Fall 2018 French

[HomewardBound]

@madamoiselle Congratulations! You'll love Berkeley. That entire area is so beautiful. Do you feel relieved?

@Frenchlady I've heard that Austin offers great financial aid. Do either of the programs fit your interests better?

[Frenchlady]

@HomewardBound both are really good but LSU has a very diverse set of professors, maybe more than Austin! Money wise, I lose $1000 per month in stipend going to LSU compared to Austin (based on a nine month contract). 

Since I already have a masters degree, LSU finances me for 4 years (3 semesters for classes and comps, the rest is writing) when Austin insists on me taking classes for at least 4 semesters then comps then writing. Austin finances for 6 years. I want to go fast so LSU is better. Austin gives an extra scholarship if you finish early. 

Honestly, I feel like Austin is buying out the students to come to their campus. But the money is so good. I don't want to go back to being a starving student (I am 36) !!!! 

[Frenchlady]

22 hours ago, madamoiselle said:

That's definitely a tough decision! The Walther Fellowship is super generous, I remember all of the grad students being pretty comfy down in Austin while I was there! 

Exactly @madamoiselle. The offer is great! 

[awhiterussian]

Finally got a rejection from Duke!  Took a while!

[HomewardBound]

@Frenchlady Wha...what? At that amount, it sounds more like a nice salary than a stipend! Have you done a cost of living calculation between Baton Rouge and Austin? I don't know if you're looking for insights, but if you are, I think that a good fit is probably better than good finances, so long as you'd be living (relatively) comfortably in either place. But I don't know your financial situation, so it can depend strongly.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

I'm loving IU. The department is fantastic and top-notch and it was winter wonderland with all the snow when I arrived, lol. 

They offer a critical theory minor too which sounds amazing. 

Bloomington feels rather small, though. I think living a city where I could escape the academic bubble every other weekend would be ideal for me. But I still haven't made my decision.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Carly Rae Jepsen

[frenchlover]

Wow -- guess I'm adding UT Austin to my list when I reapply in two years.

[hats]

@Frenchlady So Austin pays you an extra thousand dollars a month...and the downside is that they require one extra semester of coursework? I get wanting to go fast, so if you were choosing between a program that had candidacy at the end of the third term vs. at the end of the sixth term, I could see the argument for taking the three-term one. But three versus four terms? Unless exams take a really, really long time at Austin, that does not sound like a trade-off worth making. Plus better, more secure financial support often lets you go much, MUCH faster than otherwise. You don't have to use all of Austin's six years of funding if you don't want to.

Generally, the number of terms a department funds its students for can have little to zero relationship with how many terms it expects it to take its students to graduate. At my department, the number of guaranteed funded terms is about half the number that it usually takes people to graduate. After our equivalent of LSU's four years to graduate, your funding "runs out"...which doesn't mean anybody graduates then—nobody graduates then—it's just that the next years are a madcap scramble for funding while doing a whole bunch of TA/adjunct work, often at many different area universities. I do know that there are some universities that have been really pushing their students through as fast as possible (Notre Dame, in my field). If LSU is giving you four years of funding as part of a deep, sustained, university-wide commitment to graduating its students in four years, I take much of this back, and it could be worthwhile. However, just from the information given here, and that I've heard elsewhere, I would guess that students at Austin actually graduate in fewer terms than at LSU, even though LSU's funding package covers less time. I don't have firsthand knowledge, so I could be totally wrong, but I really want to warn you not to take "terms funded" as a commitment to having students actually graduate in that number of terms.

[awhiterussian]

CUNY said they need an answer before April 1st but I’m still on waitlists and haven’t  heard from a couple universities still ahhhhh

[Saltshaker]

It took Penn State seven weeks to reject me, about time! I’m not bummed at all though, I have two top choices I’m debating between—it’s just a relief to finally cross them off my list. 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

11 hours ago, awhiterussian said:

CUNY said they need an answer before April 1st but I’m still on waitlists and haven’t  heard from a couple universities still ahhhhh

Don't they adhere to the April 15 deadline? That's not nice of them.

Wait, I see them listed there: http://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_RevisedMarch2018.pdf

If they made an official funding offer to you, they are supposed to honor that until the 15th. I would contact someone about it.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Carly Rae Jepsen

[HomewardBound]

@Saltshaker I'm still sorry to hear that! It's true, though. You have a lot of enviable options...it's already going to be difficult to decide!

