TaciturnTales

That's awesome, well done!

Alas, not Bryn Mawr. It was a state university. ? I'd rather not say which one. Trying not to dox myself, haha. Too bad, I would love to have a British friend! Congratulations and best of luck to you!

Speaking of acceptance, has anyone heard from Tufts University? I applied by the application deadline and received an email a few days later thanking me for my interest and giving me general information about the department and about funding. Also, information on updating my application. It does not read like any kind of acceptance at all and I have no letter of acceptance in the application portal. Then I got an email today from one of the professors there reminding me that I have until April 15th to accept. I'm confused! Do they have the wrong person? Did the acceptance email go to the wrong place? There is nothing in my junk mail folder.

Thank you! I am super excited.

Guys, I did it! I applied to three programs and was rejected by one, accepted by one and still have not heard back from the last one. Today I got an offer of an assistantship at the school that accepted me with stipend, tuition waiver, and health insurance! I am beyond excited. I had almost given up hope. After a process of about six years (deciding what I wanted to do, getting a second bachelor's degree, started applying to programs for fall of 2019) I have finally gotten where I want to be. Congratulations to my fellow new graduate students! If you haven't gotten in this cycle or haven't heard back yet, don't give up!

Ugh, I'm sorry. But like you said, the waiting is over! Time to go enjoy some anxiety-free fun. I'm glad you have a plan on moving forward. I don't, aside from trying to make my application stronger for next year and being depressed. lol

I'm sorry to hear this. I've been reading your posts on this thread and have been really rooting for you. I hope that Rutgers comes through! You only need one.

Sounds like it should be relaxing, doesn't it? But then you jump every time you get an email or a phone call. I'm going to throw my phone in a river.

Thanks for the input! I guess I'll go ahead and give it a shot. Good point about housing. Fortunately my best friend lives in the same city as this school, so I can always stay there.

Hello, everyone! I have a funding related question and I wasn't sure where else to ask it. I'm hoping all of you with more experience in how these things work could give me your opinion. ? I'm waiting to hear back about funding from the one program I have been accepted to so far. I don't know how likely I am to get funding through the department, so I'm looking at other assistantships that are offered by the school at large. I have found a couple that might work, but I noticed that they start in June? My acceptance is for the Fall 2021 semester. Does anyone know if that would be a problem? I tried contacting the people in charge of the hiring for these assistantships, but they haven't responded and the application deadline is coming up.

Sorry to hear about your University of Michigan result! I hope you get some better news soon. The 10x application thing gives me anxiety. I wonder if those numbers are specific for Ph.D. programs. I'm applying for MA programs, since my background isn't exactly in classics. x_x

Yes, yes I do. I didn't apply to a lot of programs and so far I've been accepted by one and rejected by another. But now I get to wait two or three weeks or possibly more on funding info for the one that accepted me. Are we having fun yet?!

Wow, I hope that happens to me and you! It's so frustrating, as I started applying to graduate programs for Fall 2019 and then had to defer to Fall 2020 in order to finish my second bachelor's degree. Then there was a pandemic and the funding that I almost got was pulled. Now here I am again. The thought of having to defer for another year is very disheartening and, oddly enough, I do not appear to be getting any younger.

Thank you! I'm excited, but trying not to get too excited. Without funding I'm going nowhere very quickly. x_x Thanks for your advice!

It looks like the email is an exact copy of the official letter, which they also attached to the email. The email/letter was sent by the department's Director of Graduate Studies, so I guess I should maybe contact them about funding?

Hello, everyone! I just got my first acceptance. Although I am accepted into the program, the email that I got did not say anything about funding. I won't be going to graduate school without funding, so it's really important! Does anyone know if they often accept people and then contact them about funding separately, or does the absence of anything in my acceptance email mean that I do not have funding through this program?

Congratulations! I wish I could get into Boulder. lol I really hope there isn't a surge of applicants this cycle, because if so I'm probably screwed. I can't afford graduate school without funding.

I still have another application due, so luckily that's keeping me distracted. After that, my plan is to just pretend that graduate school doesn't exist.

Not sure if anyone is applying at University of Tennessee, but they said I should hear back from them in February.

That is absolutely awful. I am so sorry.

I got one from Florida State University that also said they were reviewing my application. They didn't indicate when final decisions would be made, though. I guess I like to be informed, but I kinda wish they wouldn't send so many emails out. I get a heart attack every time.

