ClassicsCandidate

I did the program while living with family and working a full-time museum job so I can't speak to how how the cost of living will affect you. Since I was a Tuition Scholar, all of my tuition was covered, but I did take out small loans for supplies (and my new laptop was paid for by an external scholarship). If you do end up at Villanova in person you could always see if you can get a volunteer or intern position at the Penn Museum too! Honestly, a lot of times with Museum Studies certs, there's an oversaturation of that credential specifically (when I realized this I was already halfway done my MA and didn't want to transfer or stop to go to another program). I honestly think that doing a Non-Profit Management certificate would be more marketable because you can use it outside museums, too. These programs usually have museum-focused courses as options but definitely take a grant-writing course if you can. That's a highly valuable skill, as well as fundraising. Personally if I could do it over, I would have gone to an MLIS program with an Archives/Special Collection and/or a Museum Studies concentration because it's more versatile. I don't want to say this to be discouraging but to give you an idea of what I've encountered. After an apprenticeship, countless volunteer hours, and a couple of internships, it took me 2 years after my BA graduation and halfway through my MA to land a full-time museum job and that was just a front-desk position, which I held for three years. It might be easier in a different city to get a job in museums, though. I lived in Chicago before where I live now and I never even got an interview anywhere there, either. All that being said, I hope you find the right programs for what you're looking for and if you have any more museum questions, let me know! I'm happy to answer anything.

I just wanted to chime in and talk up the Classical Studies program at Villanova University, which can be taken fully online or hybrid/in-person. You can choose the culture track but still sit in on translation sections of the courses. They have been offering intensive Latin / intensive Greek some semesters as well (it doesn't count toward the MA itself but is a good refresher/jump into the language(s)). So perhaps a program that allows you to do something like this will help? My first MA was in Museum Studies and my plan is to curate as well. I'm probably going to do a PhD with a focus in art history or archaeology that has Classics as a close department relationship or as something I can choose as my main focus (e.g., one program I'm looking at is Art History with a focus in Antiquity to the 1700s, so I can choose Ancient Greek or Latin as my languages if I want to. This program requires 1 language and you work with your advisor to pick the right language for your study.)

Thank you so much! I wonder if that's why I didn't find much information or prep guides for it aside from the ETS one. I'll keep my eye out for those tricky questions!

Hello, all! So I wanted to know for those of you who did a MAT in Latin or were required to take the Latin Praxis test as part of your MA requirements, did you do any kind of test prep or use any guide of some sort? How would you suggest preparing for the test? There's not much information about this so I'd like to see what y'all would suggest. Thank you in advance!

I personally would choose the place that fits more into your specific research interests; if you want to work with this person because it aligns with your research interest, I find that that's more important than the school itself. If you find someone who you want to work with, that would personally be my top priority. I also have heard of people who started off at a "prestigious" school but then ended up following the person they were working with to a new university after they got hired elsewhere. To me, that makes more sense than having to manipulate things that could possibly not work out for you in the end. Again, this is my opinion and I'm interested in hearing what others thing, and I hope it helps!

Hi, I graduated from UD in 2015, so it might be a little different, but here's some of what's good about the Newark area: UD has free buses that go around the campus so you can get to the North/Center/East/West/South area of the main campus pretty easily There's a lot of food/stuff to do on Main St if you know where to go (it was a little different when I visited it a year ago, but it's got quite a bit there!) I would suggest getting a bike (if possible) if you don't want to rely on the buses because they can be a little wonky with their times/not come soon enough before your class, I used to bike there all the time If you take summer classes, bring a hoodie, they blast the AC - this is specific to the UD campus and just something everyone should know lol Public transport exists but it's not the best (buses) UD also has a lot of resources for international students iirc, and they have The INNternationale House: http://www.theinnternationale.org/ It also depends on what kinds of things you're interested in doing. I lived off campus, about a 30 minute walk away. Biking was easier, but I was near apartments where the UD buses picked up so I could go there if I needed to. I walked to bars, my Tang Soo Do dojo, and the grocery store alright (the grocery stores can be a little far, though). There was a small Chinese market and a co-op at the end of Main Street when I lived there and I did a lot of grocery shopping in both of those places, with more stores beyond that, but depending on where you live, it's a bit of a walk. If you walk to get groceries, I highly recommend getting a rolling cart for groceries so you don't hurt yourself hauling it back (which is what I kept doing to myself). Also, other options for housing can be found here: https://udel.uloop.com/. I found a pretty good place that was a three bedroom for $1,000/month in 2013/2014, so it might be a little more expensive now, but we were splitting it between 3-4 people, which made it really affordable. Let me know if you have any other specific questions!

