Marcus_Aurelius

In admissions, it seems to make little sense to focus on hot fields, unless one's interests won't be palatable to major programs (but then in that case the program probably isn't a good fit). When choosing a dissertation topic, seems to make sense to pick a hotter topic over a cooler topic ceteris paribus, but only if the hotter topic is also something only really likes.

Yes, good point, and I also should've specified that I was thinking about asking current students, not necessarily faculty.

I'll briefly echo what others have said. At least in my program, several international students intend to spend summers and sometimes winter break abroad with family and that's been welcome, and after classwork even more common (esp. those with partners elsewhere). But as noted above some supervisors are less understanding. Definitely a question to ask at campus visits after being admitted!

Hi Vasileios, it sounds like you've had an interesting life! I think a lot of the qualifications you mentioned are going to be secondary to writing sample and letters of recommendation, so it's tough to judge your chances without knowing about those. I t's worth nothing that, fairly or not, some (especially top) schools might be unwilling to fund someone middle-aged. But there are probably plenty of programs that are good fits.

It looks abundantly clear that next year (and probably future years) will be significantly more difficult for applicants. The question is how much more difficult. Most schools will probably admit fewer and some might admit no one. And many schools (including mine) this year, as Thylacine have noted, aren't admitting anyone off the waitlist this year.

Much of the guidance in this thread is about writing samples:

I can't speak to GSU, but I can speak very highly of Juan and Allison Piñeros Glasscock!

Yale canceled its visit. (If you've been admitted or waitlisted, feel free to message me to chat.)

I don't have inside info on Harvard and Princeton, but many schools don't get around to sending rejections until long after their acceptances are out. It's rather unlikely that those two schools would be rolling (top schools don't need to since they expect a decently high yield). For what it's worth, Princeton sent its rejections just a couple days after its acceptances last year iirc, but that may not mean much. Theoretically possible though unlikely for there to be a hidden waitlist.

I'm not sure how much help I can be, but here's a question that might provide more context: What do you want out of a Classics program specifically? (Also, I don't know of a difference in American terminology between Classics and Classical Studies, except for one interdisciplinary program at Columbia that uses the latter term, so I don't know how you're using the terms differently.) If your goal is to work mainly on ancient philosophy, one can do that in a Classics department (I do), but it'll likely be very difficult for you to get into a Classics program with these credentials, to be blunt. How good are your languages? If you can show they're very good, that would help, but it sounds like you'll have little language training on your transcript/official record. I'd prioritize having letter writers who can attest to your language skills if you don't have lots of language on your transcript. It sounds reasonable to discuss in your statement the lack of Classics in Russia, but that'll probably only get you so far.

My guess is that an AdCom member who sees that you posted work online will assume that you consider it good work unqualifiedly, not an undergrad-level work-in-progress. And there's a big difference between a professor's WIP and an applicant's. In my experience, early-career folks don't tend to post WIPs online much either. (Much of this post is anecdotal and guesswork, so I invite those with more inside information to correct me if indicated.)

Do you have evidence for this claim? I haven't talked to any professors about online research they do on applicants, so I don't actually know, but my instinct is opposite yours about what impression a less-than-stellar paper online would give.

Also, don't post anything on academia.edu that's not high quality. Since your writing sample is presumably your highest quality piece of work or close to it, it seems like it could be a bad idea to post lots of other stuff there.

"All my students are equally the best because change is an illusion!"

Also saw this yesterday about a funded MA at Notre Dame! "The Department of Classics at Notre Dame offers a funded, 2-year M.A. in Classics program, covering the language, literature, history, archaeology, and culture of the Greco-Roman world, as well as its reception. The chief purpose of our M.A. in Classics is to prepare students for doctoral study in these or other related areas, and we have an excellent record for placing our students in top PhD programs. The program also provides a depth and breadth of exposure to classical antiquity worthwhile in its own right.Over a dozen regular and concurrent faculty of the Department of Classics offer specialties in a wide range of fields covering Greek and Latin literature, Greek and Roman culture and history, linguistics, archaeology, and material culture from Archaic Greece through Late Antiquity, as well as the reception of antiquity in various forms.https://classics.nd.edu/faculty/faculty-by-alpha/https://classics.nd.edu/faculty/affliated/Our students benefit from the rich and round intellectual environment created by strong graduate programs at Notre Dame, such as the M.A. in Early Christian Studies (operated jointly by the Departments of Classics and Theology), the Ph.D. in the Medieval Institute, the Ph.D. in Philosophy (which offers ancient philosophy), the Ph.D. in Political Science (with expertise in ancient political theory), and the M.T.S. and Ph.D. in Theology (with strengths in late antiquity and patristics). There is also a recently-established group for Byzantine Studies.For the M.A. in Early Christian Studies, seehttps://classics.nd.edu/graduate-students/ma-in-early-christian-studies/Full tuition scholarships, stipends, and health insurance subsidies are available. We normally admit two to three students per year.Our application deadline is January 15.For questions about the program, please direct your inquiries to Prof. David Hernandez, DGS, dhernan2@nd.edu, or to Prof. Luca Grillo, Department Chair, lgrillo@nd.edu .For questions about details of the application process, please visit the Graduate’s School’s website: http://graduateschool.nd.edu/admissions/"

