Spanish 2020

[ProfeWags]

On 2/24/2020 at 4:36 PM, ProfeWags said:

I guess that means a) I'm on an unofficial waitlist, waiting to see if their first round of applicants don't accept, b) I'm rejected but they haven't gotten around to sending them out yet. I guess I could send them an email to ask.

I finally got up the nerve to email Davis, they said that they sent out the first round of acceptances and will get back to me towards the end of the month if there is still space in the program. Obviously disappointed, it's my top choice, but it's better than being outright rejected, I guess.

[SlyManuel]

18 hours ago, María de Zayas said:

If you could chose between an Ivy League, fully-funded, PhD program or a Mst in Modern Languages of one year, also fully funded in Oxford. Which one would you choose? Also... I'm going to the Golden Age track.

 

It really depends on the Ivy for sure. But I think that I would always choose the fully funded PhD. It also depends on your career plans and where you can achieve them. 

[coffeeortea]

6 hours ago, SlyManuel said:

It really depends on the Ivy for sure. But I think that I would always choose the fully funded PhD. It also depends on your career plans and where you can achieve them. 

Which Ivys would you personally privilege? Just curious!

[María de Zayas]

Let's say...

Harvard vs. Oxford = 
Yale vs. Oxford = 
Princeton vs. Oxford = 
Brown vs. Oxford = 
... etc

Again, it's only one year master, but... It's Oxford.

Edited March 5, 2020 by María de Zayas

[SlyManuel]

On 3/4/2020 at 6:46 PM, coffeeortea said:

Which Ivys would you personally privilege? Just curious!

 

 

8 hours ago, María de Zayas said:

Let's say...

Harvard vs. Oxford = 
Yale vs. Oxford = 
Princeton vs. Oxford = 
Brown vs. Oxford = 
... etc

Again, it's only one year master, but... It's Oxford.

I personally hold Brown in a high regard, as well as Princeton (as long as you are not a Caribbeanist). I would avoid Yale at all cost, even if that was the only one that accepted me. As for Harvard, I am not too crazy about the program but you have to admit that the name carries a lot of weight and prestige. In this dynamic between Oxford vs X-Ivy, I would definitely choose Brown (always), seriously consider Princeton, Harvard and Oxford for me are pretty equal. Yale is a NO for me. Seriously, that department has a lot of problem and simply switching some professors around but keeping them is very problematic for me. That just shows that they care about name recognition not the safety of their graduate students.

Although not mentioned, I do like Cornell a lot and Columbia, though talking to some of the grad students made me nervous about it. 

[Multicolormagic]

Hi all! I'm another 2020 Spanish PhD applicant. This is a random question, and it's not a very important one, but I've got two campus visits coming up soon and I'm wondering about everything I possibly could be, so-- Does anyone know what language to use during the campus visit? I don't know if I should go up to people and speak to them in Spanish or in English, or if it's different for professors vs. grad students. When I had phone calls with professors at these universities, some of them very conspicuously used Spanish, like they started out in English and then kind of cleared their throat and started speaking Spanish, and some used just English. It doesn't matter either way, but I'm curious!

[xolo]

4 hours ago, Multicolormagic said:

 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by xolo

[Bleep_Bloop]

On 3/3/2020 at 6:08 PM, María de Zayas said:

If you could chose between an Ivy League, fully-funded, PhD program or a Mst in Modern Languages of one year, also fully funded in Oxford. Which one would you choose? Also... I'm going to the Golden Age track.

 

Assuming you have already been accepted at both, the funded PhD. This has little to do with prestige, you're comparing five years of funding to one. Furthermore, in academia, a masters doesn't count for much because it isn't a terminal degree. A Mst from Oxford may help prepare you for a PhD, but if you already have an offer from an ivy then I recommend you take it. An option you might consider is asking the PhD program to defer your acceptance for a year so you can take advantage of the Mst offer. I have seen this done.

