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A good background in Italian means that French shouldn't be that difficult to pick up. I would tag-team some oral-aural material (like Assimil) with Sandberg's French for Reading, which is simply excellent. I don't think you'd need to take a course. I've barely started German myself, so I can't really speak to that.

I think I applied for general financial aid through the program, and that's what they offered me. If they haven't said anything, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Anyone want to claim one of the ND or Arizona MA results? Edit: one too many definite articles.

Regarding the modern languages, two options in addition to the ones already mentioned: University of Toronto medieval studies offers French and German reading exams which you can have a faculty member at your home university proctor for you. You could also take one of the French exams offered by the French government (Diplôme d'études en langue française). But only reading knowledge is necessary for research, so the DELF would be overkill.

Wait . . . you want to be a language teacher and you're planning to do historical linguistics? Assuming Latin and/or Greek is the language you have in mind, an MAT in Latin would be more relevant and open more doors. I can't speak to the merits of either program you mention, but I can say that when I was admitted to UGA's linguistics MA a few years ago, they told me that assistantships for first year students were very rare. They did, however, offer me an out-of-state tuition waiver -- maybe that's something they could give you.

Yeah, there were some retirements and/or departures that decreased the size and strength of the program. I believe they did interviews for a Latin literature position at APA this year for a fall 2013 start. They've added a couple of visiting profs in the last couple of years. I don't know anything about placement, though.

Take a look at the admissions requirements for graduate programs in classics and medieval studies. One year of Latin and no Greek will get you nowhere, at least for classics. Even for medieval studies, you might be okay with no Greek, but you'll certainly need more Latin. For classics, you should be shooting for something like three years in one language and two in the other. You could do a postbac, extend your undergraduate degree, and/or graduate and spend a year in a place where you can take Greek and Latin part-time at a local university. German is the most important modern language for classics -- you'll need to be able to read academic works in it if you do a PhD. You'll also need to acquire either French or Italian or both down the road as well. Prior study of Spanish will help with those.

Mizzling, institutions often have a minimum GRE score for admissions, but of course that's not the same for each school. If so, it should be stated somewhere on the admissions page of the graduate school you're applying to, if it's not on the department's website.

Yeah, I saw the Chronicle threads already, but thanks. I agree that it looks dodgy. What I don't understand is why (apparently) reputable faculty at well-known universities are on the board of the organization, and why plenty of faculty from UK and US universities are submitting abstracts to the one in Budapest.

Rkg, that's good to know about the stated guidelines. I'll keep that in mind. Unfortunately I haven't had any non-language classics courses besides my philosophy ones, which sometimes addressed ancient philosophy. History of Philosophy 1 did, of course, and we read some Plato and Aristotle in translation for my ethics class; would that be worth something to an adcom? (Also, for the English major, I took World Lit 1, which contained some Greek and Roman literature in translation.)

rkg2012, thanks for the input. I'm aware of Arizona and Vanderbilt. I was thinking of applying to Vanderbilt, but Arizona explicitly requires "a four-year B.A. in classics," which I don't have. Right, Latin is much more important than German and I'm taking steps to get graded Latin credit on my transcript. By the time I apply I'll have taken third- and fourth-semester Latin, in addition to reading some Cicero, Caesar, and other authors on my own. Hopefully my graduate courses in Greek will indicate my capacity for advanced work in the languages. As for the list of works read, most programs I'm looking at request one, so I've been planning to do that.

Brown has a Sanskrit track in their classics PhD.

Here's the link. I'm trying to figure out if this is a reputable conference that's worth putting on my CV if I presented. Does anyone have any experience with it? Here are my concerns: Abstracts are accepted on a rolling basis. Mine was accepted one week after submission. Other conferences I've presented at begin reviewing abstracts only after the submission deadline. As someone who submitted an abstract, I can view the accepted abstracts on the organizers' website. Most look like reasonable presentations, but several are badly proofread and/or unintelligible. Presenters may submit papers to a "community peer-reviewed" journal published by the conference organizers. The proofreaders of this journal do not seem to do a very good job. And "community peer-reviewed" apparently means that those who submit papers review other people's papers with no regard for disciplinary expertise, which of course is meaningless "peer review." A "virtual presentation" is an option for those who cannot attend the conference in person. Virtual presenters upload a video of their presentations to the conference YouTube channel and may also submit their papers to the journal. The organizers of this conference also run dozens of similar conferences, some interdisciplinary as well. This has led some to accuse them of just trying to make money off these things and claim that these conferences are jokes. It just seems kind of weird. On the other hand, people from legitimate universities have presented at this conference in the past, and the advisory board includes some people from Harvard, Cambridge, etc. (who do actually list it on their CVs). So if I present and put it on my CV, will it be laughable?

Sounds like you know what your options are. A summer or two at Middlebury or some other French immersion program would really help; there are a ton of them out there. If you keep auditing undergrad French courses (or even take them for credit only, no grade), and do a summer or two, you should be in decent shape. Is your advisor fine with you waiting till the very end of the program, when you're dissertating, to fulfill the French coursework?

