EJD

Thanks for the insight, Petros! I will look into that for UGA - did they offer that to you automatically, or did you have to apply? You are right, an MA in Classics would make a lot more sense for teaching Latin, but I'd really like to get into the historical linguistics field. I hope my Classics background will influence/guide me, however. Thanks, again!

Hey everyone! I’ve posted here a few times…I’m a freak-out queen, and everyone here has such good advice. I’m posting in the Classics forum again, since I figured folks here would have a good sense of the historical linguistics landscape, but if this is the wrong place, I’ll move elsewhere! So, I’ve gotten into the Linguistics MA programs at UNC Chapel Hill and University of Georgia, and I intend to concentrate in historical linguistics. (I’ve applied to UCLA as well, but, I’m not holding my breath!) If I don’t get in now, I’d love to attend UCLA for their Indo-European PhD program, after I finish my MA. Which school’s program, UGA or UNC Chapel Hill’s, do you think would give me the best leg up in the historical linguistics field? I want to weigh costs, though, too—with UNC, I would get in-state tuition, cutting the price significantly. Both programs seem to be a little tight in the way of teaching assistantships, but I’m hoping if I work hard once I get there, I might be able to get something in the way of aid. I’m not sure if one might be more likely to offer some than another, though. I would love to save a ton of money with in-state tuition, but if Georgia’s program is considered better and would give me a better chance at PhD programs, I’m wondering if that would outweigh the cost? Has anyone heard anything about either of these two programs in historical/Indo-European linguistics? I’d love to be a language teacher one day, I just want whatever leads me down the right path, and I’m having trouble deciding between these two schools, both of which seem very nice. Thanks for any and all advice, as always!

Yes, another sample length question! I submitted this to the Classics forum as well, since I had a few Classic-centered inquiries, but I didn’t get a response, so I thought I’d try here! I'm applying to Cornell, UCLA, University of Georgia, and UNC Chapel Hill to the Linguistics or Indo-European departments, hoping to concentrate in historical linguistics. For my writing sample, I'm planning to use my undergraduate thesis, which I think is my best scholarly work. I was a Latin and Greek major in college, and I focused on the development of writing styles and insults for six ancient Latin authors. Without the title page and bibliography, my thesis is 36 pages long (including footnotes and such). I thought I had read on at least one of my school's sites that the writing sample length should be between 10 and 20 pages, but looking through them again, I see no page guidelines, except on UNC's, which suggests a "short term paper" as an optional submission (I think I got those page limit guidelines from when I was looking into applying to Classics for graduate school instead of Linguistics). I've had some friends and my high school Latin teacher read through my piece to give me suggestions on what to take out. They suggested taking out two of the authors, Catullus and Martial, to better fit the my theme of satirical writing; I had to do quite a bit of explaining in the introduction as to why I was including these two authors in my study, since they didn’t perfectly fit in with the others (although I think that choice turned out well in the end!). However, my former Latin teacher did say it would be too bad to take those two authors out, since they’re interesting; and my thesis advisor did tell me while I was writing my paper that including those two authors in my study was unique and that he hadn’t seen that very often. And personally, those two authors are the two I like best and have the most knowledge on, but I agreed with my friends and teachers that to fit a page limit, I should take them out to keep with the theme and reduce the amount of explaining I had to do in the intro. However, now that I don’t seem to have page limits, I’m wondering if I can go ahead and submit all 36 pages. Is this a good idea? I’ve been reading around this forum, and I’ve seen some people are submitting their 80-100 page master theses, while other folks are suggesting that a paper on the shorter side is the best move. Taking out two authors, my thesis is down to 24 pages, and I would include a footnote in the intro that I had to take out a few authors. I’m already going to have to do this revision since UNC asks for a shorter term paper (though admittedly, 24 pages isn’t very short ), but I hate not knowing what I’m going to submit! I’d love to submit my entire thesis, but I won’t if it will make my application weaker. Thanks for any and all advice! I know it’s pretty complicated and long winded, but hopefully some people can identify. XP

