latenight

from what i remember, the interviewers didn't so much ask pointed questions as try to engage you in conversation. they want to get to know you beyond what's on paper ("So, tell me about yourself..."). i'd say, be prepared to talk about your interests (both present and tentatively as you imagine them in the future) and why you're interested in the program - you've said it in your SOP, but go over it orally; it's also a chance for you to go deeper into something you had to just touch on in your application. have a few questions to ask each interviewer, either about the program or their own research. read up on the program before you go. i also found it helpful to do a little reading beforehand of their books/articles, it made me feel more confident going into the interviews. but be genuine - it's not about memorizing the entire website. you'll probably also be interviewed by professors you don't know or hadn't been interested in necessarily; try to figure out why they thought it was important for you to meet with them. it's kind of like what i imagine speed-dating to be like - you have a very limited amount of time to get to know someone and to convince them that you're interesting and not crazy. keep a good sense of humor and your wits about you. be yourself. be nice to everybody. and have fun! it's a good time, although somewhat stressful. it's a wonderful, very warm and friendly department.

I went last year for comp lit - about 7 invited, 2 accepted, 1 waitlisted, the rest rejected. A few people accepted who didn't come to the interview weekend. Just roll with it. It's a strange situation - you're wooing them and they're wooing you at the same time. But it was highly enjoyable. The people (both faculty and students) were fantastic, very welcoming and friendly despite the high-stress atmosphere of the interviews. I hope you have a similarly good experience with the English department!

I've had different responses to that question. I really like what I'm working on for my Master's thesis and based my Statement of Purpose on continuing this work in the future. The first program I visited was just as excited about my project as I was, and made it very clear to me that I could continue working on it for my dissertation. The other two programs I visited expressed a clear interest in my work, but encouraged me to be open to expanding my interests and my project in the future. They both said to me that in fact if my interests didn't change, and I end up doing exactly the same thing that I've been working on now and that I wrote up in my SOP, that this would be a bad thing - that part of the purpose of doing a PhD is to explore new interests, be curious, learn and discover different things.

When I was writing my statement of purpose I found this sample statement online... It's for sociology, and I'm in comparative literature, but it still helped a lot. http://ls.berkeley.edu/soc/diversity/ap ... ent-1.html Pretty darn good.

nothing here either...

oh man, i'm sorry guys... didn't realize... i'm so far in my own little downward spiral i didn't even think about that. i'm sorry for the miscommunication.

I agree about professional training. One of the schools I'm considering is a comp lit program, but with a certificate option in French - kind of similar to Columbia's French/CL program. The work I'm doing is very French-based, but leans a lot towards theory, which is why I've been thinking I'd feel more at home, and more intellectually satisfied, in a comp lit program. Who are you interested in at Columbia? (I guess we could talk names through pm if you prefer) Also, do you have any thoughts about NYU French? Did you apply there? Is anyone else doing French out there? There can't be just 2 of us!

word on the street from the insiders is that the committee is finishing meeting yesterday and today. everybody brace yourselves! here it comes...

from what i hear from the insiders, cornell has gone through some major budget cuts and is having a really hard time making decisions. i guess that's the case in a lot of places, but at least from what i can gather they're not done looking through applications. fingers crossed!

just going by my department (comparative literature) at both schools, UCLA has a smaller student-faculty ratio. and i don't know what the "feel" of the comp lit departments at UCLA and Harvard is, nor that of ptolemy's department, but it could be that the big name generates a lot of competition that may or may not be helpful in doing good work and getting the dissertation done quickly.

The way you might look at it, especially as a student in the Humanities (I'm one too), is to ask yourself where you will do your best work -- that, in the end, will be just as valuable in the job market as coming from a big-name school. Harvard might help you more if you work well in a high-powered, competitive environment (I'm not sure if your department at Harvard would be like that, just guessing), while UCLA could be beneficial for a more supportive atmosphere and closer work with professors.

i agree with you on reasons to apply to french over comp lit - but i ended up applying to 3/9 french programs. now i'm regretting the decision a bit, at least at NYU - i'm not so excited anymore about all their requirements (one course in each century of french literature from middle ages to present). i know some programs are more flexible than others, so i'm withholding final judgment until i see it for myself when i visit. on the other hand, i guess those requirements become a big part of your professional training, if you're going to be hired in a french department.

