What are my chances? Ph.D. Romance Studies @ top schools

Graduate School
1

<p>I am aiming for top schools located mostly in the northeastern US. I will be applying as a Ph.D. student in Spanish/Hispanic Language & Lit/Spanish & Portuguese/etc., depending on what each department has to offer. I am very concerned with financial aid, especially in the form of teaching assistantships and the like. I am pursuing a Ph.D. for the purpose of being a professor (on which I will elaborate later in the post).</p>

<p>Schools I am most interested in (ranked by preference with 1 being the highest - according to appropriateness of programs and faculty match with my specific research interests):</p>

<li><p>Harvard</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia University</p></li>
<li><p>NYU</p></li>
<li><p>Vanderbilt (I realize this is not located in the NE)</p></li>
<li><p>Brown</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell</p></li>
<li><p>Boston University</p></li>
<li><p>Duke (see #4)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I realize that this is a very narrow list, but I am extremely interested in the input of others for these universities in particular.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Yet to take GRE, plan to take general exam at the end of summer 2008</p>

<p>Rising senior, Queens University of Charlotte '09 (Private Liberal Arts College in Charlotte, NC): Double major in Spanish/French</p>

<p>4.0 GPA</p>

<p>Spanish/English tutor for Queens Academic Resource Center,</p>

<p>Working to establish position as undergraduate TA for Spanish for fall 2008/spring 2009</p>

<p>Semester abroad: Universidad Pública de Navarra (Public University of Nevarre), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain spring of '07</p>

<p>Volunteer with Latin American Coalition (1st point of contact for Hispanic Immigrants)</p>

<p>Undergraduate Honors Thesis (to be completed during fall semester 2008): Introduction and 1st chapter of a text book designed for language instruction and cultural analysis of various Hispanic countries through music</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough. Any input will be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Thank you!
:)</p>

2

<p>It looks like your academic records are in order. Just work on your statements of purpose and make sure you get profs that know you pretty well to write your LORs. Also try to arrange visits with the schools. Sometimes schools will waive app fees for students that visit. Also, they love to put a face to the name. Before visiting, establish some kind of communication with the school so they are already familiar with you. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much :)</p>

<p>I am actually in the process of organizing a college tour for the end of the summer. So far I've been able to find a good number of professors who might be interested in my research, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to meet with them (in the case that they do not live near the universities or are on vacation). What would be the most appropriate way of getting in contact with professors... send a (direct) email, a letter, etc. explaining my interests and asking if they would be interested? I'm afraid that might be too forward. </p>

<p>Please let me know if you have any advice on that matter. I appreciate it!</p>

4

<p>Contacting potential advisors is regular practice in graduate admissions -- in most fields. Email is preferable Just tell them a bit about your research plans, and let them know of your interest in working with them. </p>

<p>However, if you plan to visit campuses, you should first contact the Director of Graduate Studies of each department to which you plan to apply. A good DGS will see if other professors are available to meet with you, possibly defray travel costs, possibly set up accommodations, and possibly set up meetings with current graduate students.</p>

<p>One caveat, however: If you wanted to visit my department and contacted me (as DGS), I would strongly advise you to postpone your visit until after the beginning of the academic year. We would want to be hospitable to a prospective student, but summer would be very inconvenient for both faculty and grad students to meet with you.</p>

<p>Your mileage may vary, of course.</p>

5

<p>As Prof X said, summer is definitely NOT the best time to visit. I visited during the fall of my senior year and also during spring break of my senior year. Summer, everyone is out and about. Heck, now it's hard for me to keep up with my own HOME profs!!! From my own experience, it is a good idea to get in touch with the DGS, as Prof X said. They know they ins and outs of the whole process and can get you in contact with relevant people. It may also be a good idea to ask if your contact info can be passed on to current students or alumni from your program. That way you can get a student's perspective.</p>

6

<p>Wow, all of your information has been extremely useful. I will reconsider my travel plans. The only difficulty will come from trying to visit at least 3 or 4 schools during the fall semester. I live in NC and want to visit places in Boston, NYC, etc. </p>

<p>As far as spring break visits go... I was wondering how that might work if I've already submitted an application. Most of my applications will be due in early to mid-January; I'm afraid a visit three months later might be ineffective. Also, is it better to arrange a visit during the week (vs. on the weekend)? I imagine it's a matter of individual preference on the part of the professors... I know these answers should be obvious to me, but I did not visit many schools when applying to undergraduate universities, so I'm horribly unfamiliar with the whole process. </p>

<p>Thanks again! This forum is wonderful.</p>

7

<p>Weekends = not good.</p>

8

<p>Well, since you are going to visit graduate schools, don't worry about missing a few days of school. Consider a roadtrip.....leaving one weekend and then returning the following weekend. Or maybe fly into one location and rent a car to travel around to the others, returning it when you fly back home. Weekends are not good because profs are gonna be busy and you can't sit in on classes or meet with other important people during normal business hours. If you haven't gotten your decision yet, there's nothing wrong with visiting during Spring Break. I didn't get most of my decisions untill AFTER my spring break anyway.</p>

9

<p>If your Spring Break falls on the same days as the university you're visiting, that's bad too. Many people will not be on campus.</p>

10

<p>In other words, what everyone is saying that the fall semester, especially the beginning ,is often the best time because professors are not crazy yet with the workload. I attempted to visit some grad schools on encouragement by professors.. and let me tell you, visiting grad schools can be good or bad thing. I did visit one and my god, it was very tricky given that I lived in middle of nowhere in New York state! The "interview" turned out to be a disaster IMHO but somehow the prof was impressed with me and let me in later on. There was another school but things came up that I had to reschedule in early February and it just didn't work out all around. Did I get in? No. The profs cited major reasons for why they didn't accept me and meeting them wasn't going to change anything anyway.</p>

<p>Every graduate school knows that the applicants can't always make the effort to visit because they have a life too and they won't penalize people for not showing up. </p>

<p>Don't worry about the spring break- once you've submitted your app, you're pretty much done. The next time you can visit is on their dime (usually) and it happens in March and April, usually on a weekend. That purpose of going to these weeknds is for the school to sell you their program.</p>

<p>My best advice to you is, get ready to suck up and pay the money to accomodate the professors' schedules in the fall, and hope that it was all worth it, including missing classes. Another point, are you writing a senior thesis while you visit? If yes, I advise against trying to visit graduate school and meeting with professors head on. Not only senior thesis will take up your weekends, but the professors will want to hear at least 2-3 minute synopsis of your thesis and research interests to see how well you can articulate your ideas (and if you fit in the department) when you meet them in person. And while working on a thesis, well, I just wouldn't personally do it unless it's pretty fully developed. At least, mine seemed to grill me that I nearly collapsed because I hadn't gotten my thesis totally together yet... </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

11

<p>Thanks again to all the people who responded. All your information was helpful and I hope that one day I can give advice like yours. :)</p>