Bleep_Bloop

I echo telkanuru's comments. Being young puts you at a disadvantage in the short term, and an advantage in the long-run. Given the structure of most undergrad programs, you've only taken advanced classes for a very short time. In the humanities time is a very precious commodity because there's so much reading involved, along with archival research and language acquisition if your project requires it. As an undergrad (and I myself went to grad school straight out of undergrad) you might show the potential but haven't had the time to read widely enough (I'm speaking from my own experience in literature). I entered at 23 and most students were around 28 to 35. Some had done multiple masters degrees before beginning the PhD program, spoke and read a range of languages fluently, had multiple publications, etc. I came in baby-faced thinking I was hot stuff because I had graduated summa and done a Fulbright in a gap year, only to start freaking out the first week of classes. For the first semester or two I was just playing catch-up, trying to be able to follow all the name and theory-dropping in seminars and at talks. For a while I felt like I was just groping around in the dark and wasn't really taking full advantage of everything my department was offering me because I was just trying to cover the basics. I had been the golden child of my undergrad department (a well-respected SLAC) and got into 2 of the top-3 programs in my field, so I felt very, very qualified going in. Looking back, I know it wasn't a matter of potential or effort or talent but simply the fact that I hadn't been alive long enough to read everything my peers had. You get a point where it's just impossible, all you need is the time to read, to sit in the archives. There's good reason that, on average, it takes humanities students significantly longer to complete their degrees. So for those who are considering jumping into a humanities PhD right out of undergrad: be forewarned! The good news is that this is something that you can make up with just time and dedication (and a little guidance in constructing your reading lists so that you use your time more efficiently). However I'll end by saying that I see a few advantages (not insignificant) to starting young. In the long-run (assuming you maintain effort and productivity) you'll likely have a longer and more productive career than someone who starts in their mid-30s. If all goes well, you'll get tenure earlier in life as well (which is important if you want to have a family as it's extremely difficult to do that before tenure). Your body is also younger which, believe it or not, is an advantage. Grad school is hard on your body, all that sitting and reading (10+ hours a day) can cause some serious issues. I know a few older grad students who suffer from back problems, which becomes a problem when we have to hunker down with 3000 pages of reading a week. Another once said that he wished he had started at a younger age because he claims not to have the same reading endurance as he once did.

Because The point of a PhD program in literature (which is what most language departments offer, with some linguistics tracks here and there) is to train future academics committed to teaching, research, and service to a university and field. A graduate program is not a book club. If you're not interested in becoming an academic then why would/should the department pay for your studies? It's one thing to try and fail on the academic market and then transition to a different industry, there's no shame in that. What's more problematic is when people come in without any intention of working in academia, just because they "love the material" and want to be paid for that, then move on to a career in consulting or whatever. This can be a touchy subject, and I mean no offense to anyone in the thread by this post.

Haven't heard of this happening... The students (and faculty) I know who live in NYC or Philly just take the train in. Sure, you can rent an individual room in a house near campus, but they'll charge you normal rent for it (I've seen them on tigertrade for anywhere between $600-800 a month, but no guarantee that it'll be in a convenient location). At that rate you'll just be renting two places. Outside of the daily commute I'm pretty sure your options would be to stay in a hotel or crash on a friend's couch.

I can't think of many. Eigen makes good points above. There are many ways you can pursue an intellectual passion outside of a PhD program that are far more practical and rewarding. I wouldn't recommend anyone enter a program unless they want to pursue a career that requires the training a PhD provides. This doesn't necessarily have to be within academia: in the sciences this could be research in industry and in the humanities it might mean museum work or public service. But most PhD programs in the humanities are set up to train future professors. I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but doing a PhD solely because you love the material, because it's been a dream of yours since childhood, or because you want the cultural capital a PhD provides is frankly a waste of a program's time.

I have T-mobile because it's cheap, and reception in Princeton is okay. My phone works just fine unless I'm underground, which is only a problem when I'm working on the lower levels of Firestone. My friends who have verizon and at&t don't have this problem, but I don't care enough to switch providers.

