French PhD 2020 Decisions

[Coleslaw]

Hi Everyone! This was actually @xinyu_uynix's idea, but I agreed and wanted to hear folks' plans or opinions during the decision making process. I'm probably not the best one to start the conversation because I applied to a mixture of French, Comparative Literature, and Romance (French/Spanish) PhD programs. But I think this is true for a couple of others as well. So far I've been accepted and offered funding at Penn State Comparative Literature and U of Michigan French. I've been accepted with funding but no official funding package yet at Comp. Lit. UC Berkeley. I'm interviewing / doing a visit weekend for USC 's PhD in French and Francophone studies track of the Comparative Studies in Lit. and Culture. I was rejected after an interview with Yale French. I was rejected at Emory Comp Lit, and I still haven't heard responses from NYU Comp Lit, or Romance Languages and Literature at Harvard or Duke (though I suspect those are rejections). How is everyone feeling about the decision making? I'm not making any final choices until after my visits. 

[MonsieurHonoré]

Hey hey! @Coleslaw Thanks for posting this to our previous forum! Im not making any decisions until after my visits either, although I’m pretty certain as to where I want to go 

[mllesaid]

Thanks @Coleslaw! Great idea, @xinyu_uynix!

Decision making is a little harder than I expected. I came in with a certain ranking of schools/programs, but the more I've heard back from schools, the more I've been reconsidering what I prioritize in a program.  I was accepted to UCLA and UC Berkeley for the French programs. I am also waitlisted at Columbia for French with a certificate in Comp Lit. I'm still torn and waiting for a few more visits/news ... stay local (Berkeley) or spread my wings (LA or NYC)???

I got rejected with no interview from Yale, and I haven't heard back from Harvard or Princeton. Congrats to those who got in – they're great programs!

[Volodine1]

Thanks for starting this thread! I applied to IFS (NYU) French, Columbia comp lit, CUNY comp lit, Penn French, Princeton French and Rutgers French. I’ve been rejected from Penn, waitlisted at Rutgers and interviewed at CUNY. My primary interests are 20th century and contemporary, trauma and environmental. Good luck to all!

[Coleslaw]

1 hour ago, mllesaid said:

Thanks @Coleslaw! Great idea, @xinyu_uynix!

Decision making is a little harder than I expected. I came in with a certain ranking of schools/programs, but the more I've heard back from schools, the more I've been reconsidering what I prioritize in a program.  I was accepted to UCLA and UC Berkeley for the French programs. I am also waitlisted at Columbia for French with a certificate in Comp Lit. I'm still torn and waiting for a few more visits/news ... stay local (Berkeley) or spread my wings (LA or NYC)???

I got rejected with no interview from Yale, and I haven't heard back from Harvard or Princeton. Congrats to those who got in – they're great programs!

@mllesaid Thinking about where in the country I want to be is a big part of things. I'm also just trying to figure out the right balance around stipend and quality of life as opposed to other factors like program fit, prestige, etc. I know living on a grad stipend after working a salaried career for a few years will be an adjustment, but I also want to feel like I'll get good support for research travel and conference travel, affording my living situation w/o loans or help from family, etc. That's one of my big concerns about UC Berkeley, though their CL program is incredible. Berkeley is quite expensive! 

[rueillydiderot]

Hi everyone, thanks for starting this thread! I am an early modernist and interested in history of ideas. I was rejected by Yale with an interview which I did not do very well (but Yale is not really my target school so not very sad about that), by Chicago and UC Berkeley both with no interview... Was accepted by Wisconsin-Madison, the professors there are perfect fit for my interest, but one POI is retiring, and the funding is terrible, so declined their offer. For now I'm hesitating between U Penn, Brown and NYU while still waiting to hear back from Princeton (was notified for an onsite visit but wasn't able to come and talked to DGS and POI via skype), not sure if I will have a chance as my POI there seems to be more interested in history of books and technology  ...

Cannot agree more with @mllesaid so difficult to decide what to prioritize ... for me a friendly community and accessible supervision are quite crucial, so a little in doubt whether in NYC I can still get enough attention and build up strong connection with other students. U Penn has an exchange program with Geneva, so feel like have a chance to do my pilgrimage to the home of Starobinski and so on... but their department is quite small and seems that research options are limited. Brown has more research options and provides the best funding package, but one need to teach for four years and I'm told by my friends that teaching will take up too much time and becomes a big trouble during the ABD years. So quite torn as many of you!

 

 

 

[MonsieurHonoré]

@rueillydiderot Did you get accepted at Brown too?? Perhaps we’ll meet in March! I’m an Early Modernist as well and I study the history of science and scientific representation in French lyric poetry. I love teaching, so Brown’s package is really appealing to me.  

