meangreen

I did try it with the nominal advisor for paperwork purposes, and my department recommended someone external for me to work with. But the person they recommended lives in France, is retired, is not taking any new students, and refuses to answer emails. And there is no one else in the department that is familiar with my area of work. I do believe that transferring is my best bet. I believe that since we are so late in the academic year (Spring 2019) now, I've been told that I won't be able to transfer to another school in time for Fall 2019. Can anyone confirm that this is true? Because if that is true, it looks like I must take the next academic year off.

Thanks for the response!

Hi All, I don't know if this is the right forum to put this in. But I was wondering if anyone had any experience transferring between PhD programs, especially in the humanities? Long story short, my Phd Advisor just passed away very suddenly this semester as I was preparing to take my qualifying exams. I thought about transferring immediately but decided to try and make it work in my current department. It turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. My new advisor, though they tried their best to help, was not familiar with my topic and could not vouch for my research and work, nor could they advise me. As a result, I ended up failing my quals just a few weeks after my old advisor passed, and I ended up in hot water with my department's chair and Dgs. In any event, I feel like I did make a conscious effort to move forward after my advisor's passing, and I think I have clear evidence now that I don't have any one to work with in my current department. So does anyone have any advice on transferring PhD programs in the Humanities, what situations warrant it, and the general nuts and bolts behind it? I appreciate the help, and if you think I might get more traction on this topic in another forum, let me know as well!

Thanks for the responses. I wish I had heard about this earlier, I thought that in applying for Grad school, what was most important was the fit and people you wanted to work with. I didn't realize that the School's name carried so much weight for your future prospects. Oh well, you live and you learn I suppose.

Hey Guys! I am new here, just decided to join after lurking for a while. I hope your applications are going well. I wanted to ask a question about the school rankings for Classics department. Is there a list of Classics programs that are supposed to be considered top-tiered? Would the Ivy League schools in America considered "top-tier" for classics programs? Is there even a ranking for Classics graduate programs? I ask because I am applying to a bunch of programs, but I have been told that unless I get into a really good top-tier program, it will be really hard to get a job if I graduate. So essentially I would just be wasting my time unless I attend a good program, like an ivy-league school. Is that true? What constitutes a good Classics program? I was wondering if any of you have heard something of this sort?