hypsipyle

I've never heard of someone negotiating a PhD funding offer, but this may vary depending on the kind of institution/location (e.g., if it's a school where funding isn't automatically guaranteed for all admitted students, there may be more of an opportunity to negotiate). At my university (private, U.S.), the funding package for PhD students has been negotiated by our graduate student union and is standard across all departments in the humanities/social sciences. That said, it's possible that there might be some additional internal funding that is specifically earmarked for recruiting students from underrepresented backgrounds that a department might be able to tap from/petition for. However, departments are often willing to offer additional financial support to their incoming students for relevant educational activities undertaken the summer before their PhD begins — e.g., if an incoming student wants to take an intensive course to get one of their modern languages up to speed, or work on an archaeological dig, my department will typically help fund those opportunities.

It depends on the school/program. Many MA programs in our discipline in the US (particularly those that are funded) are designed to be two-year programs (in order to accommodate any teaching requirements and/or the writing of a thesis). There are at least a handful of one-year programs or MAs with requirements that could be realistically completed in one year (e.g., BU, Penn, Columbia, to name a few), though I don't think most of them offer funding. You can find a list of programs that offer MAs here: https://classicalstudies.org/education/graduate-programs-north-america

Sure – message away!

A lot of programs have switched to Skype interviews (vel sim.) but a few holdouts (Columbia Classics, Yale, a couple others I think) still like to interview in person, their likely rationale being that it's much easier to get a well-rounded perspective on a candidate—and a sense of who they are not just as an academic, but also as a human—from face-to-face interaction, rather than a short video call. I'm still not sure where I come down on this issue: visiting a program when you already have an offer in hand certainly makes it a whole lot less stressful, but Skype has its own set of problems (one Skype interview I had during my application season had the camera angled/so far away from the committee that I couldn't actually see or hear most of the five profs present; for another one, the video kept freezing repeatedly – not exactly ideal)!

As @ClassicalK said, Columbia Classics and CLST are two separate programs entirely and have typically had different procedures for interviews/visits. The only instance in which there might be some overlap during the admissions process is when one program receives a promising application that is deemed a much better fit for the other program (this has happened a handful of times to my knowledge, usually as a result of an applicant not being aware that Classics and CLST are two separate programs with different focuses). When this occurs, the AdComm would contact you asking if you are okay with having your application transferred to the other program's applicant pool. However, I have heard that this is usually done early in the process (before interviews go out), so it probably shouldn't be something to be concerned about at this stage.

Yes, of course! In general, this is standard for U.S. Ph.D. programs – if you're invited to a formal visit (whether for interviews or for an admitted students weekend), travel/accommodation should always be taken care of by the department.

All the interviews/visits for Columbia Classics have now been completed. They should be sending out offers soon. Classical Studies (CLST) at Columbia has already accepted and flown out their candidates. However, there could still be a waitlist/shortlist in operation!

At my institution, interview requests are usually sent out in the 3rd or 4th week of January. We typically only make official offers once all of our prospective students have visited/interviewed so that everyone is given an equal shot (usually late February or early March), but other schools prefer to assess/make offers on an individual basis. If you get an interview, it also doesn't hurt to ask the DGS (who should have a decent sense of the AdComm schedule) when you should expect to hear from them re: a decision so that you don't have to be waiting in limbo forever!

Some of this is building off the Eidolon piece/what has already been said, but here are some tidbits of advice that come to mind: 1) Try to go to as many lectures as you can, both those hosted by your department and especially those in adjacent programs/fields (or random ones that you're interested in!). As a philologist, going to ancient history/art history/archaeology/philosophy/early modern lectures has contributed substantially to enriching my own work, kept me up with larger trends in the discipline, but most importantly, has given me the opportunity to meet and develop good relationships with students and faculty outside of my program (whom I would never normally have gotten to know). Plus, free food! 2) If you can at some point in your PhD, do some departmental service (e.g. serve as graduate representative to the dept., coordinate your dept. lecture series, organize a pedagogy/diversity workshop, etc.) or get involved with a university-wide initiative (e.g. grad student union or student government, etc.). I've found it extremely helpful to get some administrative experience (which anyone with a faculty job will get to look forward to...), but it's also a great opportunity to create some lasting change within your department/university. Fair warning - this can often be a HUGE time commitment; do not overload yourself! 3) Going off of that, it is okay to say no to things! Even when an opportunity sounds amazing, if it is going to stress you out with the million other things you have to do + teaching + studying, it's okay to take a step back and focus on what you need to get done. 4) Save all of your notes (whether vocabulary notes for texts, lecture notes, etc.)!!! I am a bit of a pack rat and have saved everything since undergrad, and I only realized how recently how valuable this has been. When reviewing for my language exams or coming back to a Greek/Latin text, I've been able to pull out an old notebook and work with that instead of having to lug out the ol' dictionary (which has also been a huge timesaver). Likewise, I've found it invaluable for teaching prep (both for languages/lit classes and for civ/culture classes). 5) One of the best things I've found about graduate school has been the community at my university/in my department. Take the time to reach out to your cohort-mates/fellow grad students and get to know them outside of work/school. Form a reading group and share your work with one another, giving constructive and critical (but not hurtful) feedback. Don't be competitive with your peers - instead, try to support one another as much as possible (graduate school is hard and in addition to academic pressures, many of us face difficulties in other areas of our lives). 6) If you don't already, start using a citation management software (like Zotero) for everything you read! Even if it doesn't seem worthwhile at the moment, it will save your life at some point in the future. 7) Get to know and be kind to any administrative/support staff - they are the hidden gems/gatekeepers of any department! I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts, but I hope this is helpful in some way!