Hi all! Now that I've narrowed down my choices, I've been working on polishing up my writing sample to submit to schools, but now I'm struggling over length. I'm applying to UNC Chapel Hill, University of Georgia, UCLA, and Cornell to the Linguistics (or Indo-European Studies) departments, hoping to concentrate in historical linguistics. For my writing sample, I'm using my senior thesis, which is 39 pages long, but that's including the title page and two-page bibliography, so really it's 36 or so (not really a huge difference, I guess!). I thought I had read on at least one of these school's sites that the writing sample length should be between 10 and 20 pages, but looking through them again, I see no page guidelines, except on UNC's, which suggests a "short term paper" as an optional submission (I'd still like to submit a writing sample here, though). I've had some friends and former teachers read my piece to give me suggestions on the best parts to keep, but now that I seem to have imagined the page limits, I suppose I can submit my whole 39-page thesis to most of my schools. However, I'm wondering if this is a good idea. I know that the admissions folks probably don't have a huge amount of time to read everyone's entire paper. However, I've been a bit put out having to take out any part of my thesis (as I'm sure most folks can identify with!). My topic was tracing the development of literary self-defense and literary insults in the satirists and epigrammists Lucilius, Catullus, Horace, Persius, Martial, and Juvenal. My friends and my high school Latin teacher, whom I had read my paper, suggested that to fit into the 10-20 page limit range, I take out Catullus and Martial, since I had to do a bit of explaining in the introduction as to why I was including those two epigrammists in this survey of mostly satirists (because those two had fantastic insults, obviously). My former Latin teacher did say this would be a tragedy, though, but this edit made the most sense, ha ha! I agreed with this, but now I'm wondering if I can submit my whole paper anyway, since I don't have explicit page limits. Catullus and Martial were two of my favorite sections in this paper, and probably the two authors I have the most knowledge on out of all the folks I wrote about. My thesis advisor, while I was writing my thesis, did say including Martial in this study made my paper unique, as well, since studying all these authors together wasn't entirely common (taking his word on this, maybe he was making it up, ah ha ha!). So, what I want to ask you all, do you think I should go ahead and submit my whole 39 pages to my schools? Would it be a better idea to submit the revised version of only Lucilius, Horace, Persius, and Juvenal (which still clock in at about 26 pages, so still not super short!)? What about UNC's request of a "short term paper" - is my revised 26 pages still to long? Thank you for your help! Everyone was super helpful when I posted earlier in the summer about which schools I should apply to, so thank you for that.

At helio - ah, okay, I am sure it is good. I've heard different things from different people. Maybe I was thinking of a different place, even! At latinist - that makes a lot of sense! I'll keep that in mind as I write my applications. It's good to know it's a little less strict than appears on the surface, at least!

Latinist, thanks for the info! I was wondering how Cornell counted years of Latin or Greek myself, since I did have three semesters of intro Greek, before my five of advanced Greek. It would be great if they counted both, but I'm unsure. My professor seemed to imply they did not. For IE at UCLA, the website states that they expected a degree in an Indo-European language, such as Classics, or Linguistics (http://www.pies.ucla.edu/). But the study of phonology and syntax would probably be much easier to handle with a Linguistics degree! I also see that Chapel Hill seems to have a historical linguistics program (http://www.unc.edu/gradrecord/programs/linguistics.html), but I've heard from a few folks their Classics grad program isn't the best.