haven't received word yet - also rejected from berkeley (no big surprise). did you find out about UCLA by email or through their website? i just checked the website - "no decision has been made yet."

humannature, i think it's totally normal for us to be worried about burnout. even if we've thought about it beforehand (i don't even know how many hours) and have decided to put ourselves through this whole application process, receiving offers really puts things into perspective, and is definitely stressful even as it is exciting. in my case, i applied now instead of waiting several years, as some people seem to do, because i felt that i'd be a stronger candidate with my research fresh in my mind, and with me fresh in the minds of those writing my letters of recommendation.

another thing i've been thinking about as i'm weighing cost of living (in my case, between atlanta and NY) is the car factor. when you throw car insurance into the mix (i got a quote for $350 for 6 months in atlanta, double that in LA), as well as gas and maintenance, it evens things out quite a bit.

i'm a bit worried about burnout too. i started my masters immediately after undergrad, and it now looks like i'll be going immediately into a doctorate. yeesh!

obviously i wouldn't approach them saying "gee, it'd be really nice to hang out with my bf for a while more in paris, is that cool with you guys?" i (could) have other, more academic reasons, like finishing up some research there, working a little longer with my advisor, etc. i don't know if that kind of reason would fly in the humanities. just gathering information so i can consider all the options. i do realize it's kind of a tacky thing to do, receive a really nice offer, accept, and then go AWOL.

at the beginning of all this mess, i had a plan C: get into a school, defer for a year, work for a few months in paris (where i'm living now), travel a little, read a lot to get up to speed before starting school again - i'm doing a master's now and looking to to a phd in comparative literature or french. i'm starting to get a couple acceptances, and all this is becoming really real. i've been spending a lot of mental energy imagining myself starting up in september (of this year), and getting pretty excited about it. now there's another complication - the bf is finishing his phd and won't be all done until january 2010. so back to thinking about deferring again. any thoughts on deferring? i know some schools have an absolute policy against, other schools will let you if you have a good reason. what's a "good" reason? has anyone done this / thinking about doing this?

Coucou tout le monde! coho c'est pour r

thanks for your advice, mraig. they are actually pretty specific about the hotel-sharing situation in the information they've sent me. i just hope my roomie doesn't suffocate me with a pillow in my sleep

i'm curious about this too. i'd like to think that if they're flying me all the way there, it's just as much to convince me that i want them as the other way. it'd be pretty horrible to spend the whole interview weekend with them and then find out a week later that they didn't like me. so i don't know exactly how an in-person interview invitation differs from a telephone interview...

does anyone know anything about Emory's interview weekend? I received the email with all the information, but I'm curious about what seems to be some sort of strange social experiment - all the finalists spend 3 days together, share hotel rooms, etc. have i been chosen to participate in a reality TV show? i'm not really sure how to approach the weekend. it would be pretty bad to go through all of that and get rejected afterwards. any advice?

I've been walking around with a copy of the Idiot in my bag, more for comfort than anything else, because it's end-of-semester time at my Master's program and I'm trying to pull some work together... just checked 3 Derrida books out from the library, they're huge, yikes.

Thanks for the advice! Very helpful. I've decided to take the professor's advice and switch, and even to do the same for another program (Cornell). It's true that ideally I'd love to stuff my brain with theory all the live-long day, instead of reading medieval French poetry, but at some point the practical part of my brain kicked into gear. Thanks again to all who have replied to my post!

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this... I'm applying mostly to Comp Lit programs, with my first language being French, followed by Spanish and Hebrew. One of my top schools is NYU, and I just got an email response from a professor there who recommended that I apply to French instead of Comp Lit - there are more fellowships, more travel grants, and less competition (in Comp Lit I'd be competing for 1-2 slots for applicants with French as the first language). I am pretty heavily invested in French, but I feel like NYU's French program doesn't emphasize theory enough, and for various other reasons I'm more interested in the Comp Lit program. But I'm wondering if it's better to think practically and go for French because I have more of a change of getting in, and getting money. Is it enough to try to "prove" in my SOP that I'm really a Comp Lit gal at heart? Is anyone else in a similar situation?