kittie

Alot of people seem to have only applied to Ivy schools. Rookies! We can't all apply to Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. I got rejected by UCSB on Valentine's Day, which seems to be their style. I knew I probably wouldn't get in to UCSB because they don't typically accept people with MAs. But then I was accepted to Buffalo with full funding on February 17th and everything was right in the world again! I was accepted to WASHU, and then rejected by UPENN a week ago. I'm still waiting on Rutgers, but I'll probably go to SUNY because they've also decided to give me an extra fellowship and they seem to really want me to go there. I'm shocked that Americans are applying to Canadian and English schools, which don't really offer funding packages. Canadians, I know, compete for a scholarship called a SSHRC, which funds their phd experience. It doesn't come from the university that they applied to, so non Canadians are a bit S-o-L when it comes to total funding. I did my MA in Canada and they let me know in August they were giving me a TAship, which covered half my expenses. In the 2nd year of my MA, they gave me two TAships and a scholarship. Only in Canada do people get more funding for the second year of their MA than their first! English schools are notorious for giving nothing, so why apply?

Well, Pippa, there are a few programs out there with elements of Classical Linguistics. The ones I'm most familiar with are SUNY-Buffalo, UCLA, but especially Cornell. At SUNY, there isn't a Classical Linguistics emphasis, but I have noticed that a handful of the 30 or so graduate students are listing their specialties with some form of linguistics rather than one of the three established emphases: philology, ancient history, and archaeology. I'm definitely applying to SUNY, but I know I can't focus my SOP heavily on the linguistics side because there isn't a lot of it offered there. I will include it in my SOP. SUNY wants every phd student to take a graduate seminar from a department other than Classics, so I will mention my willingness to to enroll in not just Classical linguistics classes, but linguistics concentrating on other languages! I emailed a few professors at UCLA, but the one I would be most interested to work with is on leave for the 2010-11 school year and that discouraged me from applying to their program. I never even considered Princeton. Even if it is all hype, I just don't want to bother applying there. Thank you so much for your book recommendations! I was really hoping that there was someone like you out there who could point me in the right direction. I'm trying to bring this classics forum back to life, but it's hard to do, especially when a lot of the comment aren't constructive.

Well, Sparky, I'm starting to consider Classical Linguistics more and more because minor aspects of it keep coming up in my Latin and Greek classes. Questions from students only elicit more questions. What is more, I read a book recently called "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English" by John McWhorter and I was just overawed by the linguistic background of the author and his analysis of the evolution of English. As I was reading, I could see much of myself in him. With my background in Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and now German, I felt that with the proper training in Classical Linguistics, I could become like this man. It's rare for me to be so moved by an author. I haven't felt this way since I read my first book by Adrian Goldsworthy 4 years ago. Classical Philology, even though that is what I know, just doesn't excite me like History and now Linguistics. In my experience, it's important for a person to be excited by the content they are studying. Love of your subject can get you through the most difficult struggles. I know that for me to survive a Phd program like my MA program, I need to have an incredible amount of motivation and passion, which I just don't display towards philology. As I said in my first posts, I graduated with a BA and MA in Classics, but many potential advisors have told me that I don't have enough History to be in their Classics Phd with Ancient History Emphasis programs. One of my former advisors told me that BA, MA in Classics, but a Phd in History would not get me a job in the long run, and that's why I ruled out History Phds. If History MA and Phd programs don't require a history major in undergrad, than those aren't the types of places I want to apply to. So I'm going to return to my earlier question, if one has no undergraduate background in Classical linguistics, but wants to focus on it in a graduate program, where does one acquire an initial understanding? How do advisors determine whether an applicant is suited for study of Classical linguistics? If it's all about language experience, then I definitely have an edge over other applicants with the minimum 2 years of Latin and Greek.

I've been a teacher for a long time, but even I am intimidated by Teach For America. I tried to get teacher certified here in Nevada, but they cut the program due to budget cuts. It would have taken 2 years anyway. I think that part of the reason why the dropout rate is 50% is because most of the people participating in the program are inexperienced. They have no idea of what's expected of them. They don't understand that they are required to make teaching their whole lives and work an insane amount of hours. For the 22 year olds who have never had a full time job, let alone a full time teaching job, this is just more than they can handle. Even with my level of experience, TFA makes me extremely nervous, but it's just too good an opportunity to pass up. One of my advisors did a similar program in Boston in the 90s. He taught Latin to children who normally would not have access to it and he loved it, even with all its challenges. He's more excited about it than he is about my phd application. If I do get into the TFA, I'm glad that they won't ask me to teach Latin or Greek. I've been doing that for awhile now and I am ready for something different. I am a language teacher, but I want to be more than that. History sounds so much more fun. TFA sounds like a great program because you get teacher certified and most of the locations give you the option of earning a Masters in Education at an additional cost. I'm not that interested in becoming a BA, MA, MA Ed, but I'm glad I have the option. I applied to many private schools looking for Latin and Greek teachers in the past. They want people who have experience teaching middle and high schoolers, not young adults. In this economy, they can pick and choose who they want to hire. Applying for private schools is my Plan B and TFA is my Plan C. Scary as it is, I see TFA as a trial by fire, which will come with teacher certification.

