Bleep_Bloop

In my experience, yes, a phd in languages is for those who plan on becoming professors. Granted, my experience is in Ivy-league culture, but it's generally taboo to talk about leaving academia for other career paths. Grad school is considered by students and professors alike to be the first stage of an academic career...I'm almost certain that mentioning the fact that you don't want to work in academia after your phd would be a kiss of death during the interview process. Granted, there are some exceptions. I know of some PhDs who work in other fields after grad school, but in most cases that's because they couldn't find work in academia and had to take on something else...so they enter business or consulting (which, financially at least, is not a bad gig at all). Long story short, if you enter a phd program in languages then you will most likely be trained to enter academia, under the assumption that you entered the program with that intention. I don't know anyone who started a phd program without the intention of becoming a professor. Some didn't and wound up in the private sector, but that's because their situations changed along the way.

Anyone else get an apartment placement? I'll be in Butler temporarily, until they open Lakeside.

Still no news. Hopefully they'll send me an offer after the weekend, I'd like to book my flight sooner rather than later.

Does anyone know when our housing is confirmed?

Anybody have recommendations for furnishing a campus apartment on a shoestring budget? From what I gather, we're not given our first stipend payment until the end of September (please correct me if I'm wrong?) Is there generally used/cheap furniture available on campus via tigertrade and such? I know there's an Ikea not too far away, but I won't have a car... I'm moving completely on my own, so this might be tricky. Any advice appreciated!

I'm very skeptical about a four year PhD without a masters. Even five years is ridiculously short to get everything done well, which makes it a very stressful experience...four years would be even worse. Also, I noticed on the program's website that they "strongly encourage" their PhD students to intern during the program, which raises a red flag for me. This means that the department likely doesn't have a good academic job placement record (which honestly doesn't surprise me if they're rushing PhDs out the door in four years). Given that you want to enter academia, placement records should be one of he factors you want to look at when narrowing down potential programs. I was tempted to go right into a PhD program after undergrad, but I took a gap year with a Fulbright grant. I think that year was pretty critical for me. Since you know you want an academic career, it's tempting to want to just rush right into it, but one of the most important aspects of succeeding in academia is time. You need time to read, to develop your ideas, and to sharpen your language skills. Like Francophile said, you'll be taking classes with, and ultimately competing against, students with masters degrees and native speakers (and native speakers with masters degrees, as it were). These people will have read much, much more of the literature, be far better versed in theory, have native or near-native language skills, already have publications, etc. All because they've simply been at it longer than you have. So my suggestion is to take time off from academia and just read. Read as much as you can. Keep a book list and reading schedule. Get ahold of a generals list (or two or three) and read everything on it. You might feel prepared for a PhD program as a college senior, but the fact is that most applicants have years worth of experience on you. And that doesn't speak to your effort or potential as a scholar at all, it's just a matter of how long you've been studying German literature. You're young and you have time on your side, so take advantage of it before you get locked into any specific program. And I agree with Francophile, stay away from Canadian programs if you want to work in the US. Edit: The four year option does, in fact, require a masters degree. If you enter with a BA then the program requires five years. https://gsll.colorado.edu/german/suggested-timeline-students-entering-phd-program-ba#overlay-context=all/gsll-policies-and-procedures

Eigen and Fuzzy, what would you recommend for someone transitioning from being a bit of a perfectionist regarding coursework and grades in undergrad? I know it's not going to be sustainable to dedicate as much time to coursework as I did then, and my advisor has warned me to ease up a little in terms of coursework so that I don't miss out on important networking opportunities and such by never leaving the library. But sending out something that I'm not 100% proud of can produce anxiety. And imposter syndrome certainly doesn't help. I'm pretty sure that this is something I'm going to have to be very conscious of and work with. Any advice regarding this?

No one will forbid you from traveling to certain areas, even dangerous ones, independently as a tourist. This changes once you're affiliated with Fulbright, though. I did my Fulbright in Colombia and we had a lot of restrictions placed on us regarding travel. Basically, Fulbright placed most of the same restrictions on us as the government places on embassy employees. It was a huge drag because we had to have all of our itineraries pre-approved by the security attaché at the embassy, couldn't travel between cities by bus, etc. There were also giant areas of the country that were just no-go zones. This is something to keep in mind when planning a research proposal. If you're project requires field work in an area that the state department considers dangerous then Fulbright probably won't fund you because you'd be a liability to the program.

