For me, community is mostly important as a proxy for other aspects that I find important. If a cohort gets along really well, it probably means that they're not constantly having to compete with each other for funding, or good TA assignments, or faculty attention, etc.
Huh, this definitely came up in my undergrad courses and I had assumed this was a fairly standard discussion for students as soon as they grasp enough of the language to move beyond strict literal translations. Maybe it depends on the school (or professor)?
I think we're roughly on the same page - like heliogabalus when I hear someone argue for fidelity I generally assume they're referring to more literal translations, because that's usually how I've heard it used.
I'm an archaeologist, so this is definitely not my area of expertise, but I think I agree with heliogabalus. What are you defining as a "faithful" translation? Sometimes (especially in literary texts) sticking too closely to a word-for-word translation loses the tone or feeling of the text, which you could argue makes it less "faithful" despite being a more literal translation.
I'll second this. If you're interested in the art side of archaeology, this would be a pretty good way to go (though if you're looking for more a more anthropological approach to archaeology, I'd look elsewhere). In addition to Diana Kleiner, Yale also has the Yale University Art Gallery with an Ancient Art department, so you could potentially get some experience there.