INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS:

The following guidelines are intended to answer some of the most common questions asked by prospective graduate students. More detailed information on the program itself can be found in the Graduate Student Handbook.

If you cannot find the answer to your question, feel free to contact the Director of Graduate Studies at any point in the application process.

Princeton's graduate program is small, with three or four students entering each year. Graduate students receive a stipend of full tuition and fees as well as a five-year fellowship that includes summer salary. 

The faculty prides itself on its accessibility and responsibility. Meetings with professors — both formal and informal — are frequent. Advanced graduate students work closely with their dissertation advisor and generally receive their dissertation chapters back (well annotated) within a week. 

The faculty is eager to meet with prospective graduate students before they submit their applications. Such visits can be organized by contacting the Department Manager. If this is not possible, the faculty may wish to arrange a telephone interview after receiving your application.

The program of study is flexible enough to allow students with different backgrounds and preparations the opportunity to explore areas of special interest (which may extend beyond the Slavic Department and even beyond Princeton).

The backbone of the program is the Russian language, which entering students are expected to read easily and speak fluently. Beyond that, students are required, by the third year, to achieve a level of reading competency in two other languages; for literature students this means any combination of French, German, or other Slavic languages, and for linguists it means two other Slavic languages (Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian are offered with regularity).

For the program in Russian literature, the faculty generally selects from three types of students:

1)      native speakers of English who have a solid command of Russian (usually through coursework in America as well as study abroad) and who are committed to the study of Russian literature and culture.

2)      native speakers of Russian who have a superb command of the English language (writing as well as speaking) and of Russian literature, as well as significant experience in a non-Russian academic environment.

3)      native speakers of neither English nor Russian who are fluent in both those languages and can demonstrate excellence in literary study.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Russian students who have not spent prior time at Western universities are encouraged to contact the Director of Studies before applying.

Applicants should realize that the writing sample plays an extremely important part in the decision-making process. It is essential that applicants send a text that represents their best work.

The following points are desirable in a writing sample for literature applicants:

1)      it is written in lucid English.

2)      it is devoted to a Russian literary text, with quotations (and interpretation) that demonstrates the text has been read in Russian.

3)      It is 10–20 pages long. (It is permissible to send two samples if the combined length does not exceed twenty pages.)

However, not all successful applications fulfill these criteria. If your very best work does not fit one of these categories, you should submit it nonetheless. If it does not fulfill two of them (or if you are uncertain), contact the Director of Graduate Studies for advice.

For the program in Slavic and Theoretical linguistics, the faculty strongly recommends a background in theoretical (generative)  linguistics as well as Slavic. Regardless of native language, students must have a fluent command of both English and Russian.