Hi rkg, thank you for your post! Regarding post-bac, depending on how my applications for MAs/PhDs fall this year and where I get in, I'll definitely consider that route. It would be nice to get in more modern languages, or more Classics courses, which would strengthen my applications in the future. From what I've seen, it seems as though the Linguistics programs are more pertinent to my interests, as they allow students to delve into a variety of languages and cultures, which is what my ideal would be. But I'll definitely see if some Classics programs allow students to study several other languages - a few seemed to offer Etruscan, Hebrew, Eastern languages, and so on, which would be great, although I'd love to go beyond those, even. The only Linguistics-oriented class my college offered was History of the English Language, which I took and thoroughly enjoyed, and I did well in. I plan to get a recommendation from the teacher who taught it. I took a few other literature courses, but nothing else exactly Linguistics-focused. My writing sample would probably be more aimed at Classics, however, as I did my thesis on Roman satirists, although I did try to trace the development of and changes in their writing throughout the centuries and from writer to writer. But it is probably not as Linguistics-oriented as it could be. My professor recommended taking a ten-page portion of the thesis and working it up. This paper is probably the closest to a publishable piece I have, and it would demonstrate my strengths in my major, but I do have a few papers from my History of the English Language class, and I did write a fourteen-page paper for New Testament Greek that focused on language use and tone. Would one of these choices or something else be better as a writing sample? I would be more than happy to apply for an MA program (one person who noted me suggested Georgia, which seemed like a very good choice) that would prepare me for a PhD program somewhere else, such as UCLA or Cornell. This may be the best route for me at the moment. Thank you for your advice! And thanks to everyone who's replied to me so far; you've helped me a whole lot! Edit: @Latinist, ah, really? I did not realize that. Good to know! Cornell, I think, suggested three years of advanced Greek; my professor just suggested a class or two more may help!

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies, and notes for those who sent them! They have definitely helped me. Latinist, I guess by 'upper-level' I do mean advanced Greek - I took five semesters (Plato, Attic Orators, Tragedy, Homer, and New Testament). I took three semesters of intro Greek, as well. I think I'm a bit more solid in my Latin studies, though! In other news, does anyone know a good score on the GRE to aim for? My practice book states a '162 score is very competitive.' I haven't studied math in some time, either, yikes!

Hello! I need some help… I just graduated from UNC Asheville in May with a degree in Classics, concentration in Latin and Greek literature. I’m taking a year off to earn money and to apply to graduate schools, as I’d really like to continue my studies in the subject. I have a strong interest in historical linguistics and the development of ancient languages, and for graduate school, I would like to enter into this field. While I suppose I would be strongest in Latin and Greek, I would love to study more than these two languages, such as Old English, Old Norse, Sanskrit – near anything, actually. What programs might I look into or apply to for this subject field? One of my professors has worked with me on starting the search process, and she has recommended Cornell, UCLA, Austin Texas, and University of Chicago. I’d like to apply to these places, but also smaller schools, or schools that are easier to get in to. Does anyone have any recommendations for smaller schools? In addition, as I’ve been looking at programs, I am uncertain whether to apply to the Classics programs, or to the Linguistics programs, in order to study historical linguistics and the development of ancient languages. At several places, the two programs seem to overlap – you can study historical linguistics in the Classics department, or the Linguistics department. Should I go for the Classics programs, or the Linguistics programs instead? I’m also worried about being able to get in to any of the places I apply, as they’re great and competitive schools. I graduated with a 3.89 GPA, and received A’s or A-‘s in all of my Classics courses. I took a History of the English Language class, which I really enjoyed, and earned an A in it. I was one of the two Classics peer tutors since my freshman year. My senior year, I wrote a 36-page thesis on literary self-defense in satirical Roman authors. I think I could get several great recommendations from my teachers. I have signed up to take the GRE in July, and I am studying for it, so hopefully I’ll do well. However, on the negative side, I have not had any German, and only one semester of French (I’m looking into taking courses at nearby schools, but there is not much available, at least at the moment; plus I’m working, so I can’t do much outside weekends). My professor stated that my Greek experience may look weak on my applications, as I’ve only had two and a half years of upper-level Greek courses. She recommended earning a post-bacc degree, but I wasn’t terribly fond of the idea because of the amount of time it would take, but if I must earn a post-bacc in order to get in to graduate school anywhere, I’ll do so. Sorry for the long post! Any recommendations, for schools, programs, areas of study? Any chances I might get in anywhere? All advice is amazingly helpful! Thank you!