Well, let's see. Even though I've been studying and teaching Latin and Greek for 10 years now, I was told by one potential advisor at UCSB that I was weak in Greek. Yup. me. weak. in.Greek. bah He also said that I just didn't have enough courses that centered on Historiography. Most of my profs enjoyed literary analysis of Roman historians, but they weren't extensively trained in Roman History and its issues. The ones that were had to tailor their courses towards more literary themes. I consider myself self-taught, plus I was a TA for 3 years, for year long Intro Latin, Intro Greek, and an Ancient History course, and several single semester Roman history courses. You can't afford to be ignorant of your subject when you are a TA. They will crush you! Or worse. They will stop coming to class/tutorial/office hours because they have deemed you incompetent or useless. I've seen it happen to people who were only so-so in Greek, but given the task of being the Intro Greek TA. not pretty. Since I've never studied Classical linguistics or written a paper on linguistics, it's hard to appear knowledgeable of the subject on the SOP. I'm hoping that someone out there reading this knows what is what and can refer me to a intro Classical linguistic book because I have to start somewhere! I've learned that you need to play with your strengths and that few advisors are comfortable taking on a person who hasn't proven themselves in a particular discipline of Classics. It sucks, but I believe we are all pidgeon holed. Philology stays in Philology. History in History. Philosophy in Philosophy. I'm hoping that I am strong enough to move past philology onto history and linguistics, but I don't know if it can be done. I'll let you know next spring!

Hey there, bums! I'm a Latin and Greek teacher interested in changing things up a bit in my life. I'm applying for 5 phd programs. I already have an MA in Classics. As a Plan C, I just submitted my application for Teach For America! I'm very excited about it, but I'm not sure if the higher ups even want Latin/Greek teachers. I know that they evaluate my transcripts, and I have quite a few Classics classes that centered on Literature, Mythology, Tragedy, and History. Would they even consider me as a teacher of something other than Latin/Greek? I know that Latin teachers are popular in big cities, but I'd rather be out in the country. I even put South Dakota and New Mexico as my top 2 choices because I like the idea of being in the middle of nowhere, living, eating, and teaching students on the reservation. Anyways, it's a great opportunity and you should all look into it. It's basically peace corps, but for teachers and in the USA. You sign up for 2 years and you don't have to pay your student loans during that time. Plus, when you're done, they give you funds to help pay off your student loans. Not to mention the incredible experience you'll have teaching in a situation that is way out of your comfort zone! ROWR

Hey there, lurkers! Let's all just start randomly posting things on this forum. Maybe we can bring Classics back to the land of at least the undead! Sooooo. I have a question. Does anyone have any experience with Classical Linguistics from their undergrad years? I'm considering different advisors at different programs and I am drawn to both the History side of Classics as well as the linguistic. I've emailed some people and a few say that my history background is limited, which it is because my department was more geared toward philosophy (blech) and philology (YAY!) I haven't emailed faculty who specialize in classical linguistics, so I'm not sure how they'll regard my application. I've never taken a linguistics course or written a linguistic themed paper, so how would I gear myself and my application towards a professor with a linguistic specialty? Do I need a linguistic background to dare to even apply to Classical Linguistic program? A little info about me, I teach Latin and Greek at the Intro and Intermediate levels, but history is what makes me hot. Linguistics excites me too!

I would look into a MA program in Humanities as well. I went to a classics department that had a very strong philosophy focus and so most of the MA students had less language experience. When most finished their MA, they went on to apply to Phd programs in Philosophy and Humanities, but only a handful with excessive experience in Latin and Greek went onto Classics phd programs. Many of the undergrads in my department went on to pursue M.Divs. If archaeology is what you want to do, you need to get yourself to a dig. ASAP. A buddy of mine got into the Classical Arch at UBC. She had 4 years of Latin, barely there Greek, and a learning disability, but she made up for it by having stellar recs and quite a few archaeology digs to her name in Italy. No matter what, apply for 6 programs. 2 MA like Tufts and FSU. Your best bet would be FSU because Florida always seems to have extra money to spare. 2 Post Baccs - The best are UPenn and Berkeley. You'll get great recs if you do well, but you might destroy your finances in the process. I don't know of any Post Baccs that are more specifically geared towards Archaeology, maybe Ohio State or U of Cincinatti? 1 or 2 in Humanities or Art History Or you could do something completely crazy and get an MAT, a Master of Arts in Teaching in Latin or Greek. I wish I had known about that program before I started my MA. I probably would have chosen it. You do all the requirements for a normal MA in Classics, but you also get Teacher Certification in your state, so that you can teach Latin. It's a win win! kittie

Hi there! I was just wondering if anyone knew of Classics Departments with a strong contigent of faculty who teach Roman History, especially military history. I'm not talking about a Classics department with a working relationship with a History department and their faculty. I mean a large enough Classics department with specialists in Roman History. I've noticed that there are quite a few programs who simply outsource all their Greco-Roman history classics to the History department, which shocks me because it is something that just didn't occur at my alma mater. I want a Phd in Classics not a Phd in History, and so I need Classics faculty who are capable of teaching undergraduate Roman history classes who are also involved in a Classics Phd program. Also, I read through the Classics forum and noticed there were a few people who were applying to U of Iowa last year. I'm going to look up that program because for some reason I just never considered it. Can someone tell me about the department and the faculty members there? What are they like and why are people applying there? Do they have a special incentive or is it all because of some research reason? I'd like to know!

I just signed up for the Grad Cafe today. I'm applying to 5 no matter what, but I haven't decided on my 5th yet. Most of the programs I'm interested in are Classics with an Ancient History Emphasis. I've been pretty productive this summer: retaking the GRE, emailing potential advisors, researching programs, and contacting LORs. I've been doing everything I can to avoid starting my SOP. urgh Also, 2 of my LORs are on maternity leave/unemployed, so I'm starting to worry about that as well. Who's in it to win it this year?