French PhD applications - Fall 2019

[carax]

Hello all!

I'm currently a teaching assistant in French (I'm french) in a pretty good university and I'm going to apply to PhD programs in the fall (I'm really interested in narratology, Nouveau Roman, film and poetry, so NYU and U of Chicago might be interesting)

I wanted to start an application thread to have an idea of what kind of universities people are applying to.

So: where are you applying to and why?

[DeNovo]

Thinking of applying, but more likely will wait until Fall 2020 application season. I'm about to start a 9 month masters program in October at Cambridge in the UK, so I'm pretty sure I will have a stronger application if I wait until after I've written papers for this program and gotten to know my prospective recommenders.

At the moment, my top choices would be Duke, Yale, and UConn (though I'm still looking) because of my research interests. I'm interested in the concepts of inventing history and representations of culture (primarily in travel literature) and law and literature in the early modern period. I will probably also apply to IU because I did my undergrad there and I know from experience that the French department is really great and the faculty are very supportive and excellent in their respective areas. 

Where are you thinking of applying? 

FYI - I went to U Chicago, so if you have any questions about the campus or French there I'd be happy to help!

[frenchphd]

Here's some "inside" (not really) knowledge for all potential applicants:

-- Do not apply to Columbia -- they overenrolled by nearly 100% this year. By the same token, UPenn, which overenrolled last year, will be able to admit more candidates next year.

-- Chris Miller at Yale is retiring soon, and will not take new students, so if you want to study the Caribbean or Francophone Africa (excluding Francophone North Africa), look elsewhere. They will not admit you. Save your money. Same re: Howard Bloch for medievalists (look at NYU, Michigan instead). Edwin Duval (Renaissance) has already announced his phased retirement, so probably look at Princeton (Katie Chenoweth) for early modern studies (french as well as comp. lit).

-- NYU's placements have been terrible in the last two years (one person got a lecturer position, but that's it). There are few jobs, so it is worthwhile to attend smaller programs that can devote more time and resources to fewer people. 

-- Getting jobs is a lot about teaching experience these days. Even visiting positions really want to see that you have teaching experience, particularly at small liberal arts colleges. Places where you might get more teaching experience (Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, CUNY, Penn State) might be better places for finding an academic position ultimately. The market is smaller, but it's also changing. Can't say much about French, because it's so small and every year is somewhat different, but fields like English no longer just hire people from Harvard or Yale... Yale English in particular has done particularly poorly in placing people. Places like Rutgers and CUNY are producing students with desirable research portfolios. The old adage of "go to a top school or don't go" needs a second look.

(caveat: Obviously most of us do not go into PhD programs because we want a job. But it's nice to think about maximizing your chances of continuing this lifestyle.)

Edited August 28, 2018 by frenchphd

[chateaulafitte]

Other inside and brutally honest info:

- Inquire about placement. If a department has no placement information up, or if they are less than forthcoming (eg. "From 2003 to 2018, our graduates have found jobs at + list of institutions without job titles or dates ), run away. Having had graduates that found lectureships, VAPs, or other precarious positions for one year after graduation does not tell you anything about the ability of a program to place people in TT positions.

- It is tough to talk about institutions having bad placement, because there are so few jobs in the first place... (some institutions are still notoriously bad at placing their PhDs, though)

- Getting a job is indeed a lot about teaching. Nowadays, there aren't that many programs that don't make sure you have taught a wide range of courses. That being said, PhD students from top institutions might still get screwed during a campus visit because they don't correctly assess the gap in competence between a student at an Ivy or Public R1and students at a SLAC ranked below 50.

- At SLACs, if you have not taught language, you're pretty much toast. If your French is not native or near native (accent + grammar), also toast.

- Unless you are super creative, some research is just going to be harder to sell at SLACs (critical theory, narratology, OuLiPo, Medieval Studies, etc.). You will be expected to intermingle teaching and research, and these topics and fields, as great as they are, just don't appeal to most students outside of Ivies, R1, elite SLACs. Your grad school advisors will NOT know that and will encourage you to write a dissertation about Cixous and Derrida, or about La Légende dorée (again, not denying that there are interesting topics there - I'm saying they won't sell at many, if not most, institutions that hire). If you decide to go with topics like these, make sure you can market yourself as a generalist / someone versatile (you can achieve that through teaching survey courses or being able to produce appealing syllabi). It is hard to predict what will be in in a few years (eg. everyone was all about digital humanities a few years ago, not so much anymore), but some topics will always be harder to sell.

