French PhD Programs (Fall 2012)

[Starlajane]

I love big cities, so I think I would be comfortable in either NYC or Philadelphia. I haven't visited Berkeley yet, but I've always seen myself as more of an east coast person. Plus I love the idea of being a train ride away from D.C., Boston, and the like. The thing about NYU is that their program is pretty much perfect for my academic interests. I got in to do the joint PhD in French literature/French studies and I'm most interested in looking at 19th (-20th) century literature, art, and culture through the perspective of political history. The joint program is about 1/2 lit and 1/2 civ and they focus almost exclusively on post-revolutionary France. Penn's program is great too, but it's more traditional, and I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing for me. I guess I'll know better after I visit NYU...

You've really got to visit Berkeley first; it is nothing like SoCal and San Fran is right across the bridge. And I say that being a diehard New Englander myself. Berkeley itself is suburban, though, so maybe it isn't a good fit in that regard. But I would be surprised if you didn't like it.

You will definitely know after you visit NYU. The thing that concerns me about NYC is the expense, which I think will be far greater than at UPenn. Vis-a-vis your interests, I think that most programs have that kind of focus: it's never straight up lit--culture and history are woven into every program, and a lot of programs have tracks that are divided into pre- and post-rev France (at least, UVA's program is). However, if NYU's program focuses specifically on the post-rev period, then you will definitely have more classes to choose from and more profs with whom to confer specifically about your interests. OTOH, with a more traditional program, your range may be broader, which can also prove to be an asset; I've learned a lot about nineteenth century French culture by going back to seventeenth century texts and topics and that research was not even for a French class, but a comp lit course.

But that's just me. Suffice to say, you have a tough choice ahead of you. Hope the aforementioned helps.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Starlajane

[JoeySsance]

Is this really true, for all French departments? Why wouldn't they just accept a candidate that they wanted to attend?

Mind you, I am seriously hoping that you are right, b/c if I get into the school with whom I have an interview this week, I will be over the moon! Still, I'm not going to get my hopes up; I am convinced that an interview means that they can always decide that I'm a completely inept dufus who looks better on paper than in person.

Hey Starlajane. It depends on the type of "interview." If you've been "shortlisted," i.e. invited to visit the school and told that their final decision will be made after the visit, while that's not a guaranteed admission in theory, in practice, it tends to be. (The other type of interview that comes to mind usually occurs earlier in the application season and if you had one of those, it probably would have been over the phone or via Skype and sometimes even in person if you happened to live near the school) The extent to which shortlist interviews should be considered likely offers of admission depends on several factors. I was in this situation for Columbia's French/Comp Lit PhD program last year. I brought along some formal attire just in case but it ended up being exactly like every other (non-shortlist, i.e. acceptance) visit I had, i.e. chats with professors, grad students, group events. When you're shortlisted, they basically want to gauge some or all of the following: the level of enthusiasm for the department you show in person; the other offers you've received and the likeliness that you would accept or turn down their own offer; your fit on a more personal and collegial level. While technically they've already decided that you'd likely be a good fit academically and intellectually, in a good friend of mine's case (who's now in Princeton's French PhD program), she and another candidate with very similar interests to hers were both invited to the shortlist visit and it seemed like only one of the two of them would be admitted (which indeed ended up being the case). Of course each department has different needs; sometimes departments may seek more than one and perhaps even several students for the same literary period (in French lit this tends to happen very frequently for vingtièmistes and perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent for dix-neuvièmistes, though it can and does happen for all other periods) and indeed sometimes departments even have the funds to admit and subsequently support more than one person per period. The bottom line is: if it's your dream program or a program which you genuinely would like to have among your options, just show them that you're excited and don't reveal too much about your other offers. (Don't be completely silent about them either; basically, if you're asked by faculty or grad students where else you're considering, just calmly mention the other places but leave it at that. You may be asked where you're leaning and it's perfectly alright to say that you're not sure yet and that you're really hoping to keep an open mind and learn a lot more about each program during these visits) My feeling is that some schools prefer "shortlisting" over just admitting candidates outright because of administrative/funding-related constraints; i.e. they want to be sure to admit a realistic number of candidates (i.e. to account for the fact that some candidates will invariably be wooed by other places) but they also want to keep in mind that if, ideally, everyone were to accept, the program would have the funding to support all of them. Over-committing one year would likely lessen a department's funds for the subsequent year. Moreover, if departments have poor yields, the university administrations can and have taken away admission slots from them in subsequent years; these are all factors that seem to go into the decision to shortlist people. Does that somewhat answer your questions?

