george_lit

Hey - I'm wondering if any of you have recovered and gotten into a top PhD program after a really rough start? I finished my year-long elementary language class with a C- and am more worried what it does to my PhD admissions chances than anything. I'm aiming for comparative ancient lit's and this grade is in one of the two literatures I want to compare. I can do better in intermediate and advanced but I'm worried I can't recover from having that mark on my masters transcript.

Ok in my case it was a difference of $12,000.

I was in this position (50% at YDS Second Temple MARc vs 100% somewhere else) and I did NOT choose YDS. Where does the other 50% come from? Loans cover a PART of it IF they make them available, and they aren't giving guarantees about that. I'd agree with your advice if you were talking about making a choice between 80% at YDS and 100% somewhere else, but you're being a bit naive to think that everyone has funds at their disposal to cover the difference. There are a lot of people in top programs who come from YDS and there are a lot who come from state colleges or other non-Ivy schools. If you're brilliant, you can succeed without the reputation of a big institution AND save yourself tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Also, this is far too important a decision to make based on the advice of strangers in an online discussion forum. Talk to financial aid at YDS and ask where the rest of the $ would come from. Talk to professors at your school. But you don't know who you're talking to here or if they truly have your best interests in mind.

I'll PM you. Looks like you're on top of it! Have you started thinking about housing? I'm thinking about it but there's not much to do for the moment except hope for the best. Mine came today. It has the two letters you already got by email (admissions and financial aid) plus a bunch of stuff that's available online (flyers for Open House, Summer Language Program, a big HDS promotional brochure).

Will you be able to visit both of the schools? It sounds like a tough decision. I have the same impression about the different cultures there (HDS super liberal and UofC super intense). If you're in the NE you can visit both cheaply by taking busses and staying at hostels. If you can't visit, I guess the next best thing is to spend some time sitting quietly and listening to your heart to help you decide based on the info available to you.

I accepted HDS' offer of admission today and will be attending their MTS program this fall with a focus in Jewish Studies. I was also offered a spot in the Second Temple MAR at YDS - "nihil nisi bonum." Funding was the deciding factor.

I'm planning to go to HDS for the admitted students event on April 8th. If anyone is looking for a cheap place to stay, check out hostels in Boston - I'm staying at Hosteling International and it's $50 a night for a bed in a dorm with 7 other people. You can also try couchsurfing.com to try to find a free couch to crash on, if you're adventurous.

I got accepted to Yale but the offer was much lower than I was hoping for. Harvard offered me 100% tuition. I'm surprised to find how torn I am now over what to do. The program at Yale is the best by far but that offer was a big disappointment. The living expenses in New Haven are lower than Cambridge so it would only end up costing me an extra $5000 a year to go to Yale. I'll probably do that I imagine. Trying to keep it in perspective -- so happy to have gotten in both schools! Edit: spelling.

Sure but I imagine a combined MA-PHD is going to be far more competitive than terminal masters, no?

Are there well-funded masters programs out there in French? I'm interested in literature and literary theory...

Hi Conscia -- thanks for your detailed reply. When you say 1000 lines is that e.g. from Loeb edition? In my 3000 level Greek I'd estimate we're reading 200-250 lines a week and it's challenging for me. I think you're right that I probably need one more year before I try to tackle Survey.

I want to know how it's possible to do it! They read in one week the equivalent of what we're reading in a whole semester in advanced Greek. How is it possible to get through the volume of material? Do you need to have most of the vocab down already and understand how the language works at a glance? It's such a massive leap from the previous level that I don't know how it's possible to do it (but I want to try). G

Has anyone here taken the year-long "Survey of Greek Literature" course that many graduate programs offer/require? I have some questions about it. G.

Thank you guys so much for your encouraging words and helpful advice. I feel a lot less afraid now that I'll graduate in May and have no money and nowhere to go when it's time to move out of student housing.

I'll have a BA in Classics 3.7 or so from an ivy (an older student in nontraditional program). Advanced Greek/Latin/French, beg-int German, but only a year or so of modern Hebrew. The main point of going for a masters will be to have a couple years to work on biblical Hebrew, and to refine my interests for Ph.D research. But I'm broadly interested in comparative Jewish/Greco-Roman studies. I'm religious but not Christian (just "other"). My GRE was 168 V / 151 Q / 5.0 writing. There are two or three programs I'm very interested in -- Yale MAR, Oxford MPhil being top two -- but I'm terrified of applying too selectively and either not getting in due to inadequate Hebrew prep, or getting into only one and not being able to pay for it.