Fall 2018 French

[awhiterussian]

@Green.Mango Thanks!!  I've been talking with some professors at my alma mater but they haven't been super super helpful...

@madamoiselle Thanks for your encouragement as well!

[frenchlover]

The silence... omg. I just want ONE final decision. Not like a wait list or interview or something.

Edited January 23, 2018 by frenchlover

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

We're at 8 pages wow. Classics is at 3 and Spanish is just at 2 (German, Italian and Slavic nowhere to be seen). 

Do you guys think changing one's interests a little to fit a school would be bad? I'm into colonial/Mediterranean studies and to a lesser degree 20th century, but I'd be willing to focus more on one area or the other if I really like a school. For me the area and finances are almost as important as "fit," though maybe that's not a good way to approach this.

[HomewardBound]

@frenchlover We'll start hearing even more as the week goes on. Next week and the week after should be big, too! Also, interviews aren't acceptances, but they're a lot closer than non-interviews! But agreed. It'll be nice not to wonder what I'll be doing next year.

@Carly Rae Jepsen I think that's somewhat normal, but it might also lead to burnout. If you have an area you're really passionate about, you're more likely to stick with it throughout the five or six years of graduate study. French can have a pretty high attrition rate at the doctoral level. At the same time, finances and area ARE really important. Ideally, you'll get all the things!

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

3 minutes ago, HomewardBound said:

 

@Carly Rae Jepsen I think that's somewhat normal, but it might also lead to burnout. If you have an area you're really passionate about, you're more likely to stick with it throughout the five or six years of graduate study. French can have a pretty high attrition rate at the doctoral level. At the same time, finances and area ARE really important. Ideally, you'll get all the things!

Oh yes, absolutely. I guess I'm a little open though, as long as there is some Camus for me I'll be happy lol. I just noticed some schools lean more literary and European than others. 

[madamoiselle]

@Carly Rae Jepsen I think as long as your general trajectory is aligned and you are confident that you have the skills and resources at a graduate institution to build upon the basis you've established (and continue to have a very serious passion in this basis), you are ok. One of my advisors told me that it's better to add -- get more intersectional in your studies -- than to take away or make a shift. I struggled with this as well. I like philosophy, for example, and it was prominent in my thesis -- but I don't consider myself so much a philosopher, instead more of a psychoanalyst/modern gender studies theorist with a philosophy zing; I had a really hard time passionately writing statements for certain philosophy-heavy schools because of this. This said, your pitch isn't set in stone, and you are allowed to explore, of course -- we will all continue learning in grad school!  You just have to keep that original grounding that inspired you to continue graduate work. I'm sure you'll be fine if you're pushing areas you've established a basis and are very, dissertation-level interested in! 

Additionally, area and environment are also incredibly important to me as well (I didn't apply to two well-fitting schools for this very reason), so I totally understand that consideration! Definitely smart to apply to wherever you'll be the most comfortable for the next 6-7 years haha

Edited January 23, 2018 by madamoiselle

[HomewardBound]

@madamoiselle That's a really good point! I was definitely warned not to decide on my exact sub-sub-subfield in my SoP for that reason. And my POI at Pitt assured me that in their program, as well as many others, graduate students are encouraged to apply their base theoretical frameworks to several eras and fields via article publication.

 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

29 minutes ago, madamoiselle said:

@Carly Rae Jepsen I think as long as your general trajectory is aligned and you are confident that you have the skills and resources at a graduate institution to build upon the basis you've established (and continue to have a very serious passion in this basis), you are ok. One of my advisors told me that it's better to add -- get more intersectional in your studies -- than to take away or make a shift. I struggled with this as well. I like philosophy, for example, and it was prominent in my thesis -- but I don't consider myself so much a philosopher, instead more of a psychoanalyst/modern gender studies theorist with a philosophy zing; I had a really hard time passionately writing statements for certain philosophy-heavy schools because of this. This said, your pitch isn't set in stone, and you are allowed to explore, of course -- we will all continue learning in grad school!  You just have to keep that original grounding that inspired you to continue graduate work. I'm sure you'll be fine if you're pushing areas you've established a basis and are very, dissertation-level interested in! 

Additionally, area and environment are also incredibly important to me as well (I didn't apply to two well-fitting schools for this very reason), so I totally understand that consideration! Definitely smart to apply to wherever you'll be the most comfortable for the next 6-7 years haha

Thank you, that's what I was thinking too. I suppose I will get a feel soon about whether a department covers my areas of interests or not, but I was just worried about my interests sometimes not fitting as well as they could in some departments.

[Yanaka]

Does anyone know how Rutgers sends out responses? Does it change on the status thing first, do they send an email? Phone?

[Green.Mango]

6 hours ago, HomewardBound said:

@Green.Mango I'd also throw Boston University into the mix of "great film/postcolonial studies". Also, rarely-mentioned school on the forum, but University of Iowa's French program has a lot of well-published professors working in immigration/diaspora studies.

Yes, Boston University does have a strong faculty in my research interest. Hadn't heard of the same at University of Iowa. 

[Monsieur Vénus]

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

Does anyone know how Rutgers sends out responses? Does it change on the status thing first, do they send an email? Phone?

It looks like in previous years they've sent email acceptance letters. I'm not really sure whether anything will change on the status website first, though. Don't really know where I would find that out either, unfortunately. I'm waiting and hoping for a yes from them as well! It also looks like it might be another week or so before we hear from them based on their history in the results archive here.