Andromache, thanks. That's good to hear. Notre Dame is already on my list, and I'll have to check out Kansas and CU Boulder. I believe UVM and WUSTL require more classics coursework than I'll be able to complete by the time I apply. Yeah, German is on my list; if possible, I'll start it next year. I've already familiarized myself with the reading lists for a wide variety of PhD and MA programs and have a good idea of my weak spots. Of course you're right about the SOP and writing sample. I'll be putting a lot of time into those. Do you (or anyone else) have an opinion about the U of Toronto medieval Latin exam? Is it recognized outside of medieval studies programs?

I am aware that a postbac would be the most sensible thing, and I do appreciate the advice, but an unfunded postbac is simply not an option for me due to financial and logistical reasons. Let me refocus my question (with apologies for my wall of text OP). I understand that on paper my languages are weak, and that whatever I do read outside of class won't count for much (though I hope it's at least better than nothing). However, I was hoping that my lack of language coursework would be counterbalanced, to some extent, by the following things: presentations, modern languages (could pass French and Italian exams on arrival), and teaching experience (though not in classics, I've received excellent ratings from my students and could produce a strong letter of recommendation from my supervisor). Are those things any good? Also, if it wasn't clear before, I'm not applying for this application season. I'm applying for the next one, hoping to enter a program in Fall 2014. I will have taken at least two graduate-level Greek courses and completed third- and fourth-semester Latin at my current university before I apply (all with As, I assume).

Thanks for the tip, but as I mentioned somewhere in my far-too-long OP, an unfunded postbac (or diploma) is not an option.

Hi everyone, I’m considering applying to classics MAs for Fall 2014 and would appreciate any thoughts on my chances. Sorry for all the verbiage below -- hopefully I've anticipated some of the first questions that usually come up on threads like these. Stats BA English, minors in philosophy and Spanish, 4.0 GPA Unknown small liberal arts college four semesters of Attic Greek (intro to intermediate) GRE: 710A/690Q/5.5W (2010) I’m currently at a large state university doing an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language. I anticipate finishing this program in December ’13 or May ’14 with a 4.0 GPA or close to it. In case it’s relevant, I have TAd either one or two ESL writing courses each semester as the primary instructor. Language experience Greek: This semester, I’m taking a graduate-level class (reading about 10 OCT pages per week of Demosthenes, Lysias, Gorgias, and other orators) in my university’s well-known classics program and anticipate getting an A. Hopefully this will result in a useable letter of rec. Before I leave, I expect to have taken at least one more graduate level Greek class. On my own, I’ve read several dialogues of Plato, most of the New Testament, a few books of the Septuagint, and several letters by Clement and Ignatius. I’ve also worked as an assistant teacher for an intensive summer Greek course and will teach that course on my own next year. Latin: I have taken no formal Latin courses (yeah . . . I know). I will rectify that either next semester or Fall 2013 by taking third- or fourth-semester Latin here. In the meantime, I’m working on Caesar, Gallic Wars I and the Cicero’s first Catilinian oration. I’m also reading a chapter of the Vulgate every day. In addition, I’m planning to take the University of Toronto’s Level I medieval Latin exam next semester. Modern languages: I have reading knowledge of French and Spanish, am close to having reading knowledge of Italian, and will attempt to at least start German before applying. I am looking particularly at Kentucky and Georgia, though I’ll likely apply to a few more programs. For the MA, UK recommends three years of work in one language and two in the other; UGA does not state specific admission requirements that I could find on their website, but they do offer a Greek-only track in the MA. Since my Latin is weak, I could apply for the Greek track rather than Greek and Latin, and then take Latin anyway were I admitted. By the time I apply, I’ll have presented at least once at a statewide classics conference. (I’ll have also presented at an international conference in my current field, if that matters.) Unfortunately, my finances do not permit doing an unfunded postbac. In sum: I know my most significant weakness is Latin, and my Greek coursework is minimal so far. But I’m hoping my demonstrated dedication to the field (taking classics courses as an MA student in another program), research productivity (presentations), and modern language preparation will help balance that out. And now for a barrage of questions. How crazy am I? Do I have a real shot at either of these MAs? What can I do to improve my chances beyond taking every Greek and Latin class I can, which won’t be many, and reading as much as I can on my own? Is the University of Toronto medieval Latin exam a good idea? I know it’s not classical Latin, but I figure anything to bolster my Latin credentials would be a good thing (and I’m interested in later Latin and Imperial Greek, so it’s not completely irrelevant to what my thesis would likely deal with). Regarding letters of rec, how much of a factor will it be that only one of my letters will be from a classicist? (I may be able to get another letter from a classicist, but one who has more experience with my Greek teaching than with my reading ability and my scholarly potential.) Thanks in advance for any advice.