I'm also in the humanities and have always been advised similarly, i.e. better to invest the time it would take you to prepare for 2 or 3 conferences in producing an excellent article for a top journal. I tend to agree with this. I think one presentation in your subfield each year at the national conference of your discipline should be sufficient to slowly build a network and should suffice until you're dissertating and on the market, in which case you might want to go to more and be more aggressive about getting your name/scholarship out there. Honestly, I wouldn't really bother with regional conferences, except maybe if you've never presented before and want a low-pressure practice talk before you present at a more important conference. I also agree with TakerUK in that you should never, ever pay for a conference out of pocket unless it just so happens to be in your city or something.

Good to know. Thanks for digging that up, Gorki!

This is what I understood from the housing website, so if anyone has more accurate info then call me out, but...to my knowledge the new GC only has singles. The old GC is all suites...that includes single, double, triple, and quads (although the majority are singles and doubles I think...) Each suite has its own bathroom. So if you're lucky enough to get a single suite then you have your own bathroom. A double suite is two single rooms that share a bathroom (and a study, I think). Triple has three single rooms that share a bathroom, etc.

The bathrooms are also more private in the old GC... In the new GC you share a bathroom with ~8 people, in the old GC you only share a bathroom with your roommate, if you have one.

Doesn't the residency requirement just mean that you have to live on campus/in the Princeton area, not necessarily in the GC? Either way, I've committed and applied for housing in the Old Graduate College…I suppose it's worth putting up with cafeteria food for a year in order to meet more people outside my department.

Thanks for the info, Gorki. I've committed and actually decided to bite the bullet and requested to live in the old GC for the social aspect, and to avoid having to furnish an apartment. Makes the move easier too, I can basically just show up with a a suitcase and be good to go. I also have heard of students moving out of the GC into an apartment after a semester, so it's reassuring to know that you're not necessarily stuck there the entire year if you can't stand it.

I'm not so sure that having your BA and PhD from the same school is a thing of the past, at least not in my field (which is not neuroscience). I would never consider attending my undergrad for my PhD, even though it obviously offers a great research fit (since I began doing my research with the professors there). It sounds like UVA is the more convenient choice, since you're so familiar with the program and the people, but I would encourage you to challenge yourself in a new environment. Obviously you won't stay at UVA forever, and the experience adapting to a new program will serve you well in the future when you move yet again to find a job (assuming you're pursuing the academic route) and will make you a better, more well-rounded, more flexible academic (I think). If all of your professors are recommending you take the offer from Pitt, there must definitely be a good reason for it. Is going to a different program the only reason that they give for recommending Pitt?

Cool! I spent most of my undergrad in dorms and while I have fond memories, the idea of going back to the lifestyle after a period of independent living isn't very appealing (mostly the idea of having to share a bathroom with a floor of people and having to eat in a cafeteria). But I've committed (to a phd program, if that makes any difference in the housing process?) and can only hope for the best in the housing lottery, since I was told that off-campus living isn't really an option.

Has anyone already committed to an offer from Princeton? What are you guys thinking of doing for housing? Any sage advice from current students?

Bumping this for 2014. Given that housing is going through an overhaul with butler closing and the new apartments opening, can any current students speculate as to the chances of an incoming phd student getting a spot in a 2br apartment? Or will things stay the same with first years basically shut out of apartments and forced to live in the GC? Living in a dorm again sounds absolutely horrible. I'm overall super positive about my program and the university, but the graduate housing situation is a real turn-off.

This happened to me and I wasn't bitter about it, I got into a better-ranked program in the end. In my case it wasn't simply "poor research fit." I was first waitlisted by the school, which reviewed apps very early in the cycle. I heard through a contact that I had in the department that they worried that I would take an offer elsewhere and didn't want to spend the resources trying to recruit me. I was told to contact the department if I didn't get any other offers, in which case they would take me off the waitlist. I got into a top program, notified them, and the waitlist turned into a rejection. No hard feelings on either end, I've since been on good terms with members of that department. But it was, in fact, because they thought I was overqualified/going to go to a higher tier of grad programs. So it does happen.

