Fall 2018 French

[frenchlover]

Who is applying?

[madamoiselle]

Me! Just turned in the first application (Berkeley) and I'm already stressed, lol. Best of luck to everybody! 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Hi guys! Also applying. Already applied to all colleges in my signature but one of my professors is taking a good deal of time to send a recommendation. Worrying--but she still has a couple weeks. Will definitely send her a reminder.

Where are you guys applying and why?

[madamoiselle]

That's so awesome that you're finished -- I'm jealous! I'm wrapping mine up this weekend. I'm applying to literature PhD programs, more specifically. My entire research body has been 20th century feminism and philosophies, so I'm applying to pretty theory-heavy schools.

The current list is Illinois, Berkeley, Northwestern, Harvard, NYU, Penn, Stanford, and Penn. State! I'm incredibly nervous, but am relieved that the application process is almost done

Edited December 8, 2017 by madamoiselle

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Good luck with your applications! Those seem like great choices for your research area. Seems like we both applied at Stanford (though that's actually a wildcard for me. I doubt I'll get in but I was kindly offered a fee waiver by their department). In undergraduate I dealt mostly with Francophone studies, I like Orientalism and history of the French colonial empire. I would love to focus on 20th century French Algeria the most. 

These next couple months or so will be exciting waiting for decisions.

[madamoiselle]

Thank you so much, good luck to you too! Agreed - Stanford is a phenomenal program, but it's also arguably my most competitive school, so I'm not placing my bets. I am remaining hopeful, though! Their philosophical depth is outstanding, and I LOVE their offering of a philosophy minor.

Orientalism/Francophone studies is such a cool (and very up-and-coming) field of research! The schools you applied to have super strong departments in that area, so I'm sure your fit will be great

[Soleil ت]

Good luck!

[frenchlover]

 

Apparently UChicago's decisions will come out later this month. Eek. Same for Michigan and Penn, but I didn't apply to those.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

^ Ready for my rejection from UChicago. Michigan...let's see  They're definitely up there in my list.

I almost applied to UPenn but they didn't seem to reply to my e-mails about the program so yeah, I just discarded them.

[madamoiselle]

I applied to UPenn and they were pretty nice! I'm not expecting to get in, but it would be a remarkable honor. UPenn comes out by the end of January, interviews for other schools are sent out around the end of January/early February, and most will come out in the first half of February. Fingers crossed for everybody!

Do any of y'all have any backup plans just in case? I know it's not the funnest thing to talk about, but I was just wondering since language specialists have such a wide breadth in gap year(s) experiences and I'm curious! 

Edited January 2, 2018 by madamoiselle
I can't grammar, apparently.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

My backup plan is either apply to the TAPIF program to teach English in France (good experience if I re-apply) or look for a high school teaching job and get certified to teach French. I almost ended up teaching high school French last year, it's a matter of searching private schools.

[madamoiselle]

^I am in TAPIF right now, and I absolutely love it! I'm in the Paris region. If I don't get in, I'm eligible for a second year and my school has already asked me to re-apply (of course, if I get into a PhD program, I'd come back to the states). If I do a second assistantship year, I think I would do a masters in France and then re-apply in the U.S. for a PhD. 

If you have any questions about TAPIF, please ask!! I've had a great time so far and I think it's an awesome experience  

 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Nice!!! I'll definitely ask you if I decide to apply. And Master's there sounds great, I heard they're shorter to finish.

By the way, are you on Reddit? I posted about how STEM people get their notifications before us humanities people. I wish we had an answer like them lol 

[madamoiselle]

YES I am on the reddit and I did reply to your thread! It is a very helpful subreddit and I really enjoy browsing it, but it can also get irritating because their admissions standards seem so different with thousands of applications, and it's not nearly as idiosyncratic as the humanities process. Almost nobody can give humanities advice, especially for small majors  Oh well, all of my applications are in at this point, so the wait has officially begun and we'll see how the programs decide! 

