papillon_pourpre

Coming out for their prospective weekend March 18. Anyone else get into Berkeley?

digital pirate

sunken ship

in

chili pie

All of my visits have been paid for by the various departments. If they're recruiting you, they're going to assume you have other options. They're not going to risk you going elsewhere because you couldn't afford to come visit. I'd just call and ask if they'll reimburse you for travel expenses/book your hotel if you want to be sure, but generally (esp. for an open house) they should cover almost everything. Congratulations and enjoy!

piece meal

string theory

bedbugs

screen protector

jet plane

virgin suicide

I'm visiting Berkeley later in March. I love Berkeley's program as well. I've already been in contact with my POI and she's agreed to be my mentor should I choose to go there. What worries me most about Berkeley though is that it's apart of the UC system and I'm concerned about the security of my funding throughout the program. Penn and NYU offer generous stipends that are guaranteed for 5 years, although NYC is super expensive. I'm still trying to weigh the ranking vs. fit vs. placement record question as well. The 2010 NRC rankings put both Penn and NYU above Berkeley for French and after looking at all of their placement records, I was much more impressed by Penn and NYU. Suffice it to say, a lot of my decision will depend on how I feel after having visited all three programs. The websites can only get me so far...

This may be the case for most disciplines, but I have never had or heard of someone being a teaching assistant in that capacity in a foreign language class. I've been offered teaching assistantships, some combined with fellowships, at the universities I've been accepted to and they all require independent teaching. You have mandatory training beforehand and are often observed/critiqued throughout your first year. It's important to ask your prospective schools about teacher support though. Will you be responsible for creating your own syllabus? Are there resources for new teachers should you encounter any problems? What sort of training do you receive prior to and throughout your teaching?

life line

when

liberty bond

zero sum

I love big cities, so I think I would be comfortable in either NYC or Philadelphia. I haven't visited Berkeley yet, but I've always seen myself as more of an east coast person. Plus I love the idea of being a train ride away from D.C., Boston, and the like. The thing about NYU is that their program is pretty much perfect for my academic interests. I got in to do the joint PhD in French literature/French studies and I'm most interested in looking at 19th (-20th) century literature, art, and culture through the perspective of political history. The joint program is about 1/2 lit and 1/2 civ and they focus almost exclusively on post-revolutionary France. Penn's program is great too, but it's more traditional, and I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing for me. I guess I'll know better after I visit NYU...

food addict

I just got back from my visit with Penn last weekend and it's made my decision that much harder. I was really leaning toward NYU, but now it's all up in the air. I really liked the faculty, the grad students were awesome, and their pedagogy program is nothing short of phenomenal. I also loved Philly and since the funding for the two programs is pretty much equal, I'm thinking I would be a lot more financially comfortable than in NYC. I'm visiting NYU March 2-3. How am I supposed to choose??

Just got back from a visit last weekend. Hopefully I'll find out soon if I'm officially in or not. Really loved the program.

lackluster

strawberry fields

Baked Alaska