heliogabalus

It's been a while since I was around the Classics scene, but UT used to do pretty well with placement. Has that changed? (And yeah, for Bronze Age there and Cincinnati are where you would want to be.)

Sappho, what's your background? Are you a PhD student, ex-PhD student?

Do you ever work with Cravens?

Cloudofunknowing, I had a course with Scala as an undergrad a long time ago--she was good. Heng came after my time there. Kaulbach, though, in addition to being a real character, is THE GUY at UT-Austin for medieval English, Latin, and a fair amount of other, and for the philosophical and historical context of anything written in the middle ages--even things that you wouldn't expect to be in his area of expertise (he helped me out with medieval slavic stuff). I don't know how much he publishes, but if you want to know anything philosophical, historical, or especially philological about a medieval text, Kaulbach will be the person to help you the most.

(MMorrison, sorry I somehow mixed up the schools. UCDavis and Oregon both look like departments I'd love to study in--I'm a bit envious!)

MMorrison, if you are even tangentially interested in medieval stuff, and you check out UT, you have to meet Professor Kaulbach. He kind of flies under the radar, but he's phenomenal. Knows more about the medieval world than anyone I've ever met.

I'd also say do the MA. If after a couple of years you decide you don't want to get a PhD, you'll have an MA. That will make you attractive to private schools that teach Latin; it sets up a great basis if you decide to do English, Comp. Lit. whatever else as a PhD. In my (completely subjective) mind, a post-bac looks like you're clearing up deficiencies; an MA looks like you mastered the material.

I would say that unless you're in a PhD program, you really don't know what you're walking into. And even then, it probably doesn't really hit you until you're ABD and looking for jobs. Everyone on here is hoping to be the lucky one that the general rule doesn't apply to.

If it's really an issue, you could sign up for the advanced course at CUNY's Greek Institute, and let the grad programs you applied to know.

There are different ways of writing, of course. Creative stuff I write the quickest and edit a ton. Academic stuff, I've gotten to the point where I can write it pretty smoothly after figuring out the structure, but then I stillgo back and edit a ton. With translation, which I imagine is the most like technical writing, I end up going through it very, very slowly. I still have to edit a lot, but the tonnage is less than the other two.

Sorry to stir this up anymore, but there's something funny about when people anonymously refer to their vague but great achievements, and expect this to sway people's opinions on a completely trivial and personal feeling. So let me add to the debate with some made-up achievements of my own: Hi, guys, I'm a famous writer. You've probably never heard of me, but who knows, maybe you have. My name rhymes with Ron Bebillo, and I'm really worried about my chances of getting into Cornell to study Piers Plowman--do you know if the analytical writing portion of the GRE is all that important to AdComs? Oh, and I LOVE when people write in my books--especially the one that rhymes with Blight Poise.

Wait, so you are (or were) interested in going to MIT, but you're making repeated attempts to insult the chair of the department? I mean this sincerely and constructively--Academia and most other professions make up somewhat insular communities. It is not a smart move to antagonize people before you even get in the door.

I may be off on this, but I imagine learning Russian is the most important thing. Instead of classes at a community college, what about an intensive summer at Monterey, Middlebury, or in Saint Petersburg? 1. It's crucial to learn it well if you want to research Russian History. 2. It'll show grad programs that even if your language isn't up to par now, you're already taking the steps that will ensure it is by the time you're done with coursework.

I think technically it's SUNY-Bison.

I never would have thought this, but the odds of making a living as a literary translator are much less than getting a tenure-track professor job.

Megan, it's just that PhD programs are really interested in turning out profesors. There are people that finish the PhD and go into another line of work--but the grad programs don't really help them to get those jobs, and within grad school culture, those people are looked at as kind of failures. I know that's ridiculous, but the pride and joy of a grad program is its placement record, and that really is just looking at acadmeic placements. An MA is a good idea, and I would check out Middlebury's program, or programs in Germany/Austria. As far as translation goes, I'm a translator, and if you are translating literature, it is usually something you do on the side, since it is incredibly difficult to make a living at it. (Translating technical, legal documets, etc. is something else)

One, even if you tank one class--it's an anomaly. Explain it to the adcomm or in your SOP, and you will probably still be fine. Also, if you're afraid of not getting into the top PhD programs, consider an MA from somewhere like WMU which has a great medieval program. Next, and I think of this a lot when I read all the posts on here about problems with apps and GREs, do you really want to go to grad school? Why? Sure, it can be great, but unless you're getting a PhD from one of the top programs--and even then it's iffy--you're doing so in the hope of getting a job (after 8 years of making welfare-level money) with a terrible salary at a school you have no real hope of turning down, which can be in a horrible place you would never move to if you had a choice. And there's a good chance it's an adjunct position, which pays less and has fewer benefits than if you were working there as an entry-level custodian. How much of all the people on here feeling the need to get a PhD are just succumbing to inertia and can't imagine a life not doing what they are doing now in undergrad.

Perfect, that's really helpful.

Rose, I think their translation MFA has put out a decent amount of Arabic translations, so that could be a good place to study. The lack of response you're getting doesn't sound good, though. I would email the professors you want to work with directly.

Thank you.

Hi everyone, I'm looking into this for a friend (she's not in the US), but what are the most respected graduate programs in Portuguese? I know the rankings will be different depending on a focus of Brazilian, Continental, or African lit, but just in general what are the biggies when it comes to Portuguese? Her Spanish is great too, but her passion is Portuguese.

Lots of PhD programs are opening up emphases on Translation Studies, but the truth is that won't involve too much translating. For translating programs, there's University of Iowa, Rochester, CUNY-Queens, and Arkansas. The thing about translating, though, is that it is one field you don't need a degree in to do. Basically, if someone likes the way you translate a sample, you get hired. A translation program, may be a good place though to dip your toes into the field and see if you like it.

Dude, Manassa got her PhD in 4 years???

UGA has a Latin MA that you can complete in your summers. Get the Linguistics MA and the Latin MA, if you want to teach Latin. Check ACL's page for jobs. I teach high school Latin and Greek, and a historical linguistics MA will help you getting a teaching job at a private school in that it's an MA, and lots of schools will only hire people who have an MA, but it's not a shoe-in like your prof makes it sound. The historical linguistics, might make you a little interesting to Classics profs, but they'd probably prefer a Classics MA. Don't worry about it, though, just take any grad courses you can on Vergil and Caesar. I'm guesing you can probably minor in Latin with your MA. I think it's too early to dislike grad school--remember grad school should be much more like a job than undergrad, it's not as much fun, but you should be learning a lot, mastering the subject. (If you can do some Second Language Acquisition work, and then get a job teaching Latin, you may very well be able to use that to later head a World Languages Department.) More than anything, though, get into a class and see how you do. Latin teachers have a reputation for being dry and stuffy; if you're a dynamic teacher that knows how to eplain what a gerundive is, then you'll do well. That's the only thing that got me the job I have.

Wherever you end up, there is a good chance you'll have to become acclimated with new terminology and methodology. If you go into Classics you will (literary theory and linguistic terminology); if you do an MAT it'll be worse (BS educational theory). If you're in a place that is strong in historical linguistics (UGA?), you're probably in a good place. You can learn a lot about Latin and Greek, and even take some other languages. To teach Latin and Greek in a school (private probably since that's where most Latin and Greek jobs are, you really just need an MA (any MA). I'd stay in the program, stay on top of your Greek and Latin, and when you graduate apply for private school jobs. If you can teach Spanish or French as well as Classics, you'll be real demand.