French PhD applications - Fall 2019

[Ellekori]

@frenchlover congratulations to your friend. That’s great news. Are they taking it? 

[Laetitia]

Princeton sent some emails this afternoon, but I believe not everyone heard back. 

[Frenchlady]

Nothing since the last post??? any news from any universities? On my side, I am still waiting on LSU and UVA... it is nerve breaking. 

[Jarir]

hi folks,

I was admitted to the university of Wisconsin. haven't accepted the offer yet but given that I only applied to a few programs, only one other interviewed me and waiting for their decision. I'm then 90% certain I'm going to Wisconsin. Do y'all think it's OK to show up at the department to say hi at this point? I only live a few hours away!! Y'know how the excitement makes you curious to get a feel of the future premises...

congrats for those admitted, good patience for those that are waitlisted, and no hard feelings this time around for those not admitted, they'll be other times where you can perfect your application strategies!!!

cheers 

 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Best of luck with your decisions everybody! Totally relate to the stress some of y'all might be going thru but it will be fine! Hugs.

[Étudiantdefrançais11]

Hello all! Has anyone heard from Vanderbilt? Still Waiting to hear back on a decision. Also, pros and cons of going to a PhD programs straight from a B.A (thus earning a Masters as a stage). Please help a fellow student out! Got a lot of offers and am struggling to make a decision! 

[LOiseauRouge]

Hey @Étudiantdefrançais11! Not sure if this is what you're looking for - but I had to choose between an MA and a PhD, both with generous funding. I talked to a couple professors and some peers in the MA program and decided to go straight to the PhD. My personal reasoning was that the PhD offers me more seminar choices and I would be able to get to know the professors I would be working with for my dissertation earlier on. I liked the idea of becoming established sooner than I would if I transferred in with the MA (though I do know people who have done MAs and are now in PhD programs and loved their MAs and love their doctoral programs). Ultimately, since I want to be a professor, the PhD is my goal. I am slightly intimidated since there will be people with MAs as well, but I heard after the first year of the PhD it levels out alright. 

[frenchphd]

Actually, when you join a top doctoral program in French with an MA in hand, what happens is that you must redo an MA at that PhD program. What is good about doing this (two MAs) is that you get to develop knowledge of a larger amount of material than you could with just the PhD program. This also gives you the chance to develop mastery in an additional field, by taking a lot of courses outside the department. Who should do this double MA route depends on the person -- there are people who are very well-trained, thanks to their undergrad programs. These people don't need to get two MAs.

There are also other good reasons to get a (funded) MA first: developing your research project over time; understanding conferences and publishing in academia; and building connections and having colleagues outside of your PhD institution. 

Edited March 21, 2019 by frenchphd

[issaquah]

Finally decided on Cornell Romance Studies. For anyone interested, here is what factored into my decision and ultimately tipped the scales in their favor:

1. Departmental emphasis on theory. I am much less interested in a literary formation than I am a theoretical one. The ability to serve on the editorial board of diacritics is also a big plus, as is the School for Criticism and Theory. 
2. Extreme flexibility wrt course requirements and committee composition. The department seems to encourage projects that are inherently interdisciplinary, and the graduate courses that I visited were themselves all extremely interdisciplinary. This is important to me given my research interests: the ability to work closely with scholars in other departments (History, Comp Lit, etc) will, I believe, be important for my research.
3. Strong recent placement record and ongoing departmental efforts to modernize their professionalization. The department is small, as is the cohort. It appeared that I would receive more attention when I went on the job market than I might in a larger department. Apparently, they are also changing their exam structure to be more in tune with the evolving academic job market. 
4. Location. Living in a small town presents fewer extracurricular distractions than studying in a major city, but Ithaca is still within a 4.5-hour drive of NYC. This will allow me to focus on my studies and on relationships within the school and my field, while also not depriving me entirely of professional and academic resources in the NYC area. 
5. Size. This goes hand-in-hand with what I said about placement, but a more intimate department presents unique advantages, especially in terms of building an academic and professional network. The department brings in tons of guest speakers, and graduate students there often have the opportunity to meet with them over dinner and build more personal relationships than they might in a larger department in a big city, where they might have to fight to be noticed. More broadly, I also got the sense that everyone knew everyone in the department, which I liked. 

There were more things that factored in, obviously, but these are the ones that stood out. I have noticed that relatively few people here have applied to Cornell, either this year or in the past, so I wanted to offer my reflections for those making their decisions in the future. While I was initially put off by the location, I really believe that the department and the school will be a perfect fit for what I want to do. 

Best of luck to everyone else! 

 

[Marcin]

Anyone from Emory or who applied there? Are all those phds so theoretic-centred or is there more freesom to do what you actually want?

[xinyu_uynix]

reviving this thread to ask if anyone here has experience with Princeton:

I'm an international student based in Southeast Asia so will likely not be able to fly out for the mandatory campus visit.

1. Would it be appropriate for me to reply as such, explaining the circumstances with last-minute visa and plane tickets, and ask if I could schedule Skype interviews with key faculty members (should I suggest any or wait for the DGS to reply with specific names?) as well as the graduate studies committee?

2. What questions did you ask, or now think that you should have asked in your interviews? 

any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[frenchphd]

Hey there,

Princeton, like Yale and Harvard, has deep pockets. They will pay for your flight, no matter how expensive. You will put yourself at a significant disadvantage if you do not go. Just apply for a visa as soon as possible. If you do not even try to make the effort, it will not look good.

[xinyu_uynix]

thanks a lot for the advice @frenchphd ended up emailing the DGS and expressing my desire to attend, providing that I secure a visa.

On 1/20/2020 at 4:20 PM, frenchphd said:

Hey there,

Princeton, like Yale and Harvard, has deep pockets. They will pay for your flight, no matter how expensive. You will put yourself at a significant disadvantage if you do not go. Just apply for a visa as soon as possible. If you do not even try to make the effort, it will not look good.

would really appreciate it if anyone has experience interviewing with Princeton!! If not, any school in person