non humilis mulier

Hi Meg, Don't sweat the grades -- your GPA is going to be just fine. I had a rough academic semester when I got engaged, and wound up with a couple Bs that semester (one of which was an upper level Latin course). In my opinion, a special letter explaining your "bad" grades is completely unnecessary. If your profs want to address it in their letters -- fine -- but don't draw attention to it. It's not a big deal, and if you don't get into grad school, I seriously doubt it will have anything to do with your GPA. Invest your time in your writing sample. If there is any one factor that will set you apart, that will be it. Work on it NOW -- and try to get it to publishable quality. GREs are going to be a big deal, especially in Classics. From what I understand, the quantitative section isn't a *huge* deal (as long as you're in a decent percentile), but you really should be at the 90th percentile for both verbal and writing, at the very least. (Others may disagree with me here). If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me... Best of luck!

I don't think it's particularly unusual to take both your exams by the end of your second year. I'm going to try to read everything in the Loeb over the summer, and hit the major areas of literature that I haven't had exposure to yet -- for example, I have only read Euripides in translation, so I'm going to read one of his plays. Instead of reading one or two authors in depth, I'm going to try to get to the authors I'm unfamiliar with. I'm keeping two notebooks -- one to take notes on literary and historical aspects of the text, and another to write down strange vocabulary and tough grammatical constructions. I wouldn't recommend writing out translations and printing out text.

I think that taking a "gap" year after graduating with my BA really helped me. At first, I thought I would be at a disadvantage because I took time off. But, the year allowed me to focus on polishing my application, and my writing sample and GRE scores were very good as a result. Plus, my letters were stronger -- in fact, one of my best recommenders said that she didn't think I would have gotten into the type of PhD programs that I did if she had written for me just one year ago. As my thesis adviser, she saw me mature both personally and academically through the spring and fall of 2011. The downside of taking time off, of course, is that your languages might get weak -- I had to be disciplined this year to read independently. Interviews are also important -- one of the professors who interviewed me said that a lot of this process is about "chemistry", meaning that the candidates need to fit with the department. To some extent, you can't control this, but do try to get along with the current students. If the adcom perceives that you will create strife within the department, you probably won't get an offer, no matter how stellar you are.

Good luck, lolifer! Emm, I didn't realize that there was a university of washington in Seattle

Hi Lolifer, Are you talking about the University of Washington in St. Louis MA program?

Hey all, does anyone know where to find admissions statistics for various schools? I'm curious about the ivies, in particular, for classics/classical studies PhD programs. I was able to find the information for a few schools, but not all. Here are the statistics for Duke, for example: http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/stats.php

Hooray Cicero! See ya in the fall :-)

I am getting kinda stressed out about housing, too. I'm going to be moving nearly 1700 miles, and I really want to start nailing down the specifics of our move. Unfortunately, the university housing is kind of slow on these matters... they are very non-committal about when I'll get my student housing offer. Fortunately, I was able to look at some students' accommodations during my interview, so I'm confident that the apartment will be decent. My program is encouraging me to take some classes over the summer, so I really need to know when my accommodation will become available. So much to juggle! Jobs, selling vehicles, financial planning -- my fear is that the university will give me my housing assignment on May 31 and expect me to move in the next week! Agh! Anyone else having this sort of problem?

Do any of you ladies out there have a type of bag that you recommend? I'm looking for something semi-professional, stylish, and in a somewhat affordable price range. I carried a plain old back-pack as an undergrad, but somehow that seems less professional to me. What do you girls like to carry? I think I'd prefer some type of shoulder bag... Thanks in advance.

Congrats Veilside! Is that for Classics?

Veilside, are you for classics or classical studies at Columbia, out of curiosity?

Congrats, PA!!

I went to a charter school, which was public, and we did Latin in junior high and high school. No Greek was offered, though.

Also, if anyone has any tips for budget grocery shopping, I'd be very appreciative!

Does anyone have any clue how long the wait list is at ND? Also, did anyone here get off the ND wait list last year? I'm curious how many actually make it off the "very short" wait list, and just how "short" it is. Thanks everyone!