Iocheaira

I'm in the same boat and presumably at the same place! I asked my advisor at Penn about this because it felt a little uncomfortable. She told me it's probably best to e-mail and (graciously) decline the interview, especially if you know you won't go to an MA. This way no one's time is wasted (whether yours or theirs) and other applicants will have a better shot. I did the same with Kansas yesterday and they were very understanding. In fact, they sent back a really nice e-mail congratulating me on my acceptance and wishing me the best.

If you're the person who recently posted a waitlisting from Kansas on the results board, I officially declined their offer today. I hope you get the spot! Good luck!

Congrats! That's very exciting. I'm doing a Post-Bacc at Penn now and the department is really lovely. Perhaps I'll see you when you come to visit! Also, just thought I'd chime in on this convo: Our advisors at Penn told us that they've been doing Skype interviews for most candidates (at least for the past few years) and that their visit weekends are always a recruitment session for accepted students as opposed to some schools that use it as a second round interview. But as hypsipyle said this can change from school to school, year to year, candidate to candidate. From what I understand, it's not atypical for the top candidates to be accepted earlier and with fewer hoops to jump through, as it means the program can get a head start on recruiting. You can easily see who has and has not done interviews by searching the Results section. I sort of figured Chapel Hill wouldn't hold interviews this year based on some of the early acceptances they sent out last year.

I was also accepted to Chapel Hill!! Rather exciting as it was my first choice based on the faculty and my own interests. Will you be attending the visit weekend in March? I've already visited, but plan on going again. As far as admissions, the faculty told me that they are only admitting about 4 people total this year, as they had an unexpectedly high number of students accept their offer last year. They mentioned that they'd be rather selective in choosing, as they were looking for people who really understood their program and seemed to be seriously considering attending. I'd assume based on that information that they sent out the acceptance letters/visit invites to their ~4 most fitting candidates and will move forward based on the responses they get. Hope that's helpful to anyone else that's waiting! Good luck to all on interviews and visit weekends!

I think it's really lovely! It was an easy choice for me because I did my undergrad in Philly as well, so I didn't need to move. I was also familiar with Penn because I went to some of the colloquia as an undergrad and had two professors with Penn PhDs. Needless to say, I've felt pretty at home here, but think I would have felt the same even if I'd come from far away. The program director and staff are extremely supportive and offer a lot of guidance. We have weekly lunchtime meetings where different people come in to give us advice on grad school applications, different courses of study, etc. and we've all been assigned a principal advisor to work with. The group is also pretty diverse as far as interests, which is nice! Surprising amount of Archaeology students haha... Where did you end up doing your Post-Bacc?

Hey y'all! Figured I'd chime in since I'm applying this cycle as well. I'm currently enrolled in the Post-Bacc at UPenn after a late start to Classics in my undergrad career. By the end of this year I'll have pretty strong language prep (the equivalent of three/four years of Latin and three years of Greek), as well as a good deal of research and teaching experience under my belt. That said, I'll still be applying to both MAs and PhDs to play it safe. My interests broadly include Homer, Latin imperial poetry, Roman historiography, and gender and sexuality studies, but I'm particularly interested in sexual violence, relationships of power, and the value of the female body in Latin love elegy and erotic poetry. That interest has played a large role in my choice of programs. I originally anticipated applying to (at least a few) Ivies, but it seems that almost none have faculty whose interests align with my own. Regardless, I'm quite happy with the list i've drawn up. I'm planning to apply to UNC Chapel Hill (PhD), UCLA (PhD), UT Austin (PhD), UWashington - Seattle (PhD), Notre Dame (MA), WashU - St Louis (MA), University of Kansas (MA), and University of British Columbia (MA, but not certain whether in Classics or ACRE). I look forward to speaking with some of you and hearing about your interests!