Advice for an aspiring French PhD student

[analysedudiscours]

Hello all! 

 

Congratulations to those of you accepted to PhD programs for the Fall. I am a recent graduate of a top 30 liberal arts university with a double major in French and Psychology with a minor in Linguistics. I have been very active in my university's French department. I wrote an honors thesis centered on a discourse analysis of the past ten years of French foreign policy, I've worked as a TA for Intensive Intermediate French, and I have worked as a French tutor. Next year I will be a part of the TAPIF program in France in the Académie de Strasbourg. 

 

My question for you all is, what were your undergraduate careers like? How many of you are going into PhD programs straight out of undergrad? My undergraduate professor who is sort of mentoring me through this process is suggesting that I pursue my M.A (at a university like Miami of Ohio or UMass Amherst) before applying to one of the top ten PhD programs. (My favorites at the moment are  NYU, UPenn, Berkley, and Brown.) While I am more than willing to put the work into my M.A in order to become a more competitive candidate for these programs and further my knowledge in the field, I would also ideally rather go right into a PhD program that I love. 

 

I've been researching my options quite extensively and I suppose I'm still a little in the dark about the expectations for these PhD programs. I'm also unsure of my own status in terms of what constitutes a competitive candidate. 

 

I'd be very appreciative of any advice, guidance, etc. from those of you who have gone through this application process! 

All the best, 
"In need of a reality check"

[mattskiba]

What field would you like to specialize on in your PhD?  From your post, it sounds like either linguistics or culture.  You'd want to look at different programs depending on that.

[Francophile1]

You need to have a very good command of language. You will be asked to write extensive research papers. If you are not so used to doing this I would advise an MA program first. If you go straight to a PhD the expectations will be much higher.

[carrot_flowers]

 

 

 I have been very active in my university's French department. I wrote an honors thesis centered on a discourse analysis of the past ten years of French foreign policy, I've worked as a TA for Intensive Intermediate French, and I have worked as a French tutor. Next year I will be a part of the TAPIF program in France in the Académie de Strasbourg. 

 

Seems like you did a hell of a lot more than I did.  I just made good grades in my French classes and did one of those Summer Research Opportunity Programs up in the Midwest away from my home institution.  I couldn't even make study abroad happen...

 

 

My question for you all is, what were your undergraduate careers like? How many of you are going into PhD programs straight out of undergrad? 

 

My undergraduate career, which recently ended, was definitely a journey.  I started off pre-med, and it was not until my third year that I decided to do a 180 and gave this whole French thing a shot.  I was a human biology and French double major who saw myself getting more excited for my French classes than my biology classes.  I took this as a sign and looked into applying to grad school.  I applied this cycle that just ended, so I'll be starting my program straight out of undergrad.  Honestly, I wasn't in any position to tack on more to my undergrad loans, so I didn't even consider getting an MA for financial reasons.  I also figured that if a doctorate were my end game, then I might as well give the application my all and hope for the best.  I was fully prepared to reapply next cycle if nothing were to work out for me.  I suppose that's risky...

 

 

I've been researching my options quite extensively and I suppose I'm still a little in the dark about the expectations for these PhD programs. I'm also unsure of my own status in terms of what constitutes a competitive candidate. 

 

Ask your mentors.  They're the ones who know the field best, and I'm sure they're also good judges of your aptitude.  If you were not well-suited for this, then any good mentor will tell you so.  I feel as though it's hard to pinpoint what makes someone a competitive candidate.  I think "fit" plays a big role though.  I applied to schools with faculty doing interesting work concerning the Middle Ages and even Francophone studies since my potential interests lie there.  It would not have made much sense for me to apply to a program where no one was conducting research that resonated with me.  Find what gets you remotely excited, examine why, and craft that into a compelling case for admission to your desired programs.

Edited May 24, 2014 by carrot_flowers

[paul_verlan]

a master's will definitely make you a more competitive candidate. this is just anecdotal, but almost all prospective students that i met at visit days had master's. the few who didn't were really impressive. getting a master's isn't just another line on your cv but an opportunity to hone your language and research skills and to define your research interests.

