ClassApp

Hi! Unfortunately I know very little about graduate studies in US History, but I'm a Classics undergrad at UNC currently looking at PhD programs for next year. Sorry I can't say much about CUNY, but I can say that UNC's Classics department is exceptionally strong, and that if you're going to be taking courses in the classics (it sounds like you might need to/want to), you'll be well-situated here. Not sure exactly what/when you're interested in as far as "classical antiquity", but we have a fabulous Cicero scholar (Grillo) as well as an amazing Vergil/Republican/Augustan poetry professor (O'Hara), and Prof. Rives is wonderful and studies Roman law and religion. If you're more into the later stuff, Prof. Babcock is about the coolest person around (and of course extremely well-respected in the field). Talbert and Naidan are, as I'm sure you know, also great (I'm more into literature so I don't know them as well). Just wanted to say that you'll have a great backbone of support here as far as Classics/Ancient History goes. The Classics department gets along really, really well--no worries about any sort of department divide, and the grad students are all friends too (not just polite/friendly, as some are at other institutions). Also wanted to echo the previous poster--grad students here do get lots of good teaching experience, from my understanding (definitely in Classics and I think in related fields like history as well). I also wanted to add that I am, in a way, in a similar position for my own graduate school. My research interests fit best with a lower-ranked school. It's a very hard decision, but I think it's important to remember that a lot of people change their mind, and that you might want to give yourself every chance you can at a job (which may mean that the ranking matters more than it should...). If you have a strong background in your stated interest, you will be able to continue that research in graduate school even if your professor's research isn't an exact fit. Finally, listen to your gut and really give weight to your future happiness in your decision. Grad school is hard enough--don't make it harder by forcing yourself to be miserable all the time. If you have any questions about UNC that you think I might be able to help with, just let me know! Good luck! OH! If you'll be here this weekend--I'm not sure what your schedule/plans are, but there is the UNC-Duke Classics Graduate Colloquium on Saturday. You should absolutely go for as much of it as you possibly can if you're interested in studying/teaching anything about classical antiquity (or, frankly, even if you aren't). The focus this year is teaching controversial topics in the Classics. I can't find the flyer online with a 3-second google, but just call L.E. at the Classics office and she'll give you all the information about it (I think it starts around 9am? Don't remember now). Or just stop by on Friday! The Classics Department is in Murphey Hall (office is on the second floor).

I think we are missing some of the most important information here: Have you studied a foreign language previously? If so, how did you do? If you've successfully learned another language before, it will make learning other languages on your own a million times easier. If you have not studied a foreign language previously at all (or were unsuccessful), I think that attempting to learn on your own without any course or guidance would be an inefficient use of your time--it will take you much, much longer to figure it out on your own for the first time. I have to warn that I am also a classicist, but I would recommend taking Latin first for several reasons: A) As you mentioned, it's largely taught for reading knowledge right from the start. B ) Latin has a relatively small regular vocabulary (especially compared to Greek or German) so you'll be able to read texts more quickly with less brute vocab study (there will be a lot of this regardless) C) Latin is grammar-heavy. The first thing you'll be doing is learning all about the declension system, the conjugation system, etc. This will be extremely helpful when you learn your other languages, like Greek and German, and you're already all too familiar with the dative and future passive participles. It will also allow you to study other languages on your own much more easily. D) The vocabulary that you do need to learn will translate extremely easily over to French (and Italian and Spanish and Portuguese...). It's extremely easy for me (as a classicist with no formal Italian training) to read Italian. Even if this isn't really a required language, it will open up more opportunities for your own research, and it's great to be able to put down reading knowledge of other languages on your CV with so little extra training. E) Greek textbooks (and courses) largely assume an audience already familiar with Latin (and therefore can occasionally gloss over important grammar information). Latin courses do not assume prior knowledge of another foreign language. In addition, Latin is significantly more regular than Greek. Ancient Greek is pockmarked with irregularities and is therefore extremely difficult for a first-time foreign language learner (or, frankly, even a second-time one). Much, much more brute memorization. F) German's structure is much more similar to the structure of English than Latin/Greek/even French are. This makes it easier for you as a native English speaker to teach yourself German than to teach yourself Latin/Greek/even French.