Here's some general advice for all of you: Enjoy these visits to the max! It might all seem a little intimidating, but just remember that these departments are all celebrating and courting you; you should feel really excited about it all! Finally, I can't stress enough the importance of seeking out opportunities to talk to the grad students on any visit. I mean we all try to get you excited about our respective departments but you'll find that, in general, we tend to be one of the more candid sources of information you'll find about the strengths and weaknesses of our own department. I hope that's helpful! Bon courage à vous toutes et à vous tous !

[Starlajane]

Hey Starlajane. It depends on the type of "interview." If you've been "shortlisted," i.e. invited to visit the school and told that their final decision will be made after the visit, while that's not a guaranteed admission in theory, in practice, it tends to be. (The other type of interview that comes to mind usually occurs earlier in the application season and if you had one of those, it probably would have been over the phone or via Skype and sometimes even in person if you happened to live near the school) The extent to which shortlist interviews should be considered likely offers of admission depends on several factors. I was in this situation for Columbia's French/Comp Lit PhD program last year. I brought along some formal attire just in case but it ended up being exactly like every other (non-shortlist, i.e. acceptance) visit I had, i.e. chats with professors, grad students, group events. When you're shortlisted, they basically want to gauge some or all of the following: the level of enthusiasm for the department you show in person; the other offers you've received and the likeliness that you would accept or turn down their own offer; your fit on a more personal and collegial level. While technically they've already decided that you'd likely be a good fit academically and intellectually, in a good friend of mine's case (who's now in Princeton's French PhD program), she and another candidate with very similar interests to hers were both invited to the shortlist visit and it seemed like only one of the two of them would be admitted (which indeed ended up being the case). Of course each department has different needs; sometimes departments may seek more than one and perhaps even several students for the same literary period (in French lit this tends to happen very frequently for vingtièmistes and perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent for dix-neuvièmistes, though it can and does happen for all other periods) and indeed sometimes departments even have the funds to admit and subsequently support more than one person per period. The bottom line is: if it's your dream program or a program which you genuinely would like to have among your options, just show them that you're excited and don't reveal too much about your other offers. (Don't be completely silent about them either; basically, if you're asked by faculty or grad students where else you're considering, just calmly mention the other places but leave it at that. You may be asked where you're leaning and it's perfectly alright to say that you're not sure yet and that you're really hoping to keep an open mind and learn a lot more about each program during these visits) My feeling is that some schools prefer "shortlisting" over just admitting candidates outright because of administrative/funding-related constraints; i.e. they want to be sure to admit a realistic number of candidates (i.e. to account for the fact that some candidates will invariably be wooed by other places) but they also want to keep in mind that if, ideally, everyone were to accept, the program would have the funding to support all of them. Over-committing one year would likely lessen a department's funds for the subsequent year. Moreover, if departments have poor yields, the university administrations can and have taken away admission slots from them in subsequent years; these are all factors that seem to go into the decision to shortlist people. Does that somewhat answer your questions?

Here's some general advice for all of you: Enjoy these visits to the max! It might all seem a little intimidating, but just remember that these departments are all celebrating and courting you; you should feel really excited about it all! Finally, I can't stress enough the importance of seeking out opportunities to talk to the grad students on any visit. I mean we all try to get you excited about our respective departments but you'll find that, in general, we tend to be one of the more candid sources of information you'll find about the strengths and weaknesses of our own department. I hope that's helpful! Bon courage à vous toutes et à vous tous !