- This year, there are thus far zero Early Modern jobs (caveat: I haven't checked in a few days). Last year, there were just a few. There are no 20th C. French jobs. The majority of jobs is in Francophone studies, which is good news if you are interested in that and manage to do something original.

- This year is in fact the worst I have seen since 2009. Given the kind of talk I hear at my institution and elsewhere, I can tell you it's not going to get better. Some programs are getting shut down. People who retire are not replaced. If you go for a PhD in French, do excellent research that makes you proud. Expect that you won't get a job anyway.

Good luck to all!

 

[frenchphd]

^^ Right. And note that even within Francophone studies, what is fashionable changes. Right now it is good to work on the subsaharan Africa. In the last few years, North Africa has been quite popular, but now that most institutions have finished hiring, those jobs are also declining. Who knows what will be fashionable next -- all depends on current events! Don't bet on anything-- just work on whatever calls to you. It's somewhat useless to build yourself for the market, given you cannot predict it, but it may be worthwhile to not work on certain topics (early modern), or even if you do, relate them to contemporary junctures.

Also note that many jobs last year went to people who already had tenure-track jobs elsewhere, particularly the desirable ones located in or near cities (Scripps comes to mind). Given that students are not necessarily studying the humanities today, institutions often want the most experienced faculty members who can keep students in the humanities -- which often means professors with a lot of teaching experience.

Also if your aim is to go to a top-name school, which probably won't allow for a lot of teaching experience, you may want to go to an MA program first that makes you teach every semester. Many people who found jobs last year had teaching experience from these positions as well.

Edited September 26, 2018 by frenchphd

[Laetitia]

Hello!

"Do not apply to Columbia"

That's the only school I have decided to apply to. This is very scary!

I just graduated from a small liberal arts in Michigan (as an international student from Senegal and Cape Verde) with a Bachelor's in French (3.9 Gpa, phi beta kappa, honors, bla bla bla). Since June, I have been obsessing so crazily over my GRE scores, I have not spent enough time researching programs. My French professor recommended I apply to Columbia and NYU (she taught there) but it did not seem like NYU was quite the right fit for me. I am (very) interested in " la migritude", immigrants literature, diaspora, conflicts with identity and space, etc. I am having a hard time figuring out how to look for programs/schools that match my interests, so I would be very grateful to get more "insider" perspective. 

Also, saying that Columbia is over enrolled, does it mean they will not get any new PhD candidates? Do I stand a chance? 

Please Help! 

[awhiterussian]

On 11/10/2018 at 4:14 PM, Laetitia said:

Hello!

"Do not apply to Columbia"

That's the only school I have decided to apply to. This is very scary!

I just graduated from a small liberal arts in Michigan (as an international student from Senegal and Cape Verde) with a Bachelor's in French (3.9 Gpa, phi beta kappa, honors, bla bla bla). Since June, I have been obsessing so crazily over my GRE scores, I have not spent enough time researching programs. My French professor recommended I apply to Columbia and NYU (she taught there) but it did not seem like NYU was quite the right fit for me. I am (very) interested in " la migritude", immigrants literature, diaspora, conflicts with identity and space, etc. I am having a hard time figuring out how to look for programs/schools that match my interests, so I would be very grateful to get more "insider" perspective. 

Also, saying that Columbia is over enrolled, does it mean they will not get any new PhD candidates? Do I stand a chance? 

Please Help! 

It seems you have excellent credentials.  I would say definitely give it a shot.  Columbia is extremely competitive, it was my dream school, and I got rejected after being shortlisted for admission and interviewing there.  It is difficult to get in to any of the top tier programs without a masters as well, keep that in mind.  My program has accepted a total of 3-4 students out of 30+ with just a bachelors over the last six years.  

Aside from Columbia, I would consider UCLA, Emory, maybe Duke, Vanderbilt.  My department, CUNY Graduate Center, is very diverse in terms of specialties and very competitive, but we have at least 7 professors who have similar interests to yours, and we've just hired a full-time Cameroonian professor who specifically writes about diaspora and migritude.  

 

[Laetitia]

Thank you for your suggestions (Simon?). Yes, I do realize it will be even more difficult for me because I don't have a master's and I will most likely compete with people who have it and/or can supplement with experience or publications. 

I will definitely look up the schools you recommended. Your program's website does not have a lot of info on placement, what are your thoughts? 

Ps: Noticed Edouard Glissant's Tout- Monde event and wished I was there. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Laetitia

[HomewardBound]

Hi all! Good luck as this application season starts up. I applied last cycle, so I'm willing to answer questions about the process if you have any! 

