Brandi

I'm really not joking. The program in Classical Archaeology at UCL DOES NOT EXIST. It is moving between departments and will not be offered next year. I would at least contact them about this directly (Although I'm not sure how honest they will be with their information as I indicated above) as I would hate to have you be screwed over when you get there. That being said, I guess you do have just "Archaeology MA" as your title so maybe you are not applying for the Classical Arch. MA but still, I think if you absolutely have to pick one of these Tufs, even if it is sort of a disjointed state, at least has more to offer than UCL (basically nothing). However, it may be advantageous for you to do something else this year and reapply to several other programs in the fall. Sometimes waiting is better than getting yourself into something that is not going to work out, especially if you would not be receiving funding from either institution. Hope that helps!

Yep! I will be presenting a paper there on Friday, how about you?

If you are going into Classical Archaeology DO NOT APPLY TO UCL FOR NEXT YEAR (10/11)!! I applied for this program and was invited for an interview. After going all the way to London (I was in Europe at the time so it wasn't quite as far as the states but it still was an extra journey that I would have happily avoided) I was told by the department members that I met with that I was accepted into the school, but that the program in Classical Archaeology was not being offered this year! So I had to sit there for about an hour as they tried to talk me into going to their general Archaeology program even though they had almost no course offerings related to Classical (specifically Roman) archaeology, besides like a classical art class. I thought this was very underhanded of them and also reflected on what I think is the general feel of that school. UCL may have a global reputation, but I don't think that it is necessarily adhering to those same standards anymore. Anyways, long story short if you are planning on doing anything with Classical Archaeology at UCL, their website is wrong, the program is NOT being offered, and as far as I know they won't let you know this until you get there since even in email form they referred to my application as for the program in classical arch. This is not to say, however, that all British universities are bad. I am going to the University of Exeter next year to do my MA and then reapply in the states. The only thing I would be really careful of is that if you do decide to do an MA in the UK is that you take language modules even though they are not required because PhD programs in the states will be looking at those. But I say look at the facility and students and see who is doing the kind of work that you want to be doing. I didn't choose Exeter just because I wanted to get an MA done quick, I choose it because there are some people that that I am extremely excited to work with, which I think is probably one of the most important things when choosing a grad program, after money of course.

Thank you! Yes, I forgot to mention that I have also had 2 full years of Greek and Latin (latin actually I have been taking since high school, so combined 6) and German. And am planing to take more language courses next year with my MA. I am applying this Fall though for programs back here in the states. If I do retake it, does anyone know if I do worse if this will hurt anything or do they typically take the highest score?

Hi, I was wondering if I should retake my gre this summer. I took it last summer and got a 610 verbal and 590 math. I really studied for this and was actually really happy with these scores as I don't typically do well on these sorts of tests. But now I'm wondering if these scores are really good enough. I am going to applying this fall to Classics PhD programs (focus in Classical Archaeology). I don't necessarily have my heart set on any programs, but UT, UPenn, UMichigan, and UChicago are some of my top choices. I will be completing my MA in Classical Archaeology from the University of Exeter UK next year, and have BA degrees in Anthropology, Classics, and History. My undergrad gpa is 3.93. I know with these types of programs experience is really important and I have quite a bit of that including field schools, study abroad, courses in epigraphy and roman pottery taken in Portugal and at the American Academy in Rome. And have worked for a CRM Archaeology Lab as well. I also have presented a paper at the CSAS conference and am finishing up work for publication. If anyone has any input this would be really helpful so I can know if I should start planning time to study again this summer. Thank you so much! -Brandi