likeavirgil
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Congratulations! They have a wonderful faculty and community -- and Boston is a great place to live. I'm sure there are more qualified local experts that the department will introduce you to, but I did my undergrad there and would be happy to rave about it, if you have any questions.
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Hi everyone! I had an unexpectedly lucky application season, which means that I'll need to turn down offers from programs I love and potential advisors whom I've developed a rapport with. Does anyone have advice about how to delicately decline an offer? Are there horror stories (or success stories!) about encountering former POIs at conferences, or spending time at a school that you declined during (eg) a candidacy/writing fellowship? Do people ever include POIs from a declined school as an external diss committee member? Any help would be appreciated!
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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Congratulations @terraaurea!! I think you're making the right choice -- taking out a loan for an MA is a really bad financial decision. Even if FSU isn't your top choice, you'll be in a great position to apply to PhD programs in the future! The teaching experience will be a big plus. If there's a POI at any of the PhD programs that rejected your application that you think might be nice (perhaps at Cornell, since they clearly liked you enough to offer an MA), you may want to reach out for recommendations on where to strengthen your skillset.
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likeavirgil reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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Hello! I've been in a handful of interviews, and I can assure you that there will be no gotcha questions or sight translation. (The worst I've ever heard was a friend who specifically mentioned having strong opinions on textual criticism and a particular author, which prompted a philology professor to excitedly pull out an OCT to see if he had thoughts on a particular passage that she was working on. It sounds like this person was asking for it, though.) In general, you'll be asked to introduce yourself and describe your interests, then say a few words about why you like that particular school. Other questions I've gotten are 'Tell us about how your ideas changed during a research project' or 'How do you see your research fitting into the discipline as a whole?' Open-ended and difficult, but nothing too bad. The worst you can do is pretend to know more than you do; don't bring up anything technical (eg the textual criticism of Ovid) unless you're really confident you're an expert. Professors care more about your enthusiasm and willingness to learn than any particular thing you already know. (I've said 'That's a neat question; I don't know right now, but...' multiple times and haven't been rejected yet, at least as far as I know...) P.S. The button down + sweater combo is my go-to. Might get a little hot in Texas, though.
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likeavirgil reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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rheya19 reacted to a post in a topic:
Cringe-worthy moments?
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Popping over from the Classics thread to say that this post is amazing.
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Based on previous years' results, Harvard and Brown should be sending their interview requests in the next few days. Good luck! (I'm not applying to either, but WOW: Brown in particular looks absurdly competitive, if the results page is any indication.)
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likeavirgil reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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likeavirgil reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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ciistai reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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Still shaking because of the good news: I got into UChicago! The program is perfect And now I can officially start quitting my job, too!! @aspasiahaha I don't have any insider knowledge, but if you haven't gotten an interview request from Columbia yet, I think you may be on a waitlist. I interviewed for CLST last week and was told that the acceptances (etc) would be sent out in 2ish weeks. Weird things happen, though! By the way, feel free to dig into your anxieties if you'd like -- we're all here to support each other in this stressful endeavor.
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I was rooting for you!
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Just got invited to a campus visit at Yale! Is anyone else going?
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ploutarchos reacted to a post in a topic:
Fall 2017 Applicants
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Congratulations @the gadfly!! I got an interview request from Columbia's CLST yesterday! Hopefully it'll go well. (In more general news, I've finally stopped checking the Results page all the time. My nervous system thanks me.)
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Although, to be fair, there has never really been enough Classics data to make any real judgments -- just enough to fret over helplessly!
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It's a shame that Gradcafe seems to be dying (at least in Classics), because there just isn't enough data anymore to draw inferences about admissions. With only one reported IPCAA interview invite from a POI, it's hard to know whether there might be a more general official invitation from a DGS or whether individual POIs will continue sending out emails (or maybe they already have!). I see that there were two IPCAA interviews reported last year with very different dates (1/12 and 1/22), but it's also pretty likely that these things differ each year. I didn't even apply to IPCAA, but all the uncertainty is making me anxious on behalf of those who did!
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!! There's now an IPCAA interview post on the Results page. They're on schedule, it looks like! (Relatedly: does anyone know whether IPGRH follows a similar timeline?)
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An old FAQ by Classical Journal says that writing samples don't need to be single papers! http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/29318-graduate-study-in-classics-faq-program-lists-classical-journal/ 'Your writing sample does not need to consist of a single long paper, although it may. In some circumstances, in fact—for example, if you have several distinct areas of interest within the field—several short papers may be equally effective.' Luckily, my favorite chapter of my thesis was exactly 20 pages, which made it an easy choice. For the schools that asked for 25 or 20-30, I also included the tiny introductory chapter. It doesn't have much in the way of argument, but I hoped that the brief descriptions of all the chapters might be a good way to show some breadth/variety. (And the writing was a little catchier.) Did anyone who still had pages to go consider filling space with, e.g., a table of contents (if your writing was an excerpt of a longer work)? Or using your remaining pages to include some small sample of something unrelated but still interesting?
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@terraaurea, I'll second ciistai about publications, although with far less authority. Towards the end of undergrad, I was preparing to clean up a batch of term papers in the hopes of getting one or two published by some random undergraduate classics journal as a resume-stuffer, but a prof dissuaded me by explaining that they aren't remotely necessary for admission (and that they can even become a bit awkward down the line in your professional career).
