ClassicsCandidate

Hi there! I'm not an ANE student, but hopefully, I can help guide you to what might help you. (Also, have you tried asking this in the general history thread? There might be some historians there that might be helpful for this!) I think that you're set on the languages front, but you might want to see if you can do anything to bolster the "general education" part of it. Have you looked to see what different undergraduate programs require and compared it to what you have completed for your undergraduate? For example, UCLA requires their Ancient Near East and Egyptology majors to take general coursework for Ancient Near East Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Near Eastern Languages and then required courses in these areas: Archaeology and Art, History, Languages, Literature, and Religion (https://nelc.ucla.edu/ancient-egyptology/undergraduate/). If you find a graduate school where you seek the Ph.D., see what they require for their undergraduate program (if they have one) and see where the gaps are in your studying. One of the things I mentioned when I applied to Villanova is that while I was out of Classics for three years, I kept up with learning about it through MOOCs. And, luckily, there's a lot of different colleges and universities that offer online or distance learning options if you need to fill in gaps. For example, Oxford University offers undergraduate online courses in Ancient Egypt (https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/ancient-egypt-an-introduction-online), Mesopotamia (https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/the-first-civilization-mesopotamia-online), and Biblical Archaeology (https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/archaeology-of-the-bible-lands-online). What does your "cultural" or "civilization" coursework look like from your BA and MA? If you're missing a few things, filling in the gaps might help. However, having said that, I would go to the universities that you are most likely to apply for a Ph.D. and send an e-mail to the head of the ANE program with your inquiries. Sometimes they do give some advice on what would make you a competitive candidate. The worst I think will happen is you might have to take some undergraduate coursework or survey history courses about the Ancient Near East before you can apply and be competitive. I would weigh your options of trying to apply before you have filled in all the gaps. Also, you might find that volunteering or interning in a museum with a relevant collection might help you stand out a little bit as well. You could send out feelers to see if there are any museums/galleries that might be looking for people near you. I feel like if you were going specifically for Biblical or Judaic studies for a Ph.D., you might be alright, but again, I think you might want to see if there are ways for you to be able to fill the gaps with self-study or formal continuing education before applying. Again, I'm not an ANE student, but I did have a similar dilemma to you with Classics because I came late to the game, too. Going to my MA program before I tackled a Ph.D. was probably what was best for me because I got a lot more focused coursework. I will probably go after a Post-Bacc in the languages, too, to refresh myself before I apply for the Ph.D. in Classics because I know it's my weakness, on top of my rusty French and non-existent knowledge of German. You have a good GPA and decent GRE scores, so what I would think would be best is trying to find ways to get relevant research or practical work under your belt if you've filled the gaps or the professors in charge of the Ph.D. programs you're aiming for say that your coursework is satisfactory. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything! I hope this helped :3

I accepted Villanova's offer a bit ago but I just got the scholarship today! Full-tuition with 7 hours a week each semester for TA'ing, which doesn't sound bad at all!

Hello all, again! I hope more people got good news while I wasn't floating around as much. I just got an e-mail that I made it in for full-tuition funding for my M.A. at Villanova, so I suppose I was just at the cut off for the funding! So that's my good news. I hope everyone is ready and excited to start the new semester!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was so nervous about starting out with the "I've liked this stuff since I was a wee lad" type story, but apparently it worked! I got the acceptance into the MA program just a little under a week ago, so I'm really excited to start at Villanova! I think a lot of people can get nervous about sharing their SoP or that it might have too many identifying bits in it if they want to remain a bit more anonymous. I was nervous because I'm always over-critical of my own writing and I wasn't sure if I hadn't gotten in yet, so that made me hesitant to share as well.

Thanks! I'm really excited to start; I just have to wait for all the other administrative stuff to get taken care of and make sure I focus on my final semester right now as well! Nope! It took me over 50 applications before I got one last time (from Mensa, oddly enough), and now I'm going to try and do a lot of essays in the summer between my programs ending and starting! I hope everyone is getting some good news soon!

Thank you for the congrats @Histrio and @aigilipos ! I've been applying for scholarships and making a list of to-do of scholarships I still need to apply for; I'm very excited

I just saw the e-mail that I was accepted into Villanova for the MA program! I withdrew my UGA application so that I could get started on all of the things I need to prepare for Villanova. I didn't manage to secure the funding for it since there were so many applicants, but the head of the department sent me a list of other funding opportunities through the school that I could apply to; a lot of them are due tomorrow, so I guess I know what I'm doing tonight! I'm super excited now and feel like a lot of weight has been lifted! I hope more people hear from schools they're waiting for soon!