Thanks, Joey!

[papillon_pourpre]

You've really got to visit Berkeley first; it is nothing like SoCal and San Fran is right across the bridge. And I say that being a diehard New Englander myself. Berkeley itself is suburban, though, so maybe it isn't a good fit in that regard. But I would be surprised if you didn't like it.

I'm visiting Berkeley later in March. I love Berkeley's program as well. I've already been in contact with my POI and she's agreed to be my mentor should I choose to go there. What worries me most about Berkeley though is that it's apart of the UC system and I'm concerned about the security of my funding throughout the program. Penn and NYU offer generous stipends that are guaranteed for 5 years, although NYC is super expensive. I'm still trying to weigh the ranking vs. fit vs. placement record question as well. The 2010 NRC rankings put both Penn and NYU above Berkeley for French and after looking at all of their placement records, I was much more impressed by Penn and NYU. Suffice it to say, a lot of my decision will depend on how I feel after having visited all three programs. The websites can only get me so far...

[Oeuf]

Congrats to all who have gotten acceptances / interviews!

I'm into one of my top choices (Vanderbilt), but I'm waiting very impatiently for the other results... If I haven't been invited for an interview, does that mean I'm definitely not accepted? I was really hoping to get into UPenn, but I haven't heard a word from them. I know that's not a good sign, but why haven't they let rejected applicants know, if they already have a shortlist? Until I hear something definitive I have this irritating, tiny thread of hope...

Has anyone heard anything from Stanford or Northwestern?

[JoeySsance]

Hey everyone. I had also considered Berkeley, which is indeed a wonderful program, and I would be happy to offer advice about the funding question. This definitely came up and was ultimately one (but not the sole) factor that influenced my decision.

As for why rejected applicants aren't notified right away, I'm afraid the answer is that often it's not the departments but rather the graduate schools who send these notifications. Frankly, when things zoom out to the larger administrative/bureaucratic level, they get less personalized and even less considerate. From what I've read on other threads it seems like rejected applicants are often tortured by being notified of their rejections at the latest possible moment. In the meantime, hang in there and celebrate the offers and interviews you do have!

Finally, since it doesn't seem like anyone here has posted a Harvard acceptance this year, I just thought I'd let those of you who applied know that acceptances and waitlist decisions all indeed went out a little over a week ago and we've already started meeting the prospective candidates. I'm really sorry if you haven't heard back but hopefully this will help make the wait a little less stressful!

[gibreel]

Congrats to all who have gotten acceptances / interviews!

I'm into one of my top choices (Vanderbilt), but I'm waiting very impatiently for the other results... If I haven't been invited for an interview, does that mean I'm definitely not accepted? I was really hoping to get into UPenn, but I haven't heard a word from them. I know that's not a good sign, but why haven't they let rejected applicants know, if they already have a shortlist? Until I hear something definitive I have this irritating, tiny thread of hope...

Has anyone heard anything from Stanford or Northwestern?

Hello Oeuf,

UPenn aleady had their campus visit on the 17th, and Northwestern is having theirs on the 1st of March.

Congratulations about getting into one of your top choices. I heard that Vanderbilt has an excellent French program.

On the same note, has anyone heard from Duke yet?

Edited February 25, 2012 by gibreel

[JoeySsance]