[awhiterussian]

5 hours ago, Carly Rae Jepsen said:

Don't they adhere to the April 15 deadline? That's not nice of them.

Wait, I see them listed there: http://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_RevisedMarch2018.pdf

If they made an official funding offer to you, they are supposed to honor that until the 15th. I would contact someone about it.

Thanks for your help!  I’m drafting them an email 

[frenchlover]

Also, you can accept an offer and decline it by April 15th without any complications, according to the resolution!

[madamoiselle]

@HomewardBound Thank you so much!! I do feel relieved, very excited to know where I'll be going. A little heartbroken having said "no" to some fantastic programs that I also fell in love with, but Berkeley was just an academic glove fit, the grad students were doing some super innovative work, the bay is an incredible environment, and they renegotiated my funding during visits. I just loved the intellectual energy of the place. It's super non-traditional and very cutting-edge,  theoretical and brilliant, yet uncensored (which as a modern feminisms scholar is very important!) Resources are aplenty, and I even ran out of time to speak to the professors I wanted to speak with because they were all so fantastic and interesting. Things have been moving pretty fast too, I set up my email and applied to graduate housing today (seeing my new "berkeley.edu" email address is mind boggling, I used to dream about it while thesis writing!!)  

It sounds like you had a similar experience with Penn State, being immersed in a great environment and making a solid decision. I still feel like I should be constantly thinking and preparing something, so I'm trying to force myself to relax for the time being (hope you're doing the same!)  

Edited March 24, 2018 by madamoiselle

[Frenchlady]

On 23/03/2018 at 1:38 AM, hats said:

@Frenchlady So Austin pays you an extra thousand dollars a month...and the downside is that they require one extra semester of coursework? I get wanting to go fast, so if you were choosing between a program that had candidacy at the end of the third term vs. at the end of the sixth term, I could see the argument for taking the three-term one. But three versus four terms? Unless exams take a really, really long time at Austin, that does not sound like a trade-off worth making. Plus better, more secure financial support often lets you go much, MUCH faster than otherwise. You don't have to use all of Austin's six years of funding if you don't want to.

Generally, the number of terms a department funds its students for can have little to zero relationship with how many terms it expects it to take its students to graduate. At my department, the number of guaranteed funded terms is about half the number that it usually takes people to graduate. After our equivalent of LSU's four years to graduate, your funding "runs out"...which doesn't mean anybody graduates then—nobody graduates then—it's just that the next years are a madcap scramble for funding while doing a whole bunch of TA/adjunct work, often at many different area universities. I do know that there are some universities that have been really pushing their students through as fast as possible (Notre Dame, in my field). If LSU is giving you four years of funding as part of a deep, sustained, university-wide commitment to graduating its students in four years, I take much of this back, and it could be worthwhile. However, just from the information given here, and that I've heard elsewhere, I would guess that students at Austin actually graduate in fewer terms than at LSU, even though LSU's funding package covers less time. I don't have firsthand knowledge, so I could be totally wrong, but I really want to warn you not to take "terms funded" as a commitment to having students actually graduate in that number of terms.

@hats thank you so much for your input. I am still debating between both programs. I'll research funding and all for both universities. I need to clarify that for sure... if funds run out after 4 years and I am still in the program, I am international so I can't work outside of campus. So it is either finish it in 4 years or go home in this case if the 4 years thing is truly a funding issue. Thanks again. It sheds a new light on the whole process. 

[hats]

@Frenchlady I'm glad I could help! One clarification: when the four years "run out," the department may still be able to support you, so you wouldn't necessarily have to work off campus. I think your visa should still allow for that. At programs I'm familiar with, it's the difference between tuition waiver + TA one class per semester, during your guaranteed funding package, and maybe no tuition waiver + TA three classes (if they have them available! or maybe two and some debt if they don't) in years 5+. This does vary a lot between universities, and between departments in universities, so I'm sure you'll be able to find more accurate answers than I can provide, but I think the way I had described the post-guarantee situation had the potential to be misleading.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Friends I thought about my decision a lot this weekend and the whole package for me is WashU! I'm going to be sad about letting my other options know I'm not attending, but I'm pretty excited about starting this Ph.D. and moving to St. Louis. When I visited it just felt right and I felt very appreciated by the department there.

