Help me decide between programs

[MarcelCachin]

Hello, 

I am a senior in college (B.A) and I have just gotten through the application process for French history. Out of the five programs I applied to, I got in to three and I'm having trouble deciding between them. I would appreciate anyone's input about which program they think is best and why. I applied to: Harvard, NYU, CUNY, UCSC and UCLA. I've been accepted to NYU, CUNY and UCSC, rejected from Harvard and have not yet heard anything from UCLA. I'm going to include what I see as the main pros and cons for each program as I see them. I appreciate any advice you all can give

NYU: 

Pros:

• Very generous stipend, including funding for summer archival research
• Program with a specific focus on French history 

Cons:

• Pretty good fit, but no one doing exactly what I am
• Few teaching opportunities

CUNY

Pros:

• Lots of teaching opportunities
• Very good fit with POI, who seems to like me

Cons:

• Smaller stipend, funding outside of stipend less available 
• Perhaps too much teaching?

UCSC

Pros:

• Opportunity to teach
• Very good fit with POI, who also has a good deal of personal prestige as a historian

Cons:

• Smaller stipend, funding outside of stipend less available 
• Perhaps too much teaching?
• Far away from all of my friends family etc

Edited February 15, 2018 by MarcelCachin

[psstein]

You shouldn't worry about whether or not the faculty do exactly what you do. Faculty advise dissertations out of their direct areas all the time.

It's dependent on what you want to do afterward. My inclination is that NYU is the best option based on both prestige and access to resources (i.e. NYU is unbelievably wealthy and has the ability to offer you things like summer funding).

I would strongly suggest looking at placement and then making a decision.

[narple]

NYU. They are stacked for French studies and special fellowship opportunities for those working on France. It’s a great program.

[OHSP]

1 hour ago, MarcelCachin said:

Hello, 

I am a senior in college (B.A) and I have just gotten through the application process for French history. Out of the five programs I applied to, I got in to three and I'm having trouble deciding between them. I would appreciate anyone's input about which program they think is best and why. I applied to: Harvard, NYU, CUNY, UCSC and UCLA. I've been accepted to NYU, CUNY and UCSC, rejected from Harvard and have not yet heard anything from UCLA. I'm going to include what I see as the main pros and cons for each program as I see them. I appreciate any advice you all can give

NYU: 

Pros:

• Very generous stipend, including funding for summer archival research
• Program with a specific focus on French history 

Cons:

• Pretty good fit, but no one doing exactly what I am
• Few teaching opportunities

 

I'm a current student at NYU (and am happy to talk via PM if you have other questions. I'm not entirely sure where the "few teaching opportunities" thing comes from (I've heard it before), but I was offered teaching in the second semester of my first year along with everyone else who applied/asked for teaching and plenty of upper year students have taught their own courses over the summer, etc. I think the confusion might come from the fact that we don't have to teach in order to receive a stipend--teaching's paid on top of the stipend. So it's true that you won't be "guaranteed" a heavy teaching load but that's, for the most part, a good thing. At least in the first three years, teaching here means taking one or two classes a week or being a course assistant/grader.

Would you be in the joint French/history program at NYU? One thing to keep in mind with that program is that it does seem like people are pretty split between the two departments, like you'll take a history methods class in first semester and a French studies methods class in the second and therefore basically have two cohorts--I'm only in the history department but from what I can tell having both the French institute and the history department to draw on seems like a positive thing. Another thing to keep in mind with NYU is that the summer funding isn't great (it's only $3000 or so [I know that might seem generous but it'll barely cover your rent here]) which means that you kind of need to put away money throughout the school year and/or be able to get summer grants and fellowships, but I've found that very do-able. 

Even if you find a school where a potential advisor is doing exactly what you're doing you can't guarantee that you'll get along with them, etc--I think it's more important here to make sure that you find someone who has a good record as an advisor. If that's your CUNY POI then CUNY might have an edge, but if you feel comfortable, ask that person whether there would be opportunities to work with them if you attended a consortium school--people understand that you need to make the best academic and financial decisions for your circumstances. It's very easy to take classes at CUNY (and vice versa) from NYU. 

Edited February 15, 2018 by OHSP

[TMP]

Have you visited the campuses yet?  Don't make a decision until you do. You'll need to see if you get along with the faculty and students in person.

[hats]

5 hours ago, MarcelCachin said:

Cons:

• Pretty good fit, but no one doing exactly what I am
• Few teaching opportunities

Are these not both plusses??

Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, but—with a possible exception for people who are aiming first and foremost at being community college professors (or high school teachers or certain state branch campus jobs? none of these are my own goal so I'm not so familiar)—maximizing teaching is not a goal for your first three years or so of graduate school. If you have low to minimal teaching in those first couple years, you can still easily (and may have to) teach A LOT later, but you'll be set up for a much more competitive research profile.

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

 

6 hours ago, MarcelCachin said:

Cons:

• Pretty good fit, but no one doing exactly what I am
• Few teaching opportunities

I strongly second what @hats said. To me these two are both very important pros.

Personally, I don't want to see myself in a situation where someone in my program （either faculty members or my colleagues) is doing "exactly what I am". (I wanna be creative, to begin with) I'd instead prefer to be in a program where my POIs understand what I wanna do, can inspire me to think outside the box, and surprise me, challenge me, and push me to constantly expand my horizons. I think, more than often, intellectual sparks are ignited by the communication (if not clash, haha) between different minds.    

And, I understand and admire your passion for teaching, but I think the less teaching load (as an obligation) you have as a PhD student, the more time and energy you'd have for your own research and development as a professional historian, and I think schools (at least those I applied to) understand that too. For instance, when Columbia called to offer me admission, they also wanted to assure me that the teaching load is light and even suggested ways for me to make it even lighter, so i can have more time for my own research. When I was put in touch with current students at UChicago, they told me similar things, something like "(UChicago is a wonderful place for reasons no.1, 2, 3.. , plus the teaching load is acceptable here and you'd totally have time for your own research!"

Just my two cents~

[rising_star]

NYU unless there are clear red flags when you visit.

[dr. t]

11 hours ago, rising_star said:

NYU unless there are clear red flags when you visit.

This is the correct answer.

[derphilosoph]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum so looking forward to learning from everyone!

I have to echo previous sentiments in support of NYU. Given that two of the universities are in NYC, and one is in a relatively expensive location in CA, the financials are definitely better at NYU. I imagine they have even more opportunities for funding for travel/conferences. With Berenson, Shovlin, and Chapman, you've got plenty of opportunities to work with leading scholars. And having no professor fit exactly fit your research profile sounds like an ideal situation. Or do you think that your interests in French history are too different from those professors?