suntaliquidmanes

I took “I’m at a total loss of what to do” as a request for opinions. An opinion is what I offered! Of course Wafflotron is going to weigh the options and do what’s right for them, but one does wonder about the sort of commitment Tulane has to them with a post-April 15th “top of waitlist” notification.

Go to McGill. Don’t encourage Tulane’s bad behavior. It’s after April 15th.

No, but I was an undergrad student there and it is, for many reasons, a great place to be. Department is small enough for individual attention, campus is nice, easy train ride to NYC and Philly. Hopefully that answers at least one question you might have had...

I have no insider information, unfortunately — hope you hear back ASAP!

Michigan’s recruitment weekend included language and literature, ancient history, and archaeology. Different programs handle offers differently; archaeology offers aren’t made until after the weekend, while lang & lit mixed people who have already received offers with those on the waitlist, and encourages prospectives not to share their status (whether they’ve been accepted or waitlisted) with current students and faculty. If you did not attend recruitment weekend and haven’t heard anything, I’d assume it’s a rejection, though some people might be lower on the waitlist/in an emergency reserve spot in case everyone accepted or higher up on the waitlist declines.

I took a Latin pedagogy class years ago and one of the presenters gave tips for the Praxis — I’ll see if I can track down his handout (assuming there was one, I can’t remember). I do remember that (1) it’s supposedly quite easy, as one of his pieces of advice was “just get a good night’s sleep beforehand”, and (2) they write questions with the intention of catching you off-guard, like asking the genitive of irregular nouns like ille and hoping you’ll pick the MC option “illi.”

I went 0/8 my first time applying 5 years ago, fresh out of my MA. I got a job teaching secondary-school Latin, worked on German a bit (figured it couldn’t hurt), and when I applied again was more honest in my statement of purpose (where I had earlier tried to gloss over the fact that I took several years off between my BA and MA) and basically spun my non-traditional path as a positive, coupled with my newfound teaching/experience recruiting Latin students. Depending where you live, it might not be difficult to find a Latin teaching job, since secondary Latin teachers are in such short supply. Definitely the number one thing that bolstered my app the second time, when I received multiple funded offers.

Congrats! I’m a graduate of their MA program and can’t say enough positive things about it. It’s a wonderful place to be.

Co-signed. Definitely doesn’t give an edge. The only advantage to this is if a professor is nearing retirement and you’d like to work with them — in that case it can’t hurt to make sure they’ll still be available to advise you.

Best of luck, @ClassicsCandidate and all else applying! I’ve been in a program for a few years now, and am happy to share my (naturally limited) perspective on the application process (which I had to go through twice) with any and all applicants — though since I’m a philologist literature programs are my forte. Consider this an open invitation for DMs, if y’all wish.

Paging @ciistai...

I took a Latin Pedagogy class in my MA program. On the date we discussed exams for accreditation, we were told the only thing we needed to do to prep for the Praxis is “get a good night’s sleep and eat breakfast,” because it’s supposedly a cakewalk. They like to ask multiple choice questions with tricky wrong answer options (like “illi” as the masc. gen. sg. of “ille,” for example), so watch out for those sorts of distractions. I’d like to stress that I haven’t personally taken the exam, but by all accounts it’s not bad at all.

I have no real personal experience with any of these programs, but I will say that Kansas seems to have a great track record of its alumni entering good PhD programs, because I feel like I meet Kansas grads fairly often at conferences.

Marcus_Aurelius' advice is good. I'd like to add that most American (and British?) "Classics" or "Classical Studies" (in most cases the terms are used interchangeably) are really "Classical Philology" programs, so when you say Russia has no "Classics" programs, maybe you mean there are no programs beyond philology -- that is, no interdisciplinary programs that focus on the subject matter of the ancient Greek/Roman worlds without the languages so much. There aren't many of these in the US either: most "Classics" programs want a solid grounding in Latin and Greek (2-3+ years of each). It's my understanding that some UK universities will admit their applicants pretty early, but make them wait until June or so to hear back about funding (someone with experience in this process, care to weigh in?). US universities admit between January and March and usually have funding news when they admit you, though some schools will admit you and waitlist you for funding. I wouldn't ask someone for a letter of recommendation unless they know you quite well. It's best if you can have someone from Classics write for you, but given your experience it might not be a bad idea to have another philosophy professor do so. At any rate you should definitely mention the lack of programs in your area of interest in Russia.

They interview first, in person, at Michigan’s prospective weekend, which is next weekend. Admissions aren’t made until after that weekend.