brighteyedathena

I see this was posted a while ago, but I figured I'd share my advice in case anyone in the future comes across this and wants some guidance. I'm currently in my second year of my gap between undergrad and grad school and I'm starting a masters program in the fall, so I'll tell you what I've been doing. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them, but the Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study has online Latin and Greek reading courses you can look into. They're not free ($200 per semester for a regular reading class, $1000 for an intensive course), but they would be much cheaper than a post-bacc would be and they've served me rather well. Class sizes are 5 people maximum, so you'll get a lot of attention from the instructor, and the reading courses meet once a week for an hour, usually during the evenings, so it shouldn't interfere with work too much. If there are any Catholic high schools that teach Latin nearby, reach out to some teachers about tutoring. It's good teaching-related experience, it'll help solidify any beginner Latin concepts that you've managed to avoid fully understanding, and it can be good money on the side of whatever else you're doing. I know OP said they don't have any universities with Classics departments nearby, but if anyone else does, but doesn't want to pay to audit, just email a professor and ask if you can sit in on their class. Some professors might not go for it, but, in my experience, Classics professors love having students in their classes who actually want to be there and who will freely participate. Just give the undergrads a shot at answering before you raise your hand and you shouldn't run into any problems. You won't get a transcript, but you can talk about it in your SOP. Who knows, if you do it for long enough you might even get a LOR out of it. I was also encouraged by one of my professors to attend any conferences in my area I could and, if you have a paper from undergrad that's particularly good, you could try submitting it to journals that accept papers from people not currently enrolled in a program (there are a few I think, I forgot which ones they are though) I hope this helps!

I don't have an answer to your question (sorry), but I just thought I'd ask if you've counted winter and summer sessions into your schedule that could almost give you enough classes. If you haven't, you could probably take courses during those sessions, either online or in person to make up the extra 2-3 classes. If your university doesn't offer them, you could ask your history department if you could take them through another school and transfer the credits.

Personally, I would go with school A if the stipend school B is giving you wouldn't be enough to cover all living costs. Also, even if the town near school A isn't super cool, you're probably not going to have much time to do things outside of studying/work anyway and school B might have more prestige, but if there are larger class sizes it might be harder to build relationships with your professors (Also, I've heard that prestige doesn't matter nearly as much for your masters as it does for your PhD, so that might be something to consider as well). Since the cost of living at school A is lower and the stipend is higher, you might even be able to save some of that money to out towards your summer plans, and there are probably scholarships/grants/fellowships you can apply to to help with that too.

Having a hard time deciding between two schools. I visited one and I loved it, but there isn't a professor there that studies what I'm most interested in. I've heard great things about the other school, and they have someone on their faculty who does study what I'm most interested in, but it's a more expensive area and I'm still on the waitlist for funding. How important is having an adviser that's researching topics in your area of interest at the MA level?

Is Tallahassee LGBT-friendly? Is there anything an LGBT person should know (positive or negative) about moving there?

Anyone know anything about Tallahassee or Boulder?

So, like many of you, I have a big decision to make. I need to choose between two Classics MA programs: FSU and Boulder. As of right now, FSU is offering me full funding. I'm on the waitlist for funding at Boulder, but I've been told I'm near the top of the list so getting funding is possible. I haven't been able to visit, but Boulder's program sounds amazing and they have two faculty there who are very closely related to my interests. One person in particular sounds like she would be an obvious choice to be my thesis advisor when the time comes. Boulder is also a very liberal place, which is important to me since I'm gay and very politically active. Howvever, I know it's also a very expensive place to live, and I've been told that the grad students there are very stressed and not very friendly. I'm not sure what the culture of the program is and I don't know if the stipend they offer is really enough to live on. On the other side of things, I visited FSU recently and I got really good vibes from the faculty and other grad students. Most of them seemed very friendly and personable, and also very willing to help you find jobs and experience even if you decide academia isn't for you. They also have a Museum Studies certificate that I would continue to be funded for for the extra year it would take, and their program has a strong emphasis in gaining teaching experience, which I think is important. I can also take a elective course to work on my Greek a little more before I would dive into graduate level reading courses, which I think I need. It's also a much cheaper place to live. There are some cons here though. I'm worried about living in the South (for obvious political reasons, but also because I don't handle heat very well), I've heard there's a lot of crime, and there isn't really anyone in the department that's working on exactly the kind of stuff I would be interested in. Also, it's a serious pain in the ass to get to and from there from basically everywhere. Overall, I think FSU has a strong program with great people and I would likely be quite happy there. However, if Boulder does come through with funding and it is enough to live on without getting another job... I don't know which one I should choose. Does anyone have any information about either program that might give me some insight into what I should do?