That's a bad reason to get a PhD, no offense. A PhD is job preparation to be a professor and researcher. You have to ask yourself why you want to do this, it's a serious commitment on your part and on the part of an academic department. If you're not interested in the academic job market, why would you put yourself and others through this process? You seem pretty concerned about rank, prestige, and "honor." (As an aside, just what is a "respectable grad school?"). Believe me, those are all the wrong reasons for getting into this game.

It sounds like OP deferred, then went back on his or her word by accepting another offer after committing to the deferral. If this is the case, it can be a very serious action depending on the type of program. For a masters program this might not matter as much, but if we're talking about PhD programs then this is a big deal. By deferring you're accepting an offer, you've committed to a program. Breaking that contract has serious consequences, both for your reputation in your field and for the programs that you're playing. If this is for a PhD then OP is burning bridges left and right.

Unfortunately this is not always the case, and this doesn't just apply to teaching-related materials. Of course the commitee isn't going to act like it doesn't care about a certain aspect of an applicant's profile by not requiring certain materials. It's very unfair to applicants who put in so much work, but some parts of applications are either glazed over or not touched at all.

This is obviously field-specific, and I'm not in your field so I don't have a specific site I can recommend. But usually the main professional organization in your field keeps a database of relevant conferences that its members can access. Obviously these sorts of lists can get very long so if you're looking for CFPs it can be cumbersome (it does for me, at least). I keep my own spreadsheet with conferences most relevant to my interests and corresponding dates and deadlines. Our program's administrative assistant circulates CFPs via e-mail as they come out, and if I come across something relevant/interesting, I add it to my conference spreadsheet.

Apart from the writing sample, very strong letters.

Based on the previous posts, I'm assuming we're talking about the importance of undergrad theses when applying straight to PhD, not masters theses. The original post was a little ambiguous, but here goes: If you're applying straight out of undergrad then your thesis likely won't even be ready to serve as a writing sample when you're preparing your applications. And even if it were finished by the time you apply, senior theses (or even masters theses) don't make good writing samples because they're usually way over the page requirement (my undergrad thesis turned out to be around 130 pages). You could excerpt a chapter, but those also don't make great writing samples because they're not stand-alone pieces, and it can take a lot of effort to mend. Even when modified it can be awkward because it wasn't originally thought out as an independent essay. And let's be real. Undergrad theses (mine included) just aren't that good. Even if you have a great adviser helping you along, it's your first attempt at a larger research project and a lot of the time you're just awkwardly groping around in the dark. It's a very valuable experience, but not necessary to get in. For applications, it's much better to take your best seminar paper and keep working on it.

For those of you trapped in grad college limbo, I'm sorry. Your best bet is to call the housing office (they're very bad with e-mail) and haggle with them over the phone in hopes of getting something better. Those looking at off-campus options: I would strongly advise against living in the Jersey suburbs outside Princeton (such as Plainsboro or Princeton Junction). I listed the cons in an earlier post in this thread. I don't see any pros. You won't save any money (in fact it'll probably be even more expensive), you'll need a car, and you'll be in the middle of nowhere. Princeton will feel cosmopolitan by comparison. If you're set on living outside of Princeton, look at New York or Philly. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend that for a first year either...the commute is killer, you can't take advantage of all the events on campus, and you'll have a hard time getting to know people at the university. I know the grad college sucks, but unfortunately if you can't strong-arm your way into better campus housing, it's probably your best option at this point.

A very useful summary, thanks for the link. Overall I agree, but I'm a very strong advocate of reading the classic theory before (or at least alongside) the newer stuff. Admittedly, this might not be the most useful strategy for everyone; I know a few people who find it very helpful to read retrospectively, starting with more recent theory and working backwards. That said, if you've already read (and understood) Marx, Althusser, Barthes, Jameson, Derrida, Deleuze/Guattari, etc. before, I agree that you shouldn't focus on them obsessively at the expense of familiarizing yourself with more recent debates. Summer is when I go back and read the classics that I'm not familiar with but that pop up in the new theory that I read in seminars, so depending on your familiarity with them I think that spending a summer getting caught up on the older theorists can be quite productive.