Hello, everyone! I am applying to programs for fall 2020, as well. This will be my second time applying - I think I almost got funding for this year, but then there were pandemic-related issues and I can't really afford graduate school without funding. Unfortunately the number of programs that I can apply to is somewhat limited, as I don't have the experience with classical languages that a lot of other people do (I'm currently trying to teach myself Latin to rectify this). The programs that I am interested in have an M.A. in Mediterranean/Classical Archaeology, as I would like to eventually pursue museum work as a curator. Best of luck to all of you during this process - it has been a rough year and I know we could all use something positive.

Well, that's good news, I think. I guess if I don't get funding I could at least get admitted and then defer until 2022. That would give me some time to try to secure funding.

Does anyone have a feel for how the pandemic is affecting funding/admissions for classics programs for the 2021 cycle? I am struggling with making decisions right now. My eventual goal is to get an MA in Classical Archaeology in order to pursue museum work (yes, I realize that I will likely need a PhD to curate, but I am not experienced enough to apply for one just yet). After being interviewed for two assistantships through the museum affiliated with the school that I was planning to attend this fall, only to have their funding pulled and no one hired because of the pandemic, I am very discouraged. My thought was that I would begin applications for the 2021 cycle, but now I am unsure if the stress, time and expenditure would be worth it for a cycle with decreased admissions and funding opportunities. I quite simply cannot afford graduate school without funding. Although I have decent GRE scores (at least, verbal and writing), two bachelor's degrees with very high GPAs, archaeology lab experience, museum work experience, and teaching experience...I do not have a background in Greek/Latin or in archaeology courses geared specifically towards ancient history. Although I do spend about three hours a day studying Latin and am making decent progress, I realize that this might not impress an admissions committee without a list of ancient literature that I have read/studied. Do I go ahead and apply for 2021 and hope for the best? I do have a chance of at least being admitted to some of the programs that I have on my list. Or should I just put it off for yet another year and spend that time making myself a more competitive candidate and, thus, broaden the number of programs to which I could apply?

You are not stupid. This stuff is incredibly convoluted, and especially hard if you have no one to guide you. So, I'm am still learning things, too, but I have been dealing with this graduate school stuff for a couple of years now. For context, I am applying to M.A. programs in Classical Archaeology for the fall of 2021 and I would like to curate, which means that I'll probably also need a Ph.D. Let's talk funding. I have been told by multiple people, professors included, that I should not pay for graduate school. In fact, I decided to not go to graduate school this year because of this. I was accepted by the school that I wanted to go to and had been interviewed for two of the three assistantships that I applied to, but then funding was pulled because of the pandemic and no one was going to be hired. I don't know what your debt from your undergraduate degree looks like, but personally I am not willing to go further into massive debt for a career that will not likely pay me a lot anyway. I feel like what you said about being scammed by the system is correct; it's like for undergrad where they get 18 year old students to sign for massive amounts of debt when they don't really understand the terms or the ramifications. But don't get me started on that. As for what funding would cover, that really depends. Every field is different in terms of funding - some have more available, some have less. While researching graduate programs I have seen a huge difference in what is offered by different programs. For example, some offer assistantships (teaching or research) to every admitted student, which include a full tuition waiver, a modest stipend to help with living expenses, and even health insurance (these are the ones I am focusing on). Others might offer all of this, but a waiver for only half tuition. Some might only offer funding to those applying for the Ph.D. program. I've also seen some (usually schools that are full of themselves and cater mostly to the wealthy) that insist on you paying for the first year of your program outright and then MAYBE you'll get an assistantship. You really just have to do your research and ask questions, because this stuff is not always on the program's website. Now lets talk about England. I remember one of my professors warning me about going to graduate school in England and I wish I could remember why. I think it had something to do with that making it more difficult to get hired in the U.S.? Like, the way archaeology students are taught over there is vastly different? In any case, you should be able to find graduate programs in the U.S. that have a focus on your particular interests. With Classical Archaeology, I find that pretty much all graduate programs have professors that run field schools abroad or exchange programs with European universities, etc. If you're doing archaeology, odds are that you can find a way to get yourself overseas. Lastly, are you planning to pursue a Ph.D.? Consider that a one year program is kind of short and you might want to look up the pros/cons of a one year versus a two year program. If you do want a Ph.D., you'll want a graduate program that gives you the option to write a thesis. I'm not sure, but I don't think a lot of one year programs do that. Anyway, I hope this was helpful. Feel free to message me if you have other questions or need help organizing information to compare grad. programs, etc. My life in quarantine basically consists of me living and breathing graduate school nonsense.