Hey everyone. If you're at all curious about when you can expect to hear back from certain programs, while it varies from year to year, I would suggest taking a look at the results page on this site: http://thegradcafe.c...urvey/index.php Looking at the past few years collectively should give you a rough estimate. For example, by typing in "Duke French" I can see that they tend to notify people in the second half of February and last year the decision came out on this very day (2/25). So if it hasn't come yet, I would assume early or mid next week would be a safe bet (for an acceptance, I mean). Gibreel, maybe you know this but in case not, apparently Cornell has already notified people of acceptances and the visiting days. Congrats to you on your exciting offers so far! What are your interests? In fact, for those of you who haven't mentioned your interests yet, I'd be curious to learn about them (as I imagine others here might be). I'm mainly working on 20th century and contemporary French and francophone literature. I'm especially interested in postcolonial texts and issues of race, gender and sexuality. I've recently also started looking into French imperialism historically - mainly in the Caribbean and in North Africa - and its influence on French literature around and shortly after the French Revolution and in the 19th century onward more generally. And if my username and icon didn't give it away, I'm also interested in psychoanalysis and post-structuralist theory and criticism in general. Clearly my interests are still developing since I'm just a first-year student, but I'm loving my program so far and my coursework has been great in terms of helping me hone in on specific authors and questions. When I applied, I was vaguely interested in the 20th century more generally and now I feel considerably more grounded (and excited to be working on francophone lit written outside of the Hexagon)!

I look forward to learning a bit more about all of your interests. Again, feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.

[Starlajane]

I'm visiting Berkeley later in March. I love Berkeley's program as well. I've already been in contact with my POI and she's agreed to be my mentor should I choose to go there. What worries me most about Berkeley though is that it's apart of the UC system and I'm concerned about the security of my funding throughout the program. Penn and NYU offer generous stipends that are guaranteed for 5 years, although NYC is super expensive. I'm still trying to weigh the ranking vs. fit vs. placement record question as well. The 2010 NRC rankings put both Penn and NYU above Berkeley for French and after looking at all of their placement records, I was much more impressed by Penn and NYU. Suffice it to say, a lot of my decision will depend on how I feel after having visited all three programs. The websites can only get me so far...

Well, if the funding is sketchy, and you already have acceptances at the other two places, then I really would move it to your "maybe" pile, although I have found that rankings don't mean squat; fit really is the determinging factor. Because no one wants to attend a high-ranking program for which he or she feels absolutely no affinity.

Anyway, all of this is moo (you know, it's a cow's opinion, so it doesn't matter ( until you've visited every program and been accepted by them. I think that funding and fit (not just according to program but also according to city) should be your top priority--where you think you will thrive the most--because it is very difficult to do well in a program if you hate where you live and work and are starving to boot.

[gibreel]

Hey everyone. If you're at all curious about when you can expect to hear back from certain programs, while it varies from year to year, I would suggest taking a look at the results page on this site: http://thegradcafe.c...urvey/index.php Looking at the past few years collectively should give you a rough estimate. For example, by typing in "Duke French" I can see that they tend to notify people in the second half of February and last year the decision came out on this very day (2/25). So if it hasn't come yet, I would assume early or mid next week would be a safe bet (for an acceptance, I mean). Gibreel, maybe you know this but in case not, apparently Cornell has already notified people of acceptances and the visiting days. Congrats to you on your exciting offers so far! What are your interests? In fact, for those of you who haven't mentioned your interests yet, I'd be curious to learn about them (as I imagine others here might be). I'm mainly working on 20th century and contemporary French and francophone literature. I'm especially interested in postcolonial texts and issues of race, gender and sexuality. I've recently also started looking into French imperialism historically - mainly in the Caribbean and in North Africa - and its influence on French literature around and shortly after the French Revolution and in the 19th century onward more generally. And if my username and icon didn't give it away, I'm also interested in psychoanalysis and post-structuralist theory and criticism in general. Clearly my interests are still developing since I'm just a first-year student, but I'm loving my program so far and my coursework has been great in terms of helping me hone in on specific authors and questions. When I applied, I was vaguely interested in the 20th century more generally and now I feel considerably more grounded (and excited to be working on francophone lit written outside of the Hexagon)!

I look forward to learning a bit more about all of your interests. Again, feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.

Hey Joey,

Thanks for the tip. I already know abt the results page, and have posted there a few times myself But it seems that francophiles and francophones are rare on this site. I thought I would ask on the off-chance that someone heard from Duke but didn't post yet. I'm pretty sure I've been rejected by Cornell, but I wish Duke would get back to the applicants soon, so I can make a decision. But I shouldn't complain, I'm pretty lucky and mostly happy with the offers right now Duke was among my first choices, but I'm leaning toward Yale at the moment.