[awhiterussian]

23 hours ago, Laetitia said:

Thank you for your suggestions (Simon?). Yes, I do realize it will be even more difficult for me because I don't have a master's and I will most likely compete with people who have it and/or can supplement with experience or publications. 

I will definitely look up the schools you recommended. Your program's website does not have a lot of info on placement, what are your thoughts? 

Ps: Noticed Edouard Glissant's Tout- Monde event and wished I was there. 

About placement, take a look at the pages on the website dedicated to Alumni and Recent Alumni.  CUNY places a heavy, heavy emphasis on teaching, which has greatly helped graduates of our program on the job market vs other schools where teaching is not mandatory.  Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.

I will be on the admissions committee, but that won't be until late January probably.  I'll have a better idea of what my department specifically looks for in an application.  

[Laetitia]

@awhiterussian Will definitely PM !

Edited November 14, 2018 by Laetitia

[pen.name]

On 8/28/2018 at 3:02 PM, frenchphd said:

Here's some "inside" (not really) knowledge for all potential applicants:

-- NYU's placements have been terrible in the last two years (one person got a lecturer position, but that's it). There are few jobs, so it is worthwhile to attend smaller programs that can devote more time and resources to fewer people. 

Their website says that they placed two people in tenure-track positions (one at Georgetown and one at St. Francis College) this year, so the above might be outdated?

Applying now so fingers crossed ? Does anyone know how schools weigh GRE scores?

[frenchphd]

GRE scores don't really matter as long as they aren't terrible. Most schools are more concerned with your analytical skills and your facility with French.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Guys I'm also available for any questions you might have! Should be writing a paper now but whatever.

Also I believe WashU is not taking anybody next year and that's a bummer. Was looking forward to not being the newbie anymore lol.

[HomewardBound]

@Carly Rae Jepsen You still exist! How's WashU treating you?

[madamoiselle]

Also willing to give advice if any of you all are thinking of coming to sunny CA I'm in final paper mode, but after this Monday, I'll be free to discuss anything in general. @Carly Rae Jepsen, @HomewardBound @awhiterussian happy to see y'all around here again, hope you all are doing well!

Best of luck to everybody ❤️

Edited December 13, 2018 by madamoiselle

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

On 12/12/2018 at 4:50 AM, HomewardBound said:

@Carly Rae Jepsen You still exist! How's WashU treating you?

Yup, still around lol. How you've been at Penn?

The program has been good, but intense at times. It's funny that I liked the fact that it was in a city but truly I have little time to explore the city anyway...oh well. But my neighborhood is really nice and the school too.

Hope you guys do well this exam season! Happy to see you here again too @madamoiselle !

 

[awhiterussian]

On 12/12/2018 at 5:50 AM, HomewardBound said:

@Carly Rae Jepsen You still exist! How's WashU treating you?

Emmanuel Bruno Jean Francois came to CUNY last month for a Glissant conference we put on and he was amazing!  He's so cool!  

 

Best of luck to all on exams!

[frenchphd]

Of course... re: Emmanuel. Françoise Lionnet's mentorship has launched some very successful careers.

[Frenchlady]

Good morning y'all,

I went through the process of application last year but had to turn down all univ because of personal matters. I am back in the application process again. I applied to LSU, Univ of virginia and Brown to enter a PhD program in French.

I really like the 3 univ I have applied to this round but I am not sure which one is best, in case I get accepted everywhere (my dream). Any piece of advice???

Good luck to all,

--

French Lady

 

[awhiterussian]

On 1/5/2019 at 1:55 AM, Frenchlady said:

Good morning y'all,

I went through the process of application last year but had to turn down all univ because of personal matters. I am back in the application process again. I applied to LSU, Univ of virginia and Brown to enter a PhD program in French.

I really like the 3 univ I have applied to this round but I am not sure which one is best, in case I get accepted everywhere (my dream). Any piece of advice???

Good luck to all,

--

French Lady

 

Depends on what you want to study!

[trotskor]

Hello all - I've been lurking along the interwebs, and noticed that this year's string seems a bit less lively than in years past.

I've been in France since 2013 when my grad program placed me as a language instructor at a Parisian university. I was offered a full time position here as a language and lit instructor, and exited my grad program in the US with an MA. I'm a medievalist by training. 

I'm returning to my field in the fall to finish my PhD research and applied to Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, UVa, Cambridge, and Oxford.

Good luck to everyone. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by trotskor

[lime]

Anyone else anxiously waiting? 

I wish you all the best!

[trotskor]

No one is nervous. Everyone is calm. You’re the only grad school applicant in the world feeling anxiety. 

[frenchphd]

Do post if you all are admitted into any school! It is exciting to get into programs.