ploutarchos
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
PhD Advice for next year?
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
PhD Advice for next year?
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Almost failed prelims (in a humanities field)
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Advice for Classics grad students!
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I probably wouldn't have an "in progress" section on your CV, especially if there's only one paper in it. The trouble is that no one can verify what "in progress" means: an outline? a draft (rough or polished)? a lit review? It starts to become more meaningful for established scholars with track records, but even then most people don't list things until "in press." Further, it's already clear that the paper exists if it's your writing sample, so listing it on the CV is superfluous. That said, however, I think these considerations are more important for job applicants than PhD applicants. I think the paper sounds very interesting and could be a strong writing sample for the right program, but it will depend on how open the program is to less traditional avenues of inquiry. I suspect that my own writing sample last year, on the post-classical reception of a particular genre, was a liability at several programs, but I have no way of verifying that. I did end up at a place I'm very happy with, though.
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I would encourage you to postpone submission until after you arrive at your new program in the fall (assuming you receive offers and accept one). If you haven't had your paper accepted yet, it won't do you any good for this application cycle -- listing papers as "submitted" is close to meaningless -- and there is sometimes the unfortunate belief that reception, particularly pop-culture reception, isn't "serious" Classics. You may as well wait to see what your new program thinks about the paper and whether you should submit it and to what venue. For that matter, it may also be wise for your first publication to be easily recognizable to Classicists both in content and venue. But you may have already thought of these things, so FWIW.
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Just Getting Started...
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hats reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
MA before PhD?
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I think this is a really valuable thread, in large part because khigh is able to take detailed criticism and respond to it productively (an important skill for graduate work). I don't see blame-shifting as much as explanation. Maybe there's some pretentiousness in the first post, but I don't detect arrogance. I think the way khigh has interacted with posters in this thread bodes well for his/her success in graduate school. Since you've asked for recommendations, @khigh, I'll throw out Samuel Johnson (the prose works) and Edward Gibbon. Reading a bit of Johnson and Gibbon -- two of the best prose stylists in the language -- will give you a sense of what more complex prose looks like in English, which will be more to your taste than Hemingway. They should not replace, however, extensive reading in contemporary scholarship that is both (a) in your area of interest and (b) written in English. And it's the writing of these contemporary academics that you should attempt to imitate directly, not Johnson and Gibbon. As others have said, that is what will teach you to write in the way that other academics expect.
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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dr. t reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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Your dichotomy between "concise" writing and "academic art" is false. Good writing is not necessarily concise nor is it necessarily verbose. To a certain extent, the sort of writing you need to produce is not up to you: it is bounded by purpose, genre, and audience. Anglophone scholarship tends to value clarity, precision, and conciseness. If you think those things are inconsistent with good style, then you need to find better academic English prose to read (I don't mean that snarkily). From the snippets of writing you've posted, it seems that you need to work on these core values of Anglophone academic prose before worrying too much about literary merit. I also wouldn't lean too much on writing advice from academics who don't usually write in English (assuming your own writing will be in English).
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Readability
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VAZ reacted to a post in a topic:
A few quick formatting questions
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This varies by (type of) institution. At research institutions, virtually everyone on the faculty has a doctorate, so "professor" is usually the higher-prestige title. Thus, at the very large research-intensive universities I've been at, calling an assistant/associate/full professor "Dr. So and So" is minor faux pas, a sign that you haven't fully understood the conventions. At my small undergraduate college, "Dr." was the prestige title because a fair number of faculty (often with the title "Professor") did not have doctorates. (See the second answer at this academia stackexchange post.) In any case, the practice of undergraduates (who generally don't know the difference between adjuncts, lecturers, tenure-track professors, etc.) is not a good guide to to academic norms. If you're applying to American research institutions, OP, where virtually everyone in a teaching capacity (except for grad students) has a PhD, use "Professor Smith" or "Prof. Smith" for professors and "Dr. Smith" for people with doctorates who are not professors.
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If this person is really an associate professor in the regional studies program, and is listed as an "adjunct associate" professor of history, probably he/she has a 0%-time courtesy appointment in the history department, while being a (tenured) associate professor in the regional studies program. In this scenario, the "adjunct" title wouldn't mean what it usually means (that is, contingent faculty, no tenure, no job security, probably no graduate teaching/supervision, etc.). But there would still be a question of whether this person could be the primary advisor for students in other departments. You should probably just write and ask. Or if the person's CV is available online, it may have information about past dissertations directed.
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Funding eligibility if I work p/t at university?
ploutarchos replied to NYCStudent's topic in History
Even if you find a program that will contemplate such an arrangement, the scenario you describe is really just impossible in practice. TA/RA jobs generally count as 50% appointments, sometimes 33%, so that's 13-20 hours of work per week. That means, adding in your hypothetical 20 hours per week in student affiars, you'd be working roughly 33-40 hours per week before touching any coursework (which is at least a full-time job in itself). That is a recipe for burnout at best or simply failing out at worst. -
Two Master's degrees and an Ph.D
ploutarchos replied to Spanish2020G's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Completely anecdotal and so potentially meaningless, but I was admitted to more than one program last season with two MAs under my belt. If you can link your work in philosophy of science to your interest in comp lit, as @Ramus says, it could even work to your advantage. -
Deciding Between Potential Second Master Degree Programs
ploutarchos replied to Rin's topic in Humanities
Have you considered the Paideia Institute's online classes? It's certainly not ideal, primarily because they don't offer undergraduate or graduate credit. On the other hand, the absence of credit keeps the cost down, and they do offer "Continuing Education Units" (CEUs), which would give you a way to demonstrate your continued study. If the instructor has a PhD, your application might benefit from a letter of recommendation from him or her attesting to your language skills (depending on the particular instructor and the rest of your application, that may or may not be a good strategy; I mention it only as a possibility). -
Hopkins has sent out some acceptances.
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Congrats on FSU! I'm interested, very broadly, in Greek religion and reception studies. Thanks! I did notice that from the results board, so I won't write them off just yet.
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Does anyone know anything about Princeton's timeline this year?
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@Thyestes76 The survey is often useful for finding out whether programs typically interview.
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Not necessarily. If a department can make (e.g.) 5 offers and interviews 10 people, half of those people will be waitlisted or rejected.
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@terraaurea Thanks! I applied for the PhD.