Congrats on your decision!

Declining an offer can be a hard thing to do (I agonized for days over how to word these emails properly because I had had such good experiences on all of my visits), but I would echo what @fuzzylogician said. Some others may disagree with me here, but in addition to the DGS, if any particular faculty member really went out of their way to be in touch with you (particularly if it's someone with whom you'd like to have a working relationship at a later date), I don't think it hurts to send them a short, personal email as well, stating that you appreciated their help/support and that you hope that you will be able to keep in touch with them in the future. Faculty blacklisting folks for declining offers is pretty rare, as @anactoria stated. I think something that tends to annoy faculty far more (certainly at my university) is when prospective students put the department in limbo & don't reject offers until after April 15 (which makes it very hard for the department to give that offer/slot to someone else). So, let that serve as a reminder to everyone to decline any other offers you might have (both to the DGS and officially to the university) as soon as you have accepted the offer at your university of choice!

Congrats to those with the interviews and acceptances! And to those who are still waiting: don't fret or lose hope! It's not even February yet!

Hi, @Thyestes76, I'm at an Ivy League school, so my understanding of how my program works may not translate to other schools or programs.

Ditto what @ploutarchos said. My program will only be able to take three people max this year because we over-yielded last year, though we're interviewing more than twice that number of candidates. Because the program doesn't want to risk over-yielding again (and incur the wrath of the graduate school), the ad com may even have to make offers a couple at a time and make more use of the waitlist. It's a frustrating process for all involved (on both sides of the admissions game)!

Hi all! No one had made this post yet (is the Classics corner of GradCafé slowly dying?!) so I figured I'd take the plunge. Who is applying for Classics and Classics-adjacent programs this cycle? What are your fields and interests? What are your hopes and dreams? (I am not applying myself and am happily ensconced in my own PhD program, but am happy to answer any questions about applications, interviews, or life as a PhD student)

Last year, Princeton accepted a couple of their prospectives without interviews (others were interviewed first). I don't quite know why/how this happened, but it goes to show that a given school can handle their admissions/offer process in more than one way! It's curious that more programs have been accepting candidates without interviews—I have heard that across the board the number of applications were not as high this season as they have been in past years, so maybe programs are able to pinpoint their ideal candidates more effectively? UPenn Classical Studies definitely did Skype interviews last year (their visiting "weekend" was for the accepted students). On a general note, congratulations to everyone who has received an interview or an offer! And to those of you still waiting, don't give up hope!

Hi all! My application cycle is thankfully behind me, but having gone through this stressful and often confusing/overly opaque process only this past year, just wanted to say hello and good luck to all of you! If you have any questions about applications/admissions, I hope I can be of some help!

Penn interviewed and accepted students a couple of weeks ago in Classical Studies and Ancient History (and I think AAMW as well?), though there could still be a waitlist!

Mugatu! A+ GIF choice, Beatrice.

I know that there was one international applicant who received an interview, but has anyone else been contacted by Princeton (for an interview/acceptance/visit/anything)? I'd heard that their review process was behind schedule this year, but most of the other top programs have contacted their top candidates and it's getting pretty late in the season! Hope you all are doing well!

Hi all! Figured it was time to de-lurk and finally join all of you lovely people. I've heard through the grape vine that Columbia's Classical Studies admissions committee has met (though I have no idea if they've made any decisions or have started sending out any interview requests/acceptances - I didn't apply to that program myself!).