Don't worry, they won't keep you from staying in the country to work or travel more after the grant. (However, if you go outside the country after then Fulbright won't pay for your return flight). When I was an ETA, a handful of fulbrighters from the year befor me stayed on. One of them was even working in the Fulbright office, so Fulbright was more than aware of their presence in the country. A handful of people from my cohort stayed on in the host country as well, others found similar work teaching English abroad. To my knowledge, the two-year rule is only enforced for Fulbrighters who come from abroad to complete a degree in the US, like TakeruK mentioned. Beat of luck! It's an amazing experience.

You'll still need antivirus software on a Mac. Even If you don't think you need it, every campus I've been on has required antivirus software on a Mac to be able to register it on the network. Not that I'm anti-Mac, I'm just sad that there are more and more viruses being written for their OS given it's growth in popularity.

Bottle your own beer in them!

I deferred an offer from last year so I'll be moving to the area for fall 2014. I know it's a little early to be posting in these forums since people probably haven't even begun submitting apps yet, but I wanted to ask about cell phone reception in Princeton. My current contract is about to expire and I want to make sure that whatever service provider I sign on with next will get good reception on and around campus. What works best? Any experience in particular with T-Mobile? I'm considering switching because the plans are cheaper (and there are no long-term contracts), but I heard that their service is shoddy outside of big cities.

I'm getting my PhD in a modern language, though it's not German. PhD programs in languages are first and foremost meant to churn out scholars who conduct research on cultural production in the target language (be it literature, film, visual studies, etc). You have to have a very strong interest in studying these topics, as all of your coursework (and later generals and thesis) are going to be on these topics or similar ones. You should also have a strong interest in critical theory and cultural studies, as you'll be trained in them and expected to use them in your work. Exceptions to this are linguistics tracks in foreign language departments, though they're not as common and require a background in linguistics which you didn't say you have. Either way, you should only consider a PhD in a language if you want to be a professor at a university, which means teaching and. research. You said you we interested in creative writing, translation, interpretation, etc. These aren't things that you'll be doing as a PhD student in language (they're not your primary responsibilities, sure you'll most likely have to translate at some point but only because your research requires it). I'm not trying to be discouraging, you should be aware of these things before you apply so as not to waste money on the application fees and to avoid potential disappointment if you were to start one of these programs. Also, translation/interpretation is extremely difficult in the United States, and German is in especially low demand. I did translation on the side for a while. Most work is freelance and doesn't pay much, there's no way I could have survived on it as my primary source of income. If this field appeals to you, you would have to work in Europe and it would be very difficult. An average translator/interpreter needs to know around 4 or 5 languages fluently to be competitive and eek out a modest living, and many of those languages will have to be less common (think Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, etc). It sounds like you really want to do this because you want to perfect your German language skills and later use them in a non-academic career. However, language teaching isn't a focus of a PhD program as near-perfect language skills are basically a prerequisite for non-native speaking grad students like me. There are definitely easier, less expensive, less stressful ways to work on your language skills. The best would be to simply move to a German-speaking country and find work for a while. You'll be totally immersed culturally and linguistically, have opportunities to travel, etc. The easiest way to do this is with Fulbright, as others have mentioned, because they set everything up for you. However, when I did my Fulbright ETA I was really surprised by how many of the expats I met had just moved to the country and found work. It might sound intimidating, but it's totally doable. If money isn't an issue, look into a Middlebury program (though I think they have scholarships too). Also, PhD programs in languages don't usually focus on creative writing. Creative writing programs in foreign languages aren't common because the MFA is an American invention. Among the departments that do have such a program, it's usually either a certificate or an MA (read: cash cow). For example, NYU has a masters in creative writing in Spanish, but it's a very unique program. The PhD program, however, does not include creative writing. I haven't looked at the web pages for the departments you listed, but I would really be surprised if they offered coursework/mentoring in creative writing.

Ah, it's true making that contact can be intimidating. Well it was worth a shot trying to see if anyone on the board's deferred and had to fill out one of these. I have to admit that it's a very unique/specific circumstance. Thanks for the reply!