I'm pretty sure that there's a point in the application where they ask you whether or not you've applied for a Fulbright before, so you could list this information there. This might be a way to let them know you've been a finalist in the past without taking up space in your statement or bio.

Another factor to consider here is networking, which, after your research, will probably be the most important factor in landing a job. If you only attend conferences in Canada/UK and only publish in journals there, then you won't have any name recognition on the US market. The same is true for your thesis adviser and those writing your recommendations. A good supervisor not only advises you but also "sells" you to the field and helps you build a network. UK/Canadian institutions may be able to do that for you in their respective countries, but they might not know as many people or be as well known on the American market.

I don't live off-campus so I can't offer advice on logistiscs, but since no one's responded yet I'll share what I know. The housing department has some resources, which you may have already explored (https://hres.princeton.edu/graduates/explore/off-campus-housing). I've also seen housing listings every now and then on Tiger Trade. The town doesn't have many apartments, so most grad students who live off-campus (in Princeton) share a house. I'm under the impression that a lot of those arrangements happen by word-of-mouth, though.

Of course it's not impossible to land an academic job working 40 hours a week, but it's a question of likelihood and the competition you'll be facing. My point here isn't to call people out for not working enough/tell them they're doomed. But when we're discussing working hours and the PhD then you have to at least consider how this might impact you professionally. In any profession you're going to have to put in more than 40 hours a week if you want to be competetive, especially early in your career. And just like in any profession there are gunners that you're going to be competing with. This isn't unique to academia. Sure, if all you're working on is research (writing and presenting, or points 1 and 2 in your post), then you can probably fit that in 40 hours and do a good job of it. But you left out the more time-intensive activities that grad students are also responsible for (again, I'm speaking mostly for the humanities here because of my own background and because OP is in history), namely coursework, studying for comps, learning languages when necessary, and (the biggest one) teaching, along with various kinds of service to your department, university, and/or discipline (organizing conferences or symposia, sitting on committees, reviewing submissions, etc.). Now I'm not saying these are the most important aspects of the training, some of them are actually pretty trivial. But these are just things that you're expected to do in the profession, and they take time. I would love to be able to only dedicate my time to research! But that's just not the case (neither for grad students nor for professors), and people should know what they're getting into. But if you're a micro-managing genius and can do all of that in 40 hours, then more power to you. In my experience it's very unlikely, something has to give and you prioritize. But I'll leave it there because concepts like "success" and "priorities" are very personal.

I have to agree with this. I know a lot of people on this forum who are successful in grad school and maintain a 9-5 lifestyle, and that's great. However, if you plan on working in academia after the PhD then you have to realize that it's anything but a 9-5 job. Yes, you need to watch out for your physical and mental health and I'm all for taking time off now and then, but professors will require much more from you than the 40 working hours you'll have at your disposal if you try to force such a schedule onto a PhD program (not to mention your future students). I wouldn't go so far as to question anyone's dedication to the discipline, but you should at least be aware that those landing tenure-track jobs (and even many of those who try but don't land them) are not the ones taking weekends and evenings off. You'll get by just fine in your program, but I do agree with Sigaba that you'll be at a disadvantage professionally when compared to other students who are putting in more time.

A lot of first years live in dorms, but it's not necessary. Apartments aren't located immediately on campus: mine is about a 15 minute walk north, which gives me a bit of a buffer between work/home life. I'm really only on campus to go to class or work in the library. For me it's not necessarily the campus but the town that makes me a little claustrophobic.