I've actually had a bit of trouble with this myself because from what I've seen, if you're doing Classical archaeology through an Anthropology program, you have less of a focus on languages. It also depends on whether you're doing an MA or a PhD as well. Imo, since you're focused on Late Bronze Age, you might be okay with not "catching up" on languages and filling in the gaps once you're in the program. I would also suggest reaching out to the schools of interest to you to see what language requirements they have and whether they give options for ancient/modern languages, because I know some places will allow you to argue for different languages if you can make the case that others would be more relevant to you and schools will make allowances for you to study languages not commonly offered in undergraduate programs. I'm personally a little rusty on my languages as well and have had other students advise me specifically to seek out anthropology programs vs. Classics programs if my main interest was archaeology. Again, this might vary by school and program, so reaching out to current students might help you. I honestly don't understand the division between the departments myself. I think that if you go in on the Classical Studies side, there's more of an emphasis on languages vs. what might be more balanced and interdisciplinary in an anthropology program. This might not be true everywhere, but from my own observations, I've noticed that can sometimes be the case. For the languages, I think if you can get funding for the post-pacc it might be worth it, but if you get in on other merits (your majors/minors are definitely a good combo!) then I think, a lot of the time, schools will be willing to fund for you to take the classes through their program so it would be covered if you're going into a fully funded graduate program. Some of the places I've looked at allow you to pass a course sequence in one ancient language (which I will probably do with Ancient Greek) and then you test out of the other ancient language and two modern languages. I think you should see what the language requirements are like in each school and which school would be the best fit for your research interests. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you want/need me to elaborate on anything.

Thank you for the update and congratulations on getting into your dream school! That's got to be the best feeling 😄

Oh, that's excellent! Thank you for letting me know about that. Are you in the program now, or about to start it next term?

Hello, all! I'll be pursuing a PhD soon, and I wanted to ask if anyone here did intensive courses abroad for either French or German. My options are somewhat limited because I work full-time, so I would only be able to do it 2 weeks at a time, so I was looking for summer programs or others that offer 2-week options. Once I'm accepted into my PhD program, I'm considering doing a full summer in France at an intensive program because I would have to quit my job to start the program anyway. If you have done this for either French or German, please let me know which program(s) you have done and what you liked about it. I've heard mixed reviews about certain things so I wanted to get varied opinions. My background for these two languages: complete beginner in German, made it to the mid-200 level of French as an undergrad and studied abroad in Caen, but I would like to get to the point where I can pass a few levels of DELF. Thanks in advance!

I'm so sorry, that's so disappointing. I hope you get some good news soon!

Thank you for sharing this!

Thank you for the input and sharing your experience! I've been knocking around the idea of teaching History or Art History at the local community college, but they have to hire me first. I think my goal schools would all require teaching, but not until the 2nd or 3rd year. Do you only teach languages and/or do you have the option to teach adjacent courses? (Like history, archaeology, etc, if you're experienced in any of those fields). That's a good idea! Thank you for bringing that up; I'll add it to the list of questions to ask if I get the interviews next year!

Hello, all! I just wanted to get an idea of whether any of you had any teacher training (or were teachers beforehand) before you went into your Classics PhD programs? I have a few questions about this: If you were a teacher beforehand, which grade(s) did you teach and was it difficult to transition to higher education? If you were a community college instructor, was it difficult to transition to 4-year college/university teaching or was it relatively the same? If you weren't a teacher beforehand but you had training for teaching, what type of training was it? A certificate program? An intensive over the summer? Did this include an in-person teaching experience requirement? For those of you who got training during your Classics PhD, what type of training was it? Was it optional or mandatory? Were there opportunities to get certification/training through the education department that ended with some kind of separate teaching credential? Finally, for anyone who didn't have or receive any training before they had to complete a teaching component of the PhD, how did you handle it? Did you seek out outside training or assistance? Guidance from upperclassmen in your program? I'm really curious to know about this before I begin to apply to PhD programs for the next season, so any advice/information/recommendations for programs (preferably online or 1-2 week intensives since I work full-time) in instruction or teaching would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance 😄

Hello, all! I just wanted to know which program(s) you thought had the best archives and special collections (and/or rare books, if it's a concentration and not just one course) tracks/concentrations? I've looked up rankings and whatnot, but I want to hear from people who have actually had experience in the schools because some information from students have been conflicting from claims from certain programs, so I want to hear which ones you think are best from people you've talked to or your own personal experience. Preferably for online programs, but I want to hear about them all. Thanks in advance!