Actually we are almost in the same fields, you and I. I work on francophone lit as well. Until now, I was working mostly on Quebecois lit, but will probably look more into Caribbean and Indian Ocean francophone literatures from now on. I also used Lacanian concepts quite a bit in my MA thesis. I was also thinking of making a historical link between Caribbean and Indian Ocean literatures, but realised I need to brush up on my French colonial history. Since you mentioned that you're reading up on French Imperialism, do you have a good book/good books to recommend that would give me a general basis of French history, while being also more centred on colonialism, and especially on the relationship between French and British colonialism?

How are you finding Harvard in terms of Francophone Lit? Any advice you can give to us in general?

C'est quand même bien de t'avoir sur ce site. Toutes ces décisions peuvent être intimidantes, je l'avoue. Et de voir quelqu'un qui a déjà pris sa décision, commencé ses études et qui est heureux(se) et confiant(e), eh bien, c'est très encourageant!

Edited February 28, 2012 by gibreel

[JoeySsance]

Hey everyone. Next weekend I'll be presenting at my very first graduate conference (wish me luck)! Needless to say, I'll be a bit m.i.a. from this forum until after the conference. Please do continue to contact me via PM and I'll be happy to respond when I'm back in town. Gibreel, je t'enverrai une réponse plus détaillé à ce moment-là. Cela me fait plaisir de vous aider comme je peux (étant donné que l'on m'a tellement bien conseillé ici l'année dernière quand j'étais à votre place). Bon courage, les amis !

[gibreel]

Oooh exciting! Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[france2010]

Did anybody hear from Princeton today? I went down for an interview and was told we would be notified informally today.

[france2010]

Nevermind, I heard back!

[Zeugma]

Congrats to everyone's acceptances and interviews! It's finally March 1st, and the long waiting periods are coming to an end.

I'm currently wading through some of my offers and have been really impressed by University of Michigan-Ann Arbor's program. Does anybody have any comments on UMich's Romance Language and Literatures (French Literature) program? (i.e., prestige/quality/urban milieu, etc.)

For those interested in Duke, I personally know some of the professors there; and they are some of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you can imagine. Students are definitely their number one priority. Same with Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell. Unfortunately, on the other hand, I felt as if some of the professors at NYU, although cordial, were somewhat distant.

Anyway, congratulations to everybody!

[gibreel]

Hi Zeugma,

does that mean Duke has already made offers?

Cheers!

R.

[Zeugma]

Bonjour Gibreel,

Congrats on your acceptances. Impressive list there! I do not know for sure if Duke has sent out its letters yet, as I did not apply there. Some schools (like Princeton!) are notoriously late in notifying potential students. However, it's a safe bet that they would be sending something next week. Incidentally, Duke's Spring Break just started, so I don't know how that may interfere with correspondence.

I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple places, if that's any consolation. Sometimes the waiting period is more stressful than actually sitting down and doing the application.

Keep us posted! Cheers!

[JoeySsance]

Hey everyone! I'm back from the conference. It went really well and I made so many intelligent and down-to-earth new friends. Presenting at conferences is just one among grad school's many fulfilling and enriching aspects. Congrats once again on your offers, everyone. I'm back again to answer questions as you make your decisions although I do have a bit of work to catch up on, so I hope you'll understand if it takes me a little bit to get back to you. I promise I won't make you wait as long as some of these programs! Good luck both to those of you still waiting and to those of you deciding!

[papillon_pourpre]

Hey Joey! Could you tell me a bit about what you thought of Berkeley? I'm going to visit in a couple weeks, but I'd like to get an idea about the dept and as many opinions as I can!

[JoeySsance]

Hey Joey! Could you tell me a bit about what you thought of Berkeley? I'm going to visit in a couple weeks, but I'd like to get an idea about the dept and as many opinions as I can!

