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Dear Gradcafé-ers, You have all probably noticed that results are coming in and that some of us are freaking out and starting to think about MA's that have not yet met their deadlines. I am one of them. I am pretty confident my not getting into any PhD program is largely due to my state of novice researcher which is, in turn, emphasized by my lack of experience in the field of research and dissertation-writing. An MA of English is the degree I am aiming at now, in order to get a feeling of what graduate studies really are and in order to have a more solid profile. However, I am worried that my BA focusing on French (comparative) literature (& humanities) will not allow me to get into any program. The fact is: I was born in the US and initially grew up there (or "here", for most of you reading from the North American soil), but my French mother fled the country of freedom (yikes) due to divorcing my father. Consequently I have been brought up mostly surrounded by French literature and culture since the age of six despite more or less maintaining my fluency in my native language. My only undergrad-level knowledge of anglophone literature comes from personal readings, a few critiques on the web and a few semesters of actual American/English literature classes at my school. By the way, I hope having studied these few classes at the Sorbonne will help me a little in this process. In other words: I fear I am a weak candidate even for an MA, and I really don't want to enter any other program like American studies or another interdisciplinary degree (which might also be a problem anyway since I haven't bathed in the US's culture since almost forever apart from my short visitings throughout the years, and since I don't think a PhD adcom will really value those degrees). I do aim at a rather flexible PhD in the end though, and want to use all of my interests for politics, sociology on top of UK, US and FR literature in my research. However, as I said, I think doing an MA of English is the smartest choice. Feel free to disagree on this! So the questions are: will schools sniff and despise my all-French education? Do you know of other MA graduates who came from another country and did not have any particularly strong studies in Anglophone literature prior to being admitted? Do you think I would be lost and miserable if I were accepted somewhere while not having read The Scarlet Letter yet and having only devoured To Kill a Mockingjay(bird--jk) last summer? Also, if we consider having read the books is not the only parameter, I think of how, since I was a teen, I was told about the Lumières and all the historical contexts that surrounded the literature I've been studying over here. So my issue is not only that I haven't read all the stuff, but rather that I don't have a solid intuition about all the stuff. Am I screwed........... down to the French grounds and doomed to never being able to fulfill my dream of studying English in the United States of America that saw me be born? (See how I avoided being offensive?) Thanks!

Hi everyone! This is my first topic (and post) so hopefully I'm doing this right. Im just looking for any advice right now with regards to the decisions I'm going to have to make next year that I'm very nervous about. Right now I'm doing my undergrad in Neuroscience at the University of Toronto and my plan was always (if med school didn't happen) to do a Masters in Genetics or Developmental Bio. I started looking at some other programs and then one thing led to another and I stumbled upon this gem of a program at UPMC-Sorbonne University: http://www.master.bmc.upmc.fr/en/02_international/01_BioDev/index.php (International Master: From Molecular Developmental Biology to Biomedicine, Evolution and Systems Biology) I've always wanted to do a PhD in France (partially because of the cultural enhancements) but mostly because the 3-4year research intense EU PhD sounds a lot more appealing than the 5-7 year teaching/researching/networking/starving slog we have here. Im just assuming a Masters in France would better prepare me for a PhD there too. My main concerns now are: 1. Can I get in (cumulativeGPA: 3.52/4 - annualGPA: 3.88/4 - 1 publication in the works - 2 research paid internships) 2. Can a foreigner make enough connections and get enough publications to secure a PhD position? 3. UofT (and many canadian schools) pay their masters students - are non-paid masters "a cut-below" 4. Is this school any good? It seems to maybe be the best research University in all of France but the rankings are all over the place (but that may just be a result of anglo-bias) 5. Could I come back to Canada - maybe try the UK? NOTE: I have no desire to ever live in America so that "weakness" of EU programs not being respected there isn't really relevant to me. Thanks SO MUCH to anyone who can give me any advice or input Have a great day!