Masters in France are definitely shorter to finish and are also much cheaper (although, of course, the visa paperwork is a lot and CampusFrance is a nightmare). I'm coming up on my second year in Paris and I know a ton of people who stay for their masters; not too shabby of an experience, from what I understand! I worked at a French university as a research fellow for a while, and the programs are very good, but are also much more standardized (oh, France!) No matter the outcome, we have a number of options, so that's nice

[frenchlover]

I am finishing my undergrad soon, so it is unlikely that any PhD programs will admit me, tbh. But I dipped my toes in the process and now I know how to apply to grad schools. Honestly, I am still unsure what to do if none of my grad schools pans out: probably will elect to get a 'useful' degree in France (some sort of trade school? GROSS) but I can't have my parents fund a master's degree in French and I wouldn't take out loans for one. I am taking the DELF soon, though.

I am /also/ applying to master's programs in French in the US that provide funding. If I can't make it to those, idk, I will probably do something else with my life. All these programs would probably be doing me a favor, given the state of academia. Oh well so well.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

I remember the tediousness of CampusFrance. I had to do it for a 4 month study abroad program. 

By the way I received today an e-mail from UChicago saying they started reviewing apps and that they should notify people by mid-February. They mentioned a Master's of Humanities program that accepts people who they reject for the Ph.D. Hmmm.

Are you guys sending an e-mail to a professor you would like to work with? People mention that it's good to do that but I'm afraid of coming off as insincere so I would rather not. I also think reading professor's articles on journals just to flatter them on an email is...eek. (It's also kind of late in the game to even do that).

[frenchlover]

I sent only a few emails, but just to kind of get a better sense of the departments where it was unclear. I did this a while back, though, and was advised that it's most appropriate before applying. Talking to grad students helped me a lot more; for instance, I heard some AWFUL things about NYU so I decided not to apply. 

Yeah, I saw the MAPH thing too. This person my from my college went there for a year. Seems like a cash-cow program to me, for the most part, from what she said.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

I should've emailed grad students, how did I not think of that? I guess I'll email them if I manage to get in somewhere to get a feel of the place before making a decision.

I wish I could visit schools but most of my choices are far from where I live (I really wanted to get out of the South lmao)

And yeah if they offer me a MAPH spot I'm saying no. 

[madamoiselle]

 @frenchlover I wouldn't fret about being an undergrad whatsoever; in fact, a number of my friends got into PhD programs before the culmination of their undergraduate studies. 

As for emailing, I emailed a few professors earlier on in the semester, but not all of them. I asked my undergraduate advisor what he thought about emailing, as he is a professor who advises dissertations, and he said to only email if you had an actual question about their research or the program. The general "are you taking students?" is really only reserved for STEM majors, it seems. The professors I spoke to encouraged me to apply, so it was relatively nice! However, not emailing won't hurt you as it might in STEM. 

I didn't even think about speaking to graduate students! I may speak to them if I get accepted to any program. 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Ok so I got notified that the University of Pittsburgh wants to do a Skype interview next week. They're not my top choice because the stipend is rather small but I'm still excited and nervous. It will last 25 minutes. 

i also haven't really spoken French with anybody in like a year (took a gap year) so nervous about that too. They consider that before awarding teaching assistantships.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Carly Rae Jepsen

[frenchlover]

Woo! Great! At least you will get some practice for your other interviews! I have been watching TV shows to keep myself in tune with a more informal register of French. Some master's programs want me to record myself reading a passage. lol 

[Monsieur Vénus]

I'm jumping on this thread a little late, but I just finished my application last month and am anxiously awaiting all of the responses! I applied to Penn, University of Michigan, Boston, University of Connecticut, Duke, and Rutgers. I am getting a little nervous about one of my recommenders. She was very enthusiastic about writing letters of recommendation for me, but for some reason she is submitting each letter one at a time. I've had to email the week that each application is officially due to remind her. So far she has submitted anything late, but it's kind of a hassle to remind her every time a recommendation is coming up to be due.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

^ Welcome to the gradcafe!

I'm also applying to Rutgers and Michigan.

Checking the survey site I see many people tend to get acceptances around this week. The wait is killing meee

I am going to watch Emmanuel Macron videos to prepare for this interview tomorrow. His French is formal and all...

[frenchlover]

I'm starting to get impatient now lol SO angoissé

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

The Director of the program at UPittsburgh was so kind in this interview. Feeling very optimistic about 2 schools now (and very pessimistic about 2); the other 3: who knows? Anything could happen.