Congrats on beginning at Villanova! Please share your experience with their program once you start; I'd love to hear from someone who is attending! I'm still waiting to hear back from them for the MA program. I'm worried I committed the faux-pas of telling a story from my youth at the beginning of my Statement of Purpose; I'm a bit nervous about sharing it, but here it goes: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My mother handed me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when I was nine years old. Her co-worker told her it had witches and magic, which she knew would entice me to read it since I was fascinated with those subjects. The creature names in the book intrigued me, so I began to investigate them on the Internet, which awakened my love of mythology and research. I spent hours reading about the origins of three-headed dogs, mythological namesakes of my new heroes, and early astronomy. My curiosity was piqued, and I delved into heroic epics, mythology, and ancient history. A lasting fervent interest in these subjects led me to undergraduate degrees in History/Classics and English/Creative Writing with minors in Art History and Theatre at the University of Delaware. Each department allowed me to explore different aspects of the Classical World, and two experiences stand out as particularly memorable. First, Dr. Lauren Petersen’s Women in Antiquity course sparked my interest in gender and sex in the ancient world, especially when we studied Aristophanes's Lysistrata. Additionally, while participating in the Curatorial Apprenticeship Program, under the advisement of Janet Broske, I conducted an independent study on an Apulian pelike from the 4th century B.C.E. in the university collection, analyzing and identifying the images of patterns to determine the use of the pelike and who might have owned it. My professional experience in the Classics began when I secured a position at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas. As a member of the Curatorial Staff, I designed a Sex in Ancient Rome exhibit and researched artifact provenance on Roman frescoes in a newly acquired collection, which I immediately recognized as copies of art found in Pompeian homes and brothels. In addition, I will be expanding my Classics training this summer as a participant in the Balkan Heritage Field School’s “Ancient Greeks in the Land of Dionysos - Excavation of Emporion Pistiros, Thrace” project. My past and current experiences in the museum world prompted me to pursue a Master of Arts in Museum Studies at the University of Oklahoma. While there, I studied the representation of disabilities in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. For this research, I combined my interest in media representation and mental illness with Classical Studies and analyzed ancient medicine and disabilities, ancient religion, bilingual linguistics, dyslexia in modern Greece, ancient and modern warfare, and the presence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in both the ancient and modern worlds. The primary reason Villanova University stood out to me was Dr. Valentina DeNardis's great care during our correspondence to answer my questions and concerns about the Classical Studies program while I was evaluating which options would be available to me as a distance learner while employed full-time. My research interests align with Dr. DeNardis, specifically in ancient astronomy and astrology and in gender studies. Learning from Dr. Melanie Subacus on the topics of gender and race in the ancient world would also be rewarding, and I was particularly interested in the informal reading group of Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis she hosted. The intersectional experience of my undergraduate programs, my professional experience, and my graduate program in Museum Studies have prepared me for the challenges of Classical Studies. I am certain that with expert faculty and an exemplary program, the Classical Studies Master of Arts degree at Villanova University will prepare me for a Ph.D. program and assist me in reaching my goal of becoming a curator in a museum with a strong Greek and Roman collection of art and artifacts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I did not have room to say this in my SoP, but my favorite part of studying Lysistrata was performing it on the stairs of the art history building, a performance in which I played Kinesias, and was the only guy who decided to make a fake phallus; our professor brought us blue pool noodles for it (it looked ridiculous; it was great). It was definitely something that got the attention of other students! All of us had masks as well, and it was the best time I have ever had in a class.

I'm thinking about doing a post-bacc too, but at UGA like @Talmid . Like he said, the costs are expensive. I know that my employer isn't going to pay for anything because it's not necessarily related to my current position (my current MA is in Museum Studies and they wouldn't pay for any of that, either, as far as I know - the person I contacted about it never got back to me or my supervisor). The only options I saw were doing it slowly out of pocket, getting private student loans through something like Discover or Sallie Mae, or taking out a personal loan, which aren't the best options, either. There's always crowdfunding, but that's usually a hit-or-miss venture as well.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Villanova for their MA program and University of Georgia for the post-bacc, both of which I'm worried won't get back to me until April, during which time I will probably be beside myself with stress. I know it's not the same as waiting for PhD programs to get back to you but I'm also worried I won't be able to get into either which would suck because I feel like if I don't get into the MA program, I'll need the post-bacc to brush up and improve the looks of my academic records.

I hope so! I've just been kind of spinning around, trying to focus on my semester but I feel like I won't be able to fully refocus myself until I have an answer! I started an application for the UGA Post-Bacc as well, just in case, so I'm waiting to see if my transcripts got to them yet. Otherwise, I've just been at work not being able to focus and staring at the wall while refreshing the status page!

It's great to hear a lot of people are getting good news! I'm still waiting to hear back from Villanova, so I've been lurking to see how everyone else was doing with the waiting. I have a funny feeling I may not know until March, so I'm trying to distract myself!

Thank you; I will definitely keep everyone updated! It's the only place I applied to thus far because the other programs have much later due dates and one application for the post-bacc program wasn't even open yet. Congrats on Columbia! I think I read somewhere that some places will still accept people even if they don't have an interview, but I'm uncertain if that's true for Princeton. I'm sure we'll all start hearing back this week/next week if we haven't yet!

Hello and welcome! I wanted to wish you goodluck with your Skype interview; let us know how it goes You'll be great! (I'm on the USA West Coast, so not sure how far that is, but *give you welcoming waves from the desert*)

Congrats to everyone who heard back from their first/additional programs they applied to! I'm so happy for everyone I'm waiting to hear back from Villanova; I should know something this week or next week, so I've been checking back here to see how everyone else is doing. I'm glad everyone's getting accepted into multiple programs! That's so excellent. Has anyone gotten into the top choice program?? You all must be so excited!