Edit: Looked further at their results on this site, and it looks like *way* back they used to do phone calls to let people know, but that was in, like, 2009. The most recent PhD response was an email. Back when they did phone calls, though, somebody said they saw their admissions status on the website before they got the call.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Monsieur Vénus

[Yanaka]

2 hours ago, Monsieur Vénus said:

It looks like in previous years they've sent email acceptance letters. I'm not really sure whether anything will change on the status website first, though. Don't really know where I would find that out either, unfortunately. I'm waiting and hoping for a yes from them as well! It also looks like it might be another week or so before we hear from them based on their history in the results archive here.

Edit: Looked further at their results on this site, and it looks like *way* back they used to do phone calls to let people know, but that was in, like, 2009. The most recent PhD response was an email. Back when they did phone calls, though, somebody said they saw their admissions status on the website before they got the call.

Yeah... I saw those. I was hoping someone would have more info  I was told beginning of Feb., but I just don't want to wait that long haha. Thanks!! I'm crossing my fingers for you as well!

[meliboeus]

10 hours ago, Carly Rae Jepsen said:

(German, Italian and Slavic nowhere to be seen). 

hello, first post here. I'm an Italian applicant who has lurked this successful thread for quite a long time (and since there's no dedicated thread and our departments often work together I decided to write here). Still dead silent from most of the universities I've applied to, but I got an invitation to Stanford as well. I am really excited, ça va sans dire, and kinda overwhelmed, I guess I'll be seeing you guys during the campus visit.

Best of luck to all of you for your applications, and congratulations to those who have already received good news.

[Yanaka]

My source tells me that the committee doesn’t meet before two or three weeks... I knew they were experiencing a delay this year, but I was still hoping for answers this week or the next haha

[madamoiselle]

4 hours ago, meliboeus said:

hello, first post here. I'm an Italian applicant who has lurked this successful thread for quite a long time (and since there's no dedicated thread and our departments often work together I decided to write here). Still dead silent from most of the universities I've applied to, but I got an invitation to Stanford as well. I am really excited, ça va sans dire, and kinda overwhelmed, I guess I'll be seeing you guys during the campus visit.

Best of luck to all of you for your applications, and congratulations to those who have already received good news.

Buongiorno and bienvenue to the board! Kick your feet up and feel free to wait it out with your equally-as-anxious Mediterranean neighbors  

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

4 hours ago, meliboeus said:

hello, first post here. I'm an Italian applicant who has lurked this successful thread for quite a long time (and since there's no dedicated thread and our departments often work together I decided to write here). Still dead silent from most of the universities I've applied to, but I got an invitation to Stanford as well. I am really excited, ça va sans dire, and kinda overwhelmed, I guess I'll be seeing you guys during the campus visit.

Best of luck to all of you for your applications, and congratulations to those who have already received good news.

Nice to hear from an Italian applicant. We're all in this together, really, we should also have a massive languages thread.

Thank you, best of luck to you too and see you at Stanford!

[madamoiselle]

15 hours ago, Carly Rae Jepsen said:

Thank you, that's what I was thinking too. I suppose I will get a feel soon about whether a department covers my areas of interests or not, but I was just worried about my interests sometimes not fitting as well as they could in some departments.

This is a very valid concern! I had a friend make a tough choice between two schools (one great school with a meh fit, one less-prestigious school with a near-perfect fit) and she was advised to go to the better fit (she was just about neck and neck with location/funding). She ended up going and she is having an awesome time, she loves all her classes and I'm super happy for her! Her work so far has been outstanding.

Definitely do campus visits once you are accepted; that's where you will absolutely get the best feeling of fit and community, which is another vital factor. 

[awhiterussian]

8 hours ago, meliboeus said:

hello, first post here. I'm an Italian applicant who has lurked this successful thread for quite a long time (and since there's no dedicated thread and our departments often work together I decided to write here). Still dead silent from most of the universities I've applied to, but I got an invitation to Stanford as well. I am really excited, ça va sans dire, and kinda overwhelmed, I guess I'll be seeing you guys during the campus visit.

Best of luck to all of you for your applications, and congratulations to those who have already received good news.

Welcome!!

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

4 hours ago, madamoiselle said:

This is a very valid concern! I had a friend make a tough choice between two schools (one great school with a meh fit, one less-prestigious school with a near-perfect fit) and she was advised to go to the better fit (she was just about neck and neck with location/funding). She ended up going and she is having an awesome time, she loves all her classes and I'm super happy for her! Her work so far has been outstanding.

Definitely do campus visits once you are accepted; that's where you will absolutely get the best feeling of fit and community, which is another vital factor. 

I wish i could visit all the schools I applied to  Or the ones that accept me at least. Oh well, the downside to applying to so many schools. I was originally going to apply to only 3 but I was afraid no one would take me lol

[madamoiselle]

@Carly Rae Jepsen if money's the issue, the school should cover your visit costs, just like they do for interviews  And understood -- looking back, I realistically only had 3 or 4 schools that really fit academically and environmentally. 

[frenchlover]

Will today be the day? ?

[HomewardBound]

1 hour ago, frenchlover said:

Will today be the day? ?

Yes please.

[awhiterussian]

OMG THE SILENCE IS KILLING ME

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Guys do you know if there's any difference funding-wise between public schools and private schools (when you're out of state)? I would think no since most schools offer tuition remission but I wonder. Just thinking cause I realized I'm a "non-resident" for UNC (completely forgot it was a public school lol).

[madamoiselle]

@Carly Rae Jepsen I don't think it matters. I believe all schools' funding will include a tuition remission and full coverage!