I don't have a family, I'm single, and in my first year as a humanities PhD student. Typical weekday: 8:00 Wake up 9:00-12:30 Reading/Writing 12:30-1:30 Lunch 1:30-4:30 Class 4:30-5:30 Exercise 5:30-7:30 Dinner, Relax 7:30-12:00 Reading/Writing Typical weekend: 8:00 Wake up 9:00-12:00 chores, errands 12:00-1:00 Lunch 1:00-5:30 Reading/Writing 5:30-6:30 Exercise 6:30-11:00 Dinner then drinks, movie, social event, etc.

I haven't heard of students doing this at the beginning of a program. I knew someone who lived in Plainsboro when they were dissertating, but that was because they couldn't get housing on campus anymore (they were in their 5th or 6th year). This is an exception, though. Most people who decide not to live in Princeton find apartments in New York or Philly because the immediately surrounding area is rather...unexciting. It makes more sense if you're moving here with a family, but otherwise you'll be a grad student living alone in suburbia. Princeton has the campus, the community of grad students (which will be based around your department) and some bars/restaurants in walking distance along Nassau, and you'd be giving that up. While it's not a city, it's cosmopolitan compared to Plainsboro. I wouldn't recommend living in a place like Plainsboro for someone who isn't already established in a program or in the writing phase because it would be very, very difficult to meet people and make connections, spontaneously go to talks or conferences on campus, etc. Grad school itself can at times be isolating/lonely, and I think living in a place like Plainsboro would make that much worse.

Apartment contracts are for 12 months, unfortunately, so moving in the middle of the year would probably be complicated. In this case you might want to consider applying directly for a studio or one-bedroom and tell the housing department that you'll be getting married during the year. There's room to make a case for special consideration during the application process.

Living in a 2 bedroom alone isn't possible, they just don't have capacity for that...between the GC and the apartments there's only enough units to house about 70% of the enrolled graduate student body, assuming they're all filled to max capacity. If you select a 2 bedroom and don't list a roommate you want to live with, they'll automatically pair you with someone. To my knowledge, the only situations in which you can get a 2 bedroom to yourself is if your roommate moves out mid-semester or something, but they still have the right to assign you a random roommate at any time. If you ask for a 1 bedroom (and you beat the odds) then you won't need to worry about living with someone. If you don't get it at first, you can still call James Poole (the graduate housing director) and make a case for it. I actually know a first year who muscled her way into a 1 bedroom in lawrence that way. Fortunately safety isn't much of a concern on campus or in town. I live in a university apartment that's a 20 minute walk from campus, walking through the "downtown" area of palmer square/witherspoon , and I don't feel uncomfortable at all walking home from the library or the bars late at night. A friend once joked that he's more afraid of getting mauled by a bear when walking back to the GC late at night than he is of getting mugged. The only thefts I've heard of have been from people leaving their latops or cell phones unattended, or leaving their bikes unlocked. Edit: That said, if you ever feel uncomfortable walking home late at night, there's a free on-demand bus service until 1 or 2 am.

Academically speaking, the transition depends on your experience in undergrad. I went to a liberal arts college where I got very wide coverage but a lot less depth in my specific discipline, and there were no graduate-level seminars for me to take. All of that made my transition similar to what tspier2 describes. I felt horribly unprepared. To be honest, I did the only thing I really could do; work my ass off and just roll with the punches. There's not much I could have done to prepare for it. You're pretty much just thrown into the deep end: sink or swim. Just keep reassuring yourself that you're capable of making the transition and succeeding in your program because, after all, they didn't accept you by mistake. You'll have low moments, but you'll start to realize that with time they're farther and farther apart, until they subside and you realize that you've finally adapted. That said, I have some friends who did their undergrad at R1s or ivies, had big name academics as their supervisors, already had grad classes under their belt in undergrad, etc., so their experience coming in from undergrad was different. Everyone transitions differently.

You can try, but I wouldn't count on getting a one bedroom... Others can chime in here, but to my knowledge couples/married students get priority for one bedrooms. The only first years I know who managed to land one bedrooms are married. There's just a lot of competition for them and most of the units are built to have multiple occupants, especially in Lakeside. You might be able to land a studio? Honestly, if you want an apartment through the university you're not going to be able to be picky.