good match.

Hi Alex. If you end up deciding to accept Colorado@Boulder's offer, we will be classmates! Although my interest is modern Spanish-American lit, I am quite impressed with the faculty in Spanish in medieval/Renaissance area.

Reality808: Thank you for bringing this up. It was a balanced and realistic assessment. I had read a couple of articles about it; they said pretty much the same thing. Personally, I am doing this because it is the right moment in my life, but I have no illusion of getting a job that would resemble any of the graduate faculty with whom I will be working/studying. Yet, it is still slightly better than those people who do doctorates in English.

If the programs you are applying to require data management and or statistics, as some do, go for the first one. If the programs do not, choose the language program (and mention it in the application essay, that you have been working on the requirements already). Good luck. ?

I meant strictly in languages. I disagree on the job prospects, based in what I know (that includes, but it is not based solely on it, conversations with several faculty members who have been members of hiring committees in higher education). Yet, in pre-higher ed, the circumstances might be different. About other academic areas, I have no idea about the respect of graduate on-line programs. I can tell you that when I was a member of a couple of hiring committees an online degree did hurt the candidates applying. ?

Forgotten: if it helps in your decision, I would avoid any online degree because of very poor employment prospects. They are just not regarded seriously generally. I am just saying... ?

Quierocafe... I'm glad the advice helped a little bit. And you do have an offer, so it is not too bad. ?

My advice: email the Graduate Coordinator and/or the Graduate Vice Chair (or whatever they call it) directly today. Bureaucrats in the Graduate School normally do not know anything about these matters that are dealt with at the departmental level. That is just the way it is. ?

Yes, you should ask them directly. I got their rejection (?) in late January. They are very good at responding directly fast.

The University of Massachussets is notorious for being late. I know. I would send an email directly asking them. They also have almost no money. Trust me, I know, again. Good luck with them. I do not know about Connecticut, although I have a degree from there, but not in literature/Spanish. There is little or no difference between private or public institutions. It just depends on the organization of the particular department and its efficiency (or lack of it).

To scarvesandcardigan: thanks for the compliment about my ramblings. And, that was a good contribution. Conferences and the like, from what I have seen, are paid after the fact and only cover part of the costs. But it is part of the equation indeed. By the way, how is it going at Pennsylvania State? I hear it is a good place; the program has an excellent reputation/ranking, better than most. I considered it too, but I ended up not including it on my list for some reason.

And FHG as well... This varies a lot among graduate programs and universities. I checked that stuff earlier to see how much because I am aware that there are the "little surprises" that I have been mentioning here before. I was not aware of them until the fall. They include enormous differences in rent for apartments or student residences, taxes. And in one university they even take out Social Security taxes from one's stipend! So you guys have to figure out several things. Some state universities can come up with very different packages. In one PhD program/university, I was going to get almost $34,000. But I turned down their invitation. (It is not about money for me.) I got two offers as a Master's student: teaching one introductory language class (one section) per semester and $21,400 or so, plus the usual: tuition (but NO fees paid). Another offered me $17,000 or so to teach three sections of the intro course in the two semesters, plus a summer fellowship of $6,000, in both places as a Master's student. The fees not covered by the funding were about $700. One of the universities takes out Social Security and taxes from your stipend in every check or payment. The latter was unaceptable to me since I am an American and the law (IRS or "Hacienda federal) says https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/student-exception-to-fica-tax Anyway, I ended up accepting the University of Colorado at Boulder which as always been my top choice. My second year as a Master's student they are nominating for a Graduate School fellowship additional to the teaching assistantship, they told me. After I finish the MA, there will be a very different funding package, I read in their literature. Yet, the fees not covered by the stipend are about $1,700. Taxes are applicable, but not the Social Security payments. I do not know about you guys since chances are that you are not Americans and the rules are different for you if so. You should call the International Students' Office and they can clarify details about your status and how it affects your actual, real stipend every month. Oh, and fellowships and teaching assistantships or research assistantships have different rules for taxes in most schools too. But do not forget those taxes (federal and state), about $3-4,000. After this subject, I need a drink! ?

The campus is supposed to be very pretty. (The Jesuits are good decorators. LOL!) If you are Catholic you might feel comfortable there. The program has a strong reputation for linguistics, I have found. I checked it out (for literature), but ended up not including it in my list of schools to apply. DC is expensive though; they better offer you a decent amount for living stipend.

Keep in touch. Sorry to hear NYU as well.

If they said it was not a problem, then it is not. ? All of the programs I applied to did not require official transcripts; only "student's copies" or unofficial for the application process. After being admitted and after the candidate accepts an offer, then they immediately require official copies. I dealt with that this week. Finished that process yesterday. Have you chatters received all responses to your applications? ? I am still waiting for one, but my mind is set up. Has anyone here made a final decision? I think Marion is still talking her pillow about Iowa City and the University of Iowa. ? ("Thanks for sharing the info @Ciboney. it's complicated for me living in Alabama, tbh. that's why I don't feel pretty attracted to small places/very conservatives... But Iowa seems a good option tho. I will consult it with my pillow!")

To whom ever got accepted at Harvard's program, if you are reading this thread: I am a local resident and my advice: get ready for living expenses in the Boston/Cambridge area. I hope what they offer is good, because this part of the USA is extremely bad ABOUT living expenses, from rent to heat. They better offer university housing, if you do not have a wealthy family or a sugar daddy (or a sugar mummy). But Boston area does have two of the best libraries in the planet, among the top 20 in the world: Harvard and Boston Public. ?

No idea. Best thing to do is to email Stanford's coordinators and ask them; they get paid for that. And, like many private universities, they charge a very high application fee. And remind them that no matter how much money and effort they put into the process, they will never beat the University of California at Berkeley. ?

I did not apply to any of those you mentioned. It is entirely your decision to accept or not. The only information I had was what I already shared about Yale. Perhaps it would help to contact the graduate students there and ask them if they are willing their advice with you by either email or by phone. And be direct about the politics and rivalries at Yale. Maybe they have improved after 3 years or so. Or maybe not. It was quite public, considering this happens in other places as well but applicants or people do not find out. Maybe YOU should contact the chair or the graduate coordinator directly and "interview" them focusing on the negative publicity. From my point of view, I think your are entitled to that "talk" with them, like programs want to interview candidates about some issues. That is all that comes to mind. Perhaps those who applied to the programs you mention can offer some information. ? And thanks for letting me know that people actually check our chatting here. I initiated this threat last December for us precisely. I am very proud that some people have found it useful. I checked other similar threads from past years. This has been the most active by far. And we joke a little here.

Yo definitivamente le escribiría un mensajito al coordinador del programa graduado, si es que otra gente ya ha recibido rechazos u ofertas de esas instituciones, pidiéndole que te pongan al día sobre el estatus de tu solicitud. ?

Marion: Por si ayuda en algo... Es una opinión, pero siempre he oído y leído más o menos lo mismo de o en todos lados. Y que es super liberal. No hay comparación con Alabama, que es uno de los estados y territorios que son polos opuestos a los estados de Nueva Inglaterra o los de la Costa Oeste. Si yo le dijese a alguien aquí que voy para Alabama se echaría a reir. Bueno he aquí una información que creo que te va a gustar y a poner de buen humor... (Tiene muchas fotos.) https://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/move-to-iowa-city/