Geiseric

It can. I think my best move would be to work on my languages and write a solid thesis senior year, using those language(s) and primary source research of course.

I understand the capstone thesis as being the same as a traditional undergraduate thesis. An independent research project advised by faculty is not for credit and not part of graduation requirements like the thesis is.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it’s much appreciated. I’ve started to think it may be best for me to take the full four years for undergrad (I previously planned to finish in 3). That could give me two years of Latin and I could also do two years of another language (Greek? Arabic?). Would that be worthwhile? If I did that I would probably also do a minor in Classical Archaeology.

Hello all, I am currently a junior at a large public university in the Midwest, majoring in History and minoring in German and Medieval Studies. I intend to apply to grad programs next fall, my main interest being the late Roman Empire and the successor kingdoms, especially Late Roman North Africa and the Vandal period. Maybe it's a bit premature, but I want to make sure I'm doing what I can to improve my chances, so I have a few questions I hope someone can shed some light on. First, languages. I have pretty good German, and I will have taken the equivalent of 6 semesters by the end of this year (having tested out of the first two semesters as a freshman). My interest in this subfield came rather late, so I have no Latin as of now, which I feel is my biggest weakness. I've been looking into summer intensives, like the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute program, which would work quite well for me since I can take advantage of in-state tuition and live at home while doing it. Is this an appropriate program to look into at this stage? If so, should I look to do it this upcoming summer, and try to take some more advanced Latin courses next year? I also have a (very rusty) foundation in French, having taken three years in high school. In terms of interesting programs, I've identified Brown (Conant), Harvard (McCormick), Penn State (Kulikowsky), Princeton (Reimitz), Leicester (Andy Merrills), and Freie Universität Berlin (Stefan Esders). Andy Merrills' work interests me the most right now, though I understand I would need an MA to apply for a European PhD and funding might be hard to come by. Any other people I should be looking into, either as potential advisers or just for exposure to the field? I've also thought about studying abroad in Germany next fall, hopefully at FUB, but I'm not sure if I'd be better off doing coursework here, especially since I'll be doing applications then. Undergrads also have the opportunity to do research projects advised by faculty (separate from the senior capstone thesis), would that be of value to my applications? Thanks for your input!