Echoing others here--I would advise against accepting an offer that is not fully funded. A funding offer is the school putting their money where their mouth is, and it is as close as we can get to a guarantee that the faculty and the school will be invested in you and your success. Your happiness for the next 4-5 years of your life is important to consider as well--if you're unhappy, you'll ultimately probably produce either fewer or worse publications anyways. If you are leaning strongly towards Temple and it is a decent school, listen to your gut here. Have you talked to your professors? What did they say about your choices?

Congratulations! Such an exciting time.

As far as the GRE scores go-- Are you currently attending undergrad? If so, they likely have a career center/learning center or equivalent that can work with you specifically on your GRE (for free!). Other than that, a meeting or two with a tutor may be helpful to identify what your exact problems are (call a good local university for recommendations on GRE tutors). Do you run out of time? Does your mind go blank when you get to the exam? Do you overthink everything and complicate it for yourself? Or do you just have problems with the material itself? What are your problem areas/most difficult types of questions/most difficult topics? From there, you can work on your specific weaknesses. ETS has free software available on their website called PowerPrep II. It is an imitation of the GRE itself and gives your computer the same screen, the same calculator, the same GRE questions from the actual GRE company, etc. This can be a valuable tool for judging improvement/continued issues. Beyond that, I can only recommend that you look either at less competitive PhDs or at doing a Masters first. Good luck!

Honestly, I don't think there's much to make of it. It sounds like a form letter that was probably sent out to all the applicants.However, it does encourage you to work with (i.e. be in contact with) your department, so that's good! Do you know whether the program has sent out acceptances/rejections? I don't know much of anything about medical masters programs, but if they have the April 15th deadline, it's likely that the program has already sent out their first round of acceptances. However, it is possible (though not likely) that you're on a silent waitlist or that they'll send out a second round of acceptances soon. Good luck!

That's a difficult position. Have you checked grad café results for the program for the past couple years? You might be able to find out from there how quickly they'll let you know after the interview. You might also just want to straight up ask the program when they'll let you know. Just be honest and tell them that you have other offers (that have a deadline) but are still very interested in them. I would also recommend asking your #2 choice for an extension--they might not grant it, but it likely won't hurt to ask. I think it's be prudent to decline the other two offers you know you won't accept by the April 15th deadline. I think that accepting an offer and declining it later is an extremely undesirable option and you should do what you can to avoid that situation.

First, let me preface this by saying that I am in the Humanities, so there may be differences (and anyone should feel free to correct me!), but I want to at least provide a peer's thoughts on the topic. I would say that not hearing back from a couple schools is annoying but normal. However, not hearing back from 10 schools seems extremely unusual to me. That being said--how many programs did you apply to? What percentage of your schools have you heard back from? And were those rejections or acceptances? And finally, have you checked their websites/online portals? Since we are just two and a half weeks away from the April 15th deadline, I would encourage you to email the graduate advisers of your programs asking for an update about the status of the application (though maybe wait a couple days for the Feb 1st apps, since I've heard that 2 months is when it's polite to ask). Your other option (and what I did for the one school I hadn't heard back from) is to call the department administrator and ask whether acceptances/waitlists/rejections have been sent out yet. It's extremely likely that the first wave of offers have already been made by all of the programs. They may send rejections out late in the game (why schools do this, I do not know), or you may be on a silent waitlist. Either way, a polite email or phone call to the appropriate people in the departments will answer your questions. Good luck!

Hey, @dinny and anyone else who will be at UNC-CH! I'm a senior there (currently about to head off to my own grad school adventure) and am happy to answer any questions you have about the place!! Just let me know

I'm planning to travel a bit and do a program to learn German, which is a required reading language in my discipline I figure that the summer is the chance to relax, read, and travel before research takes over my life in a couple months! Leisure-reading seems to be a popular choice--any books you're particularly looking forward to? I've got a new Muriel Barbery book that I can't wait to start!