The application process was such a ride, but I survived it. 

 

 

[madamoiselle]

YESSS Massive congratulations to you, @Carly Rae Jepsen!!! So exciting, it definitely seems that this was a stand-out for you from the get-go!

[Saltshaker]

After weeks of agonizing, I've made my decision, too---Cornell, here I come! I hated telling the other schools no, but I think I was Cornell the moment I cried over the thought of having to leave their campus and turn them down. 

I'm so excited that several of us have made final decisions, and I can't wait to see where we'll go from here!

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

thank you @madamoiselle ! It was  such a relief to be able to make a choice.

Congratulations on choosing Cornell, @Saltshaker ! It's a wonderful school.

It's so nice to start seeing all the decisions! It was a long cycle but we made it

[Monsieur Vénus]

I'm so happy for all of you that are making your decisions! Unfortunately my decision is only becoming more difficult. I missed a call while I was in class from a professor at Rutgers saying that a spot has opened up for me (with funding) if I want it. I need to email him about what their funding looks like, but Rutgers was definitely very high on my list of potential schools when I went into this application season.

PLUS I have yet to hear about my Fulbright ETA application, but I have a strong feeling (knock on wood) that I will hear back about that this week. Then I will just need to decide on a program and beg them to defer my admission (if I'm accepted by Fulbright, of course) ?

[Yanaka]

On 27/03/2018 at 6:29 PM, Monsieur Vénus said:

I'm so happy for all of you that are making your decisions! Unfortunately my decision is only becoming more difficult. I missed a call while I was in class from a professor at Rutgers saying that a spot has opened up for me (with funding) if I want it. I need to email him about what their funding looks like, but Rutgers was definitely very high on my list of potential schools when I went into this application season.

PLUS I have yet to hear about my Fulbright ETA application, but I have a strong feeling (knock on wood) that I will hear back about that this week. Then I will just need to decide on a program and beg them to defer my admission (if I'm accepted by Fulbright, of course) ?

So cool!! Rutgers is def. a really good option. What do you think of the choices you have now?

[Monsieur Vénus]

7 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

So cool!! Rutgers is def. a really good option. What do you think of the choices you have now?

I think UMich is still at the top of the pile for me right now based on faculty fit, interactions with current students, funding, and other personal reasons. But I just visited Boston yesterday, and it made my decision a little harder. I really like it out here on the east coast, and I've never been able to live in a big city before. Plus the program seems like it would be a really great place to specifically study theory, which I love. I was, however, thrown off a little bit by the fact that the 500-level courses here are composed of a mix of undergraduate and graduate students when I sat in on a course. But Boston does have the advantage that their courses are in French. Then again, Boston has the disadvantage that they have a pretty strict policy against deferring admission, which is something I'm going to be looking into if I receive the Fulbright.

As far as Rutgers, I'm having a hard time gauging my interest. Because I was really interested in the program, in theory, by reading about all of the faculty there, and they've offered me the funding per year out of all three programs (not adjusted for cost of living, though). But I also feel like I can't really get to know the program enough to make a decision since I won't be visiting.

[Yanaka]

26 minutes ago, Monsieur Vénus said:

I think UMich is still at the top of the pile for me right now based on faculty fit, interactions with current students, funding, and other personal reasons. But I just visited Boston yesterday, and it made my decision a little harder. I really like it out here on the east coast, and I've never been able to live in a big city before. Plus the program seems like it would be a really great place to specifically study theory, which I love. I was, however, thrown off a little bit by the fact that the 500-level courses here are composed of a mix of undergraduate and graduate students when I sat in on a course. But Boston does have the advantage that their courses are in French. Then again, Boston has the disadvantage that they have a pretty strict policy against deferring admission, which is something I'm going to be looking into if I receive the Fulbright.

As far as Rutgers, I'm having a hard time gauging my interest. Because I was really interested in the program, in theory, by reading about all of the faculty there, and they've offered me the funding per year out of all three programs (not adjusted for cost of living, though). But I also feel like I can't really get to know the program enough to make a decision since I won't be visiting.

Yeah it's hard to tell, especially because they're so quieeeetttttt by email! It almost feels like their dpt is too French for their own "marketing" good haha. Good thing I have a good feeling from meeting some of the faculty in person...

I want to visit again, too, although it's easier for me. If you ever want to visit soon and want to visit together, let me know!