Ardea

I meant to give you a thumbs up and accidentally went thumbs down, apologies! I share your stress. Waiting here as well...

NELC at Yale is allowed only 2 new students, and those have to be divided between Assyriology, Egyptology, and (Greco-)Arabic Studies. I'd guess that Assyriology will get one new student at the most, and it seems to be unusual for an admitted student to turn the spot down.

Just write that you are looking forward to meeting the faculty and students and thank her for the dinner invitation. Short, simple, and sweet always works best. Business casual is pretty standard, I think...anything dressier than that would be too much.

Yes, it is. It's pushy to demand a response before late March at the earliest.

As a warning, Michalowski and Beckman at Michigan are very near retirement, and Yoffee already retired. Foster at Yale is retiring soon as well, I believe. Whether they will be replaced remains to be seen. Chicago has a reputation for being a rather competitive and unfriendly place to be, though its resources and faculty are definitely unmatched. I second the above suggestions of JHU, NYU, UCLA, and Berkeley; JHU is actively expanding its department with the two new hires in Assyriology and a rumored search for a new position in Levantine archaeology. Adding to the list, you also have Brandeis, Penn State, Cornell, and (new to the game) Brown. UT Austin may be worth a look if you're primarily interested in Akkadian and comparative Semitics. I know at least two people who've done Assyriology at Columbia with Van De Mieroop, but I don't know how feasible that typically is. Unfortunately, it's horrifically difficult to get into decent Assyriology programs these days. Many programs accept only one new student a year and sometimes none at all. Funding at some of these - Berkeley, UCLA, Toronto, etc. - is quite tight. Additionally, although it is usually not officially required that a student have had Akkadian and/or Sumerian, a student with at least one year of Akkadian will have a huge leg up in admissions - these are difficult languages, and professors like to see that a new student could handle them; it also speeds up progress toward the dissertation. As a back-up plan in the event you don't get in anywhere and you don't already have Akkadian, you may want to consider taking Akkadian at a nearby seminary or div school if it's available (e.g. Sasson teaches Akkadian at Vandy) and reapply next year. The MA program at CUA, which is at least partially funded if I remember correctly, may also be something to consider. If you do decide to apply somewhere in Germany, look into the DAAD scholarship. https://www.daad.org...ip/index.v3page You're correct about Leiden. Courses are usually taught in English, and it has a fine reputation in Assyriology. It's also decent for Hittitology with Kloekhost on staff.

I just sent you a rather lengthy message.

Michigan interviews and notifies early; no news at this point is likely bad news. Penn is notoriously slow...acceptances are sent out by late March, if I recall, but rejected students can be notified as late as April. Odds at Penn in your field are slim to none without at least a year of Akkadian or Egyptian.

Berkeley typically sends out acceptances earlier than any other NELC school, and I think no news by now is not a good sign. Same for Brown, which sends out all of its interview weekend invitations at once (not all of whom will be admitted). Hopkins typically notifies by the end of February. Response times for UCLA vary. Penn is notoriously late about responding, and I would not expect a decision before (mid-)March.

Here's a list of MA programs. I don't know how many of them are funded. http://classicaljournal.org/MA-programs.php I've heard FSU offers pretty good funding, and it has a good reputation. My interests lie in archaeology, so I don't know how its language offerings are.

Nothing turns off students, particularly undergraduates, more than arrogance, and that distasteful trait is often acquired in graduate school. The presence of backstabbing in academia doesn't mean one needs to begin sharpening a knife now. With a PhD completion rate often under 50% in history departments, it stands to reason that quite a lot more can be achieved through mutual support than competition. It's one reason, in fact, that I chose the department I did. There's also the fact that such bitter disagreements are often downright embarrassing when viewed by the greater public, particularly since many of these issues are viewed as trivial matters.

I think it's definitely worth contacting the department(s) you're considering. You can found out important information that way. You could learn that some professors you want to work with will be retiring/going on sabbatical/switching universities, that they may not be accepting applicants in your track since they enrolled too many the year before, etc.

Consider the cost of living. Those programs may be all well and good, but who can afford to pay for LA, NYC, or DC on top of what you're paying for school? UNC has an absolutely wonderful department, and the faculty members are extremely nice and helpful. (Translation: I think it's hands down the best, but I'm probably biased.) Living in Chapel Hill or Carrboro can be a little expensive (though still much cheaper than most places outside the South), but Durham is dirt cheap and only a 15 minute drive away. On the religion side of things, the professors I know working in that area (Jodi Magness, Zlatko Plese) are incredibly good lecturers, though I don't know how they are as advisors. If you have a BA in Classics, though, why not shoot for a MA program? There are a few funded terminal programs (Arizona, Tulane, Vandy, Tufts, etc.) that have good track records. The Religions of Western Antiquity program at FSU may be of interest to you as well.

AAMW is one of the best programs, along with AHMA at Berkeley and IPCAA at Michigan, and is highly selective (think 1 in 40 admits...). I'd be VERY surprised if an applicant with only a year or two of Latin and Greek made it past the first round. I would drop that chance to almost zero if you don't have both French and German as well.

No need to freak out! If you're going to be applying, you need to find a way now to de-stress. For me, it was exercising and heading to the campus gardens. For others, it may be a strong drink. If you plan on doing museum work, you may also want to consider a MA in art history. There are several good ones with strong concentrations in classical art/archaeology. NYU's IFA is the best known, of course, but there are other good ones - Missouri, UNC, and UT Austin, for example.

Yes, it's ok to ask for an extension. Considering how relatively late in the game it is, I would say it's also ok to prod the three programs for a decision. Let them know you've been accepted at a program with a deadline.