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ClaudiusRex

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Everything posted by ClaudiusRex

  1. Well I haven't started my PhD program yet--I've been working for the past few years, and will begin this fall. So that remains to be seen! I do think that the skills I picked up in reading comprehension and academic writing will definitely serve me well in my next program, and we'll just have to see about the rest. ?
  2. Hello! I did my MA in Archaeology at UCL a few years ago. I'm pretty sure they are structured the same, or at least similar enough. Basically, the year is split into four quarters. In the first two quarters, you take three classes at a time. My classes each met just once a week for I think 2.5 or 3 hours each. There were some pretty substantial differences between the US and the UK systems, though, most notably that your entire grade is dependent on writing assignments, and you usually only get two essays per class. So each essay basically makes up half of your grade. The other difference is that these writing assignments are usually not due until a month or two after the course is even over, in order to give you time to really synthesize the course material. The upsides of this system, in my view, were: The first quarter was relatively relaxed, as I only had a couple of assignments due and they were all towards the end of the term Pushing the deadlines back so far makes sure that you really understand the material and have time to formulate an excellent essay Because your entire grade rides solely on your writing, it forces you into becoming a VERY good writer. The downsides: The second quarter was rough, because you are working on essays for your first quarter classes and doing readings for your second quarter ones. Got a bit confusing. There is very little margin for error. If you do poorly on an assignment, that's half your grade for the course. I found the expectations for the way that essays were graded to be different from what I was used to in the US. My professors wanted essays that got straight to the point without any flowery or stylistic writing. I also had another issue with most of the essay prompts coming in the form of questions. It took me a while to realize that they really wanted that exact question answered, not just an essay about some of the topics that the question raised. One of my first essays I did poorly on, and the feedback was basically "this is a really well-written essay, but you didn't answer the question so I have to mark you down ten points." The third quarter you are writing your essays from second quarter classes and starting to think about your dissertation, and then fourth quarter (the summer) you're just writing your dissertation. So the last two quarters your schedule will be more free in terms of actual obligations during the day, but you'll still be kept PLENTY busy in the library! Best of luck, and feel free to reach out if you want more info!!
  3. Haha! No, I have not ever visited but have spent lots of time browsing around online, it looks absolutely lovely!
  4. Accepted to PhD Classics at St. Andrews! Still waiting on results for Wolfson scholarship/general funding there, and Ertegun scholarship/Clarendon fund at Oxford. Congrats to Princeton and Harvard admits!!
  5. Hi Anthropology folks! I've been lurking here for a bit and have been most active in the Classics thread, as I'm applying mostly to classical archaeology programs. Are there many other archaeologists here? Thought I'd share my results so far if anyone is interested: Accepted: Oxford (DPhil Classical Archaeology; School of Archaeology) Interviews: Brown--invited to their visit weekend (PhD Archaeology and the Ancient World; Joukowsky Institute) Rejected: Cornell--informal rejection from POI (PhD Classics with concentration in Classical Archaeology) Unknown: Penn (PhD Art and Archaeology of the Ancient World), St. Andrews (PhD Classics)
  6. Accepted to DPhil in Classical Archaeology at Oxford! I don't know if any of you applied to that program, since it's in the School of Archaeology and not purely Classics, but thought you'd want to know. No word on funding or any of the scholarships I applied for yet.
  7. LOL same when I got my visit weekend invite I actually delayed responding for a couple hours in case they sent me an "oops wrong person" email!
  8. I'm also waiting to hear back from Penn. I applied for the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World (AAMW) PhD program. At this point I'm definitely expecting a rejection as the application was due in mid-December and I've not heard a word from anybody there. I got an email yesterday from the department chair at Joukowsky inviting me to the prospective students' weekend! Definitely a very happy surprise. I didn't have any prior contact with POIs, no interviews, anything. It's not until March, so I guess I can relax a little bit until then. St. Andrews and Oxford PhD programs also will not notify until March regarding funding, FYI.
  9. Sent you a DM with the POI's name. I've applied to four other programs, none of which I am optimistic about lol. Has anybody heard anything about Brown/Joukowsky Institute?
  10. Well, heard back from Cornell--I got rejected. ? I got a personal email from a POI I had corresponded and interviewed with. The reason is my lack of adequate language training. I wasn't a Classics major as an undergrad, so didn't take any of the ancient languages then. I'm only now taking ancient Greek because I'm working at a college that lets me take a class for free every semester; I also took an online course in French for reading and translation. I'm just frustrated because I feel like I have so many other strengths, but this stupid language thing is going to haunt me for a long time. Sigh. Not to sound like I'm digging on philologists--truly not my intention.
  11. Hi Classics friends! I'm applying to Classics programs with an emphasis in archaeology. So far I've had a couple of informal interviews with POIs at Cornell, who told me that they expect to make offers by the end of the month. This wait is killing me!!
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