Advice from current French MA/Ph.D students

[JoeySsance]

Bonjour à tous.

It could very well be that this thread will be even more inactive than the Fall 2011 French applicants thread I created... but on the off-chance that there are current French MA/Ph.D students still checking out the grad café, I think it might be nice to be in touch!

I don't really have any specific questions at the moment. I'm just hoping someone will drop by and say hi, tell us which program they're in, psyche us up for grad school and maybe offer a little advice. Absolutely all currently attending French MA/Ph.D students, current applicants and people in related fields (e.g. comp lit), attending or hoping to attend any program are welcome!!

À bientôt (...j'espère)

joeySsance

[ondine]

Mouais je suis à Yale si vous avez des questions...

My advice would be to look at the job list right now, because these are dark times... French departments are contracting (SUNY Albany just closed its language departments altogether) so my advice is get a French PhD if you absolutely must and can't imagine your life otherwise. I love my program, but I'm really uncertain about my future. I'm not sure I would have done a PhD at all if I had known how dire the job market is. That's not very uplifting, but I wish I had looked at the job postings when I was applying so that I knew exactly what I was up against. I thought if I went to Yale/Columbia/Princeton, I would be guaranteed a job. And, well, things are worse than I thought.

You should definitely ask the DGS and Chair of departments you're researching about their placement and what they project the market will do. I also recommend talking to junior faculty about this because they were on the market more recently, and older grad students in the program who are currently on the market.

Edited October 13, 2010 by ondine

[JoeySsance]

Thanks for your candid remarks, Ondine !

Would you mind sharing your impression of Yale's program so far ? Are you happy there ? Is it true that Yale's French students are more on the competitive side ? What were the departmental visits like there and at other places to which you were admitted ? And to end this barrage of questions (...for now): what are some of the reasons you chose Yale over the other programs you were considering ?

It'd be cool to hear from other current students and applicants.