Just saw this announced today, thought folks would be interested, looks like a great opportunity: "Funded MA Fellowships at Rutgers University-New BrunswickThe Department of Classics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick is pleased to announce fully funded MA fellowships to begin in Fall 2020. The two-year fellowships include tuition remission and an annual stipend of $25,000.In order to promote innovation and broaden participation in graduate education in Classics, we especially encourage students from groups and backgrounds historically underrepresented in the field to apply.Applications should be submitted preferably by February 15, 2020, and no later than March 1, 2020.For more information on the MA program in Classics at Rutgers and guidelines for admission, please go to https://classics.rutgers.edu/academics/graduate/admission-funding and https://classics.rutgers.edu/academics/graduate/why-graduate-classics."

It depends a lot on the department. Princeton is the main one to my memory that doesn't interview everyone it accepts. But I think most departments do interview everyone they accept. Although every interview is different, I'd expect to talk in an interview about yourself and your interests broadly, be able to elaborate on relevant info you mention in your Statement and on your writing sample, and have questions about the program. Not an exhaustive list but a good benchmark, I think.

One piece of advice, though: Don't feel a need to have as many footnotes as most published articles do. Adcomms want to see knowledge of and engagement with scholarship, but they're looking for your argumentation and potential as a philosopher, not for oblique references to papers that have little to do with your argument. Some footnotes and references to contemporary literature are great, and you can put stuff in your bibliography that isn't cited in the paper, but footnotes should not be your focus.

This is the Philosophy forum.

Yeah, as Olorin said, you're fine. Some adcoms care and some don't, but no one's going to raise an eyebrow at 3.8+, particularly if you've improved since freshman year. Polish your writing sample, that's what will make a difference.

I don't know much about the specifics of this discussion, but I'd recommend against telling any program that you're only interested in one subfield. (North American) departments are looking for folks who will grow in their program, so you don't want to give the impression that you have everything figured out. Also, definitely agreed that looking through websites and faculty publications can be tedious. On the other hand, think of it as helping you get more familiar with major players in your field(s) of interest. That being said, comparing specific programs doesn't matter so much until you're accepted, and pre-application research has diminishing returns when time can be spent improving the writing sample and, to a lesser extent, statements of purpose.

In addition to Hector's important advice, cf. this thread from last year:

Also take funding into account in your calculation. My impression is that many shorter programs also don't have as-good funding as many North American programs do, though I imagine it varies widely, so you can comoare the odds of getting good funding at the individual programs you're interested in.

I was advised to use language in the SoP like "I want to explore x further" and "I could envision pursuing a long-term research project on y" rather than saying I knew I wanted to work on anything in particular. To my knowledge, American programs don't want you to come in with a dissertation idea worked out. As others have noted, your interests might change in ways big or small. And to address your point about professors, just expressing interest about their work or their niche should be sufficient. (But note that opinions do differ re: emailing faculty members before being accepted; I'm not sure what the consensus is, but seems like it doesn't help one's chances much in most cases unless one has really important stuff to say. But I invite others to correct me if I'm mistaken.)

Yeah, this seems more plausible/clear than what I said before, that joint programs with Classics are more likely to care about hard evidence of Greek than Philosophy depts alone are (even those with strong Ancient programs). But OP also mentioned trying to pass an exam, and that does seem like it'd be sufficient to show profficiency. Ultimately it probably depends highly on the program (caveat again that I'm not so familiar with European programs).