Hey there! Check your messages, papillon-pourpre.

For future reference, I would be happy to answer questions about specific departments via PM. Please keep that in mind when seeking this type of advice.

Again, best of luck to all!

[cicada]

Hi there guys,

I'm still waiting to hear back from a few programs, but so far I've been accepted at IU Bloomington and UMD College Park. They both offered me a TAship (no official offer yet though) but I don't know how much the stipend will be. Anyways, I'm kind of assuming that I won't get accepted anywhere else so I'm already trying to make up my mind about which school I'd rather go to... even though not knowing about their funding package makes it really tricky... I haven't visited UMD or IU campuses, and haven't met any of the professors. I'm having trouble deciding which program seems like a better fit for me, so I'd appreciate it a lot if you could give me some advice? I have emailed a few grad students there so they can maybe help me figure out stuff but I'm still waiting to hear back from some of them.

My research interests are in Francophone and Anglophone (+ hispanic) literature from the caribbeans, 20th and 21st postcolonial literature, women's literature. I studied at a small university in France, a bigger one in England and finally served as a teaching assistant for two years at a small (and awesome) liberal college in SoCal. I picked the schools I applied to for a PhD thanks to what I could read on their websites, advice from former professors, programs that seemed to fit my interests... but now that I'll probably have to make a choice between two schools, I want to make the right one.

If you have any advice for me, please feel free to share!! What do you think of IU or UMD programs? Are they good universities? Do you think it'll be easier to find a job with a PhD from IU or UMD?

many thanks! and congrats to all of you on your admissions

[Zeugma]

Hi there, Sandie!

Congrats on your acceptances. It's an exciting moment, isn't it? Although I am not a student at IU, I have two friends who just finished their MA in IU's French Department. IU, although the campus and locale aren't what you would call quintessentially beautiful and "homey," the French PhD program is very reputable and well-respected. For example, several years ago, an IU graduate in French literature landed a post as an Assistant Professor at Yale. Talk about landing a sweet post graduate appointment. Though I don't know much about UMD College Park, I can assure you of the quality and rigor of IU's program based on the conversations I had with IU friends. Additionally, they are big on graduate students teaching in their language program, which is definitely a good thing. Besides, they are highly ranked on the most recent NRC rankings.

Many of IU's professors are known around the world, notably Prof. Emanuel Mickel, who last year received one of France's highest academic honors as an "Officier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques." The Department is particularly strong in 20/21st century studies as well as Francophone studies. It sounds like that's right down your alley!

Maybe there is another community member who can give some input on Maryland. In any case, you can't go wrong with an IU education. They, like Wisconsin, are known to give out many PhDs to quality candidates.

Take care and best of luck!

Z

[cicada]

Thanks much Zeugma, that's very helpful! Do you know where can I check NRC rankings? I can only see those from 2010, I don't know if they are the most recent available...

It is an exciting moment, but also stressful haha I'm afraid I won't make the "right" choice. Even though I don't think there is a wrong choice as such, but I would just not want to regret choosing a school after a few months... Aaah I'm so indecisive. I am supposed to talk to an IU grad tonight. Hopefully, it'll help me figure out things, too.

Well, thank you again for your valuable imput!

[attrapereves]

I have a question for those who are currently on the MA track or already have an MA. I noticed that I will have to take an exam during my second to last semester that will test my knowledge of literature from many different centuries (a list of suggested works is provided by my program). Can anyone give me any tips for studying for this? Am I expected to read these works outside of class? What kind of exam can I expect?

[Kundry]

Hello everyone,

I know that this is quite early in terms of applications for PhD programs for the Fall 2013. I am currently an MA student at Florida State and I am doing research on PhD programs. I am interested in late 19th century/early 20th century and I focus on the connections between classical music and literature. Have you heard of programs that encourage interdisciplinary work? Would you know of any professors who enjoy working on music and literature?

Your answers would be very much appreciated