 

anyways, you might consider pursuing a master's in france, which is what i did. it's overall not the best academic experience, but it was an opportunity to improve my french and work on a research project. and it helped me get into several "top" phd programs. and the tuition is nominal, so your main expenses would just be housing.

[Catria]

Regarding masters in France: perhaps it works differently in the humanities, but in STEM disciplines, getting in a credible MSc (or MA in a humanities context) is feasible with a 3.0, with entry in the second year being the real admissions challenge and, ideally, you'd want to make it through both years of the masters before returning home for your PhD.

[friasc]

Hi,

 

I recently talked to a professor who is a friend of mine about the paradox of quality of education and prestige. Although, according to her, the Spanish Phd program at UC Davis for instance is consistently ranked at the top for quality of education, classroom size, help with dissertation, etc., the programs at UC Berkeley and UCLA are nonetheless much more prestigious and thus more desirable.

 

My question is, regardless of any other qualities, which are the most prestigious/desirable French PhD programs? I imagine they would also be the most selective ones, but honestly I'm not sure. 

 

Obviously, it would be a bad idea to choose a program based on prestige. I'm simply curious to hear what you all think.

[friasc]

Just a small clarification:

 

Obviously prestige is very important insofar as prestige correlates with funding, networking, and ultimately job placement. What I meant to say is that, judging from what I've heard from professors and graduate students, there are highly prestigious French PhD programs at universities that, on the whole, are not generally considered to be among the most prestigious. NYU, Penn State, CUNY, U of Wisconsin-Madison are great universities, but I don't think they have the same luster as, say, Cornell. However, my understanding is that their French PhD programs are all considered to be at the top in terms of prestige.

 

Obviously, everyone's definition of prestige will be different, since we are dealing with a rather imprecise, vague quality. This is why I would like to hear different peoples opinions. 

[Appppplication]

Look, if you want to study French film and no profs at any of the most "prestigious" universities study that, but you go to one of those universities anyway, you will have no advisors to guide you in your field. You will be stuck studying other things that you don't want to specialize in.

 

Grad and undergrad are two different animals. For grad the department and faculty reputation/specialization trumps university name. 

 

Try to land in a program where your subfield is strong or you're going to end up spending 5 years studying things you don't want to study. And if you don't like it you're never going to finish or get a job regardless where you attend. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by Appppplication

[friasc]

Hi application,

 

Thanks for the info. Since you seem to be well informed about this topic, would you care to tell me which departments you consider the most prestigious? Just a ballpark idea. I'm not looking for a one-size-fits-all formula to decide where to apply. I'm just curious about what you think.

[Appppplication]

I don't know. Sorry.

[BeatrizBear]

http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-French/124732/

 

Here is a good place to start looking at top programs.

[chateaulafitte]

Hi application,

 

Thanks for the info. Since you seem to be well informed about this topic, would you care to tell me which departments you consider the most prestigious? Just a ballpark idea. I'm not looking for a one-size-fits-all formula to decide where to apply. I'm just curious about what you think.

 

The NRC rankings make little sense (eg. UConn is very well-ranked, but I don't think their graduates do well on the job market, or that they graduate many people). 

 

Programs perceived as "prestigious" would be the usual suspects: Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke.

 

But I want to urge you to think in terms of of "fit" and "marketability" of your degree rather than "prestige".

 

What I mean by "fit": If you want to study francophone, UCLA is the way to go. If you're more of a theorist, Cornell is a better bet. You want to work on Haïti? Duke, no doubt. Digital Humanities? Stanford.

 

What I mean by "marketability": Princeton, Yale, Harvard are prestigious (and that's a great program, with amazing faculty), but they don't place their graduates better than U Minnesota, U Wisc or UCLA. They don't even necessarily place them in "better" institutions.

 

When you get accepted into a program, ask about funding, teaching, research, etc, but also ask about placement. Where are the people who graduated in the past five years? What kind of institutions hired them? Beware of schools where people tell you about that one student who got a great job but don't mention what happened to the rest of the cohort.

 

Also be aware that there are very few jobs, that there have been fewer and fewer in the past five years, and that it's likely there will be even less by the time you graduate. The academic job market is a crapshoot. Finding a program that is supportive is the safest way to give you a small chance to be competitive.

 

Good luck!