Placement is definitely an important issue that, unfortunately, doesn't seem like it will be easy to decipher anytime soon. (which is why I asked! I'm not quite sure how to evaluate placement information...) How important is a sense of community within a cohort? I found that one of the schools I looked at had a remarkable sense of community (trivia nights, lots of support for younger students teaching for the first time, etc.) and that the other one had a cohort that was friendly, but not friends. I typically don't have too much of a problem making friends, but I am somewhat social so I'm worried that a lack of community in the program will mean an insular life in grad school. What do you guys think? How does that factor into your decisions?

Hi! I haven't accepted an offer from UW Madison, but I am considering and went to their recruiting weekend. Their public transportation/bus system is very good. The buses are pretty much always on time--if anything, they're early. If the buses get too crowded and they need extra buses, the extra ones actually come earlier/before the main bus rather than after, which is great. Because the campus is pretty spread out and doesn't really have a central pedestrian area, they are able to get right up next to most of the buildings. We stayed at the Lowell Center and took a bus to Van Hise Hall, and it was actually quicker than walking in very good weather (and that's not a long walk at all). There are certain buses that come very frequently (like I think maybe the 10 and 80 buses??? don't remember for sure), so you'll probably want to look that info up and search for an apartment right along one of those bus lines. In addition, buses run every day of the week, although less frequently on weekends. The bus is free for students, I think. I currently attend UNC Chapel Hill, which has a decent bus system (certainly way better than a lot of places) and I was extremely impressed with their transportation system. That being said, I think that the grad students recommended that new students live within 2 miles-ish of campus (but double check on that, numbers aren't my strong point).

I called the graduate administrator the other day as I hadn't heard back either. She was very nice and helpful but said that if you haven't yet gotten a call from the director of graduate studies, it's extreme likely that you've been rejected. They have already sent out the first round of acceptances/rejections, but there will be another round of emails sent out in the next week or so. I've been wait listed for WashU's PhD program, and I'm curious what the word is on this nascent program. There are a lot of aspects about it that I like (lots of direct attention from faculty, study abroad encouraged, and from the website typically they seem to offer fellowships in both the first and last years), but I'm curious what you've all heard about the program.

What about ranking? I know the rankings for Classics are mostly either outdated or inaccurate, but there does seem to be a reasonable consensus in the community.

It seems like a lot of the acceptances and funding offers have been made by now (not all, of course!), and I'm admittedly relieved to have a couple great choices. Such a big decision is so nerve-wracking--how are you guys handling it? Has anyone made his/her decision? More importantly, what criteria are most important to you in this decision? How are you deciding?

I'm not entirely sure (didn't apply there myself) but a friend recently attended their recruitment visit within the past week and a half I believe. Good luck!

Haha yes. I'm still awaiting news about waitlists and any news at all from Toronto... Dying slowly. Oh so slowly.

I recently found out I've been wait listed for funding. How often do people move off the wait list and get guaranteed funding? I know it varies some, but I'm just curious about if I generally have a chance or not.

Really? Maybe I'm going crazy, but this year in Classics I can only find one acceptance to Toronto's PhD on the results page (Jan 26) and they're labeled as "I" so International--I thought probably Canadian (plus one for the masters program). Regardless, it makes me feel a bit better to know that there are a couple other people out there who haven't heard back yet! And hopefully WashU will send out their decisions soon. I know they usually have to go through Admissions, etc, but maybe an email will be sent out early this week if they've made their decisions already!

Hi, everyone! I'm currently an undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill so feel free to ask about the school/area/department. I've applied to PhD programs at UCSB, U of Toronto, UWis-Madison, UWas-Seattle, UVA, and WashU St. Louis. I've been accepted to UCSB and UWis-Madison. I've been rejected from UVA and UWas-Seattle. I'm still waiting to hear from WashU and Toronto (it's killing me slowly). Has anyone heard updates about Toronto? Do they send notifications/acceptances to Canadians before Americans? I have a friend here who was accepted to their MA program around two weeks ago.