[Bleep_Bloop]

12 hours ago, Multicolormagic said:

Hi all! I'm another 2020 Spanish PhD applicant. This is a random question, and it's not a very important one, but I've got two campus visits coming up soon and I'm wondering about everything I possibly could be, so-- Does anyone know what language to use during the campus visit? I don't know if I should go up to people and speak to them in Spanish or in English, or if it's different for professors vs. grad students. When I had phone calls with professors at these universities, some of them very conspicuously used Spanish, like they started out in English and then kind of cleared their throat and started speaking Spanish, and some used just English. It doesn't matter either way, but I'm curious!

Not different for professors vs. grad students, just follow their lead. If I'm unsure because I'm the one starting the conversation, I default to Spanish or Portuguese depending on their specialization.

[Bleep_Bloop]

On 3/4/2020 at 6:46 PM, coffeeortea said:

Which Ivys would you personally privilege? Just curious!

This depends entirely on your research interests. For a Latin Americanist, Princeton, Columbia, or Penn. I would say that the exception to this is Yale, which it would be best to avoid regardless of specialization. I won't go into detail, but Google it if you're curious. There have been years in which they haven't been able to recruit a single student.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Bleep_Bloop

[coffeeortea]

26 minutes ago, Bleep_Bloop said:

This depends entirely on your research interests. For a Latin Americanist, Princeton, Columbia, or Penn. I would say that the exception to this is Yale, which it would be best to avoid regardless of specialization. I won't go into detail, but Google it if you're curious. There have been years in which they haven't been able to recruit a single student.

Right. Interesting. Thanks for your input! I’m a peninsularist, and I’m looking at Princeton, Cornell, and Yale (among some other non-ivies). I’ve already pretty much decided Yale is out, but now the decision will likely come down to Princeton vs Cornell. 

[caeiro]

1 hour ago, Bleep_Bloop said:

This depends entirely on your research interests. For a Latin Americanist, Princeton, Columbia, or Penn. I would say that the exception to this is Yale, which it would be best to avoid regardless of specialization. I won't go into detail, but Google it if you're curious. There have been years in which they haven't been able to recruit a single student.

And for peninsularists?

[María de Zayas]

I think I'll pick the Ivy in the end. Would love to hear your experience, if you have done any study in the UK, though.

Regarding the Ivys. I had a lot of respect for Yale, especially on the colonial track, but I've heard it's a disaster lately. I hope they recover. Particularly, I have no interest in Harvard. I heard that they are very culturalists and I don't share that vision. The same goes for Princeton, but I don't have many references from the department (I didn't even apply), so I can't comment. Brown seems like a pretty healthy place to go to grad school; I think that reason only would be enough to go. UPenn seems like a good place and actually something to consider but I have heard its faculty is mostly male. That discourages me, in general. I have heard that going to Columbia is too expensive (housing costs), and that it is one of the most stressful environments, but isn't grad school always stressful?

[hanxiaobojing]

22 hours ago, SlyManuel said:

 

 

I personally hold Brown in a high regard, as well as Princeton (as long as you are not a Caribbeanist). I would avoid Yale at all cost, even if that was the only one that accepted me. As for Harvard, I am not too crazy about the program but you have to admit that the name carries a lot of weight and prestige. In this dynamic between Oxford vs X-Ivy, I would definitely choose Brown (always), seriously consider Princeton, Harvard and Oxford for me are pretty equal. Yale is a NO for me. Seriously, that department has a lot of problem and simply switching some professors around but keeping them is very problematic for me. That just shows that they care about name recognition not the safety of their graduate students.

Although not mentioned, I do like Cornell a lot and Columbia, though talking to some of the grad students made me nervous about it. 

Hi, I am also a fan of Cornell and Columbia. But I am curious about what problems make you nervous? Thank you! 

[theatergeek]

On 3/6/2020 at 4:29 PM, caeiro said:

And for peninsularists?

I also want to know

[senorbrightside]

3 hours ago, theatergeek said:

I also want to know

Same, in case I reapply next cycle. 