Edited February 17, 2020 by MonsieurHonoré

[rueillydiderot]

12 hours ago, MonsieurHonoré said:

@rueillydiderot Did you get accepted at Brown too?? Perhaps we’ll meet in March! I’m an Early Modernist as well and I study the history of science and scientific representation in French lyric poetry. I love teaching, so Brown’s package is really appealing to me.  

Yes I was accepted to Brown!! But I will not attend the visit days because of visa and other issues ( haven't finished my job yet so not easy to take a few days off ... I'm sure though that we'll meet each other during the next few years (if in the end we are not both in Brown) if we both stick to early modern period! The POI at Penn told me that we are quite a minority and practically everyone knows everyone in the US ?

I love your research topics and I can see that Prof. Krause must be a perfect fit for you! I have a college friend majoring in English lit and she's also interested in the scientific representation in like Milton and other early modern English lit poets, but her focus is more on how scientific representation reflects and helps to construct the political ideology...

Enjoy your visit!

 

[MonsieurHonoré]

@rueillydiderot Thank you! Your research sounds super interesting as well! It’s always super nice to meet another Early Modernist!! I would indeed love to work with Prof Krause and I can’t wait to meet her in person. I understand the stuff about the work as well - since I teach almost every day at my current university, it’s a huge inconvenience to take off and find a substitute instructor. I had to be very judicious about where I wanted to visit for this reason. 

Based on the conferences I’ve been to, I can definitely confirm the fact that everyone knows everyone in our small community - one that I’m so glad to be a part of since everyone is so kind and humble! 

Edited February 18, 2020 by MonsieurHonoré

[presidentialpudding]

17 hours ago, rueillydiderot said:

Hi everyone, thanks for starting this thread! I am an early modernist and interested in history of ideas. I was rejected by Yale with an interview which I did not do very well (but Yale is not really my target school so not very sad about that), by Chicago and UC Berkeley both with no interview... Was accepted by Wisconsin-Madison, the professors there are perfect fit for my interest, but one POI is retiring, and the funding is terrible, so declined their offer. For now I'm hesitating between U Penn, Brown and NYU while still waiting to hear back from Princeton (was notified for an onsite visit but wasn't able to come and talked to DGS and POI via skype), not sure if I will have a chance as my POI there seems to be more interested in history of books and technology  ...

Cannot agree more with @mllesaid so difficult to decide what to prioritize ... for me a friendly community and accessible supervision are quite crucial, so a little in doubt whether in NYC I can still get enough attention and build up strong connection with other students. U Penn has an exchange program with Geneva, so feel like have a chance to do my pilgrimage to the home of Starobinski and so on... but their department is quite small and seems that research options are limited. Brown has more research options and provides the best funding package, but one need to teach for four years and I'm told by my friends that teaching will take up too much time and becomes a big trouble during the ABD years. So quite torn as many of you!

 

 

 

Hi there! 

I’m not in French but a similar subject (linguistics) and one thing in this really stood out to me; making your decision based on which college’s funding package has the least teaching. You will, without a doubt, be more competitive for search committees in 5 years’ time with more teaching experience not less. I would strongly encourage you not to base any decisions on this. Research is naturally important in academia but building up a teaching portfolio and philosophy is also important and trying to avoid teaching isn’t going to help. Also, you likely will have to apply for non-tenure track positions as well as tenure-track (due to the state of the job market) at the end of the PhD which will have a stronger teaching focus than research focus. 

Ive known colleagues on my course who pursued fellowships religiously (4 out of 5 years of their PhD was on fellowships). They couldn’t get jobs because of lack of teaching experience. They’re now building up that experience in high schools (shudder) before they reapply in a couple of years. 

I hope this hasn’t come off as preachy but I just wanted to give you my $0.02 and hopefully it will make you decision-making easier. I have a friend at Brown and they love it!

[MonsieurHonoré]

@presidentialpudding thanks for your post! I couldn’t agree more - teaching is crucial, and something that is often overlooked in the dissertation-writing phase. At my current university, we grad students were lucky enough to be a part of a recent job search for a candidate that they hired, and they were specifically looking for someone who was a seasoned veteran in teaching. The candidates who didn’t have enough of it on their CVs, or showed that they didn’t have enough through the talks that they gave were rejected. A year fellowship in my opinion is generous enough during the dissertation phase/ABD, but teaching experience and the personability gained from that is priceless. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by MonsieurHonoré

[rueillydiderot]

@presidentialpudding  @MonsieurHonoré Hey guys thanks for your advices! To be honest haven't thought about job market yet as very probably I will go back to my home country after PhD, but what you said give me a new perspective and I come to realise that teaching is definitely one important part of professional skill wherever I'll be in the future. Well, it's a good thing to know this early, but for the moment that just makes me hesitate even more ?