[coffeeortea]

Hey guys-- I got into Stanford! I'm super excited, but with the university closed because of the coronavirus case I'm not sure if I'll be able to visit... I'm looking mostly at Cornell, Princeton, and Stanford as my top choices right now I think. I've officially heard back from all the places I applied to now, which is a really weird feeling. 

[Bleep_Bloop]

On 3/6/2020 at 4:29 PM, caeiro said:

And for peninsularists?

This isn't my area, so I can't say. The best advice to find a good fit is to browse faculty profiles online and read their research to see if it excites you. Besides some obvious markers like period, region, or genre keep in mind whether you would like to focus more on literature / cultural / visual studies because the field has splintered a great deal in this regard.

[caeiro]

On 3/6/2020 at 11:28 PM, María de Zayas said:

I think I'll pick the Ivy in the end. Would love to hear your experience, if you have done any study in the UK, though.

Regarding the Ivys. I had a lot of respect for Yale, especially on the colonial track, but I've heard it's a disaster lately. I hope they recover. Particularly, I have no interest in Harvard. I heard that they are very culturalists and I don't share that vision. The same goes for Princeton, but I don't have many references from the department (I didn't even apply), so I can't comment. Brown seems like a pretty healthy place to go to grad school; I think that reason only would be enough to go. UPenn seems like a good place and actually something to consider but I have heard its faculty is mostly male. That discourages me, in general. I have heard that going to Columbia is too expensive (housing costs), and that it is one of the most stressful environments, but isn't grad school always stressful?

can you elaborate on h's being "culturalist" — curious to know more.

[sarahma789]

On 2/5/2020 at 8:54 AM, mariposa16 said:

Hi Vivian2020! I'm new to this thread...currently freaking out about decisions, but I wanted to comment on your post. I did not apply to UVA for grad school, but I did spend my four years of undergrad there. I absolutely loved LOVED UVA and Charlottesville. I never looked at it as a small city because there were always things to do--cultural events, concerts, sporting events, etc. It is a gorgeous area in the Blue Ridge Mountains perfect for nature/hiking lovers. In terms of distance, its about 2 hours from DC which really isn't that bad if you have a car (I made the drive many times as I'm originally from northern VA). There's also the AMTRAC (train), and I think people still do ride shares. Don't cross UVA off your list if you're worried about Charlottesville because it has much more to offer than what you see on just a google search. Also, UVA is a prestigious school and does attract quite a few big names. 

Hi there, I know I'm a little late to this thread but I've been accepted to UVA for the Linguistics MA and I'm strongly considering it, but the problem is there is no funding from the school. So I would have to work. Can you share any insight on trying to work and live and study in Charlottesville? Thank you!

[ProfeWags]

On 3/3/2020 at 8:55 PM, ProfeWags said:

I finally got up the nerve to email Davis, they said that they sent out the first round of acceptances and will get back to me towards the end of the month if there is still space in the program. Obviously disappointed, it's my top choice, but it's better than being outright rejected, I guess.

Rejected from Davis based on undergraduate GPA. Which is a bummer, because I have two Masters and 8 years of teaching experience which I thought showed that my undergrad GPA isn't a reflection of who I am now. Oh well, maybe it's all for the best. Good luck to you all. 

[Danny Melendez]

Hello, all!

I hope everyone is doing well amid the COVID-19 outbreak. I would like your help! I am currently debating between two options: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign & University of Arizona in Tucson. I currently live in Orange County, CA, which makes both options very affordable considering that I plan to live on stipends. Any insights on both programs/cities? I would appreciate any opinion on academics and cost of living, or any relevant info that you could share. I am a Venezuelan individual seeking to start an MA in Hispanic Linguistics. 

Thank you in advance! (Me estoy volviendo loco en esto de decidir, así que aprecio muchísimo cualquier opinión)

Danny. 

[mariposa16]

Hi everyone!

I accepted my offer to Tulane after falling in love with it during my visit! Will anyone else be accepting their offer?? I’d love to chat about housing!!