GrexMaximus

I don't understand how everything got so crazy for you. I hadn't even confirmed I was going and I was still sent all the stuff for creating my UBIT account and everything. Perhaps I will give Spartacus a second chance. I really, really liked Rome; so maybe once I get into the show I'll like it more. I wish I had instructors like you during my undergrad years. All that food sounds amazing, and now I am craving tons of chocolate at 9:30 in the morning. I didn't realize you were going to continue to be teaching this summer. You are going to make me look really bad in August now. Here you'll be having taught and studied German, French, and Greek, acing all the entry exams, and there I'll be struggling through everything when all I did was work tennis camps and made attempts to better prepare myself for the program. My contact had told me that parking was incredibly cheap as well. They also said that parking near the department was actually pretty easy to find. Especially compared to the incredible lack of parking there is in Arizona. That made me feel better about living a little further from campus too. As far as apartment hunting, I sent my very early list to my contact to see what they thought about it. My trip is going to be much more direct; so I may have the opportunity to look for places while I live in a hotel for a week. I'm also trying to figure out if I can get up to Buffalo while I am visiting some family in Pittsburgh. I am only going to be in PA for a week which probably means I won't want/be able to get up there. No matter how I look at the move it seems like it is going to be a nightmare. I can spend more money than what my furniture is worth to uhaul it, or I can give/sell most of the stuff and have none when I get there. I think the second option may be the one we go with. It was so hot yesterday, and I was outside teaching that I was just ready to drop everything and move right then. I can't believe the first week of May is over. After the painfully slow months of waiting to hear back about program's decisions, things have been flying by!

That is really weird. I received a confirmation of acceptance from the Dean of the Graduate school on Feb. 24. The instructions for my access to a UBIT account was emailed on Mar. 8 and the single use password to complete the instructions was sent out on Mar. 11. Both of the dates were over a month before I notified the department of my decision to attend next year. I did not follow through with the instructions and password until April 17. I don't know why you have not received these emails yet. I hope they have arrived since you posted this. I have only watched the first few minutes of Spartacus. Despite the content it had trouble holding my attention and seemed a bit too corny. I don't know if I gave it a fair chance though. I think you will do great on the languages. I know that creates a bit more pressure, but I will deflate that quickly. Just one look at my scores in comparison to yours and you will look golden; no matter how well or how poorly you do on the tests. Adorable babies? That is a pretty good excuse.

It is a strange coincidence that we both discussed manipulation in almost the exact same time period. As for the icon, we all were not so happy about being victorious as much as just being alive one more day. Being a gladiator is tough. Thank goodness Maximus was able to make a tight unit from such a rag-tag group. You would be a fool to turn down a cake offer. I think I would be offended if you pulled such a stunt. The great thing about your May plans are that you can do almost all of them at the same time. Now that is PhD level multi-tasking. You think I am bolder than I actually am. I did not cold email anyone in the department. I couldn't even arouse myself to emailing potential advisers. I stumbled upon my contact by being a TA for them while they were in Arizona working on their dissertation. They assure me that the diagnostic exams won't be too bad. For the Greek there was one harder and one easier passage for them. For someone who is teaching the languages, I am sure it won't be all that bad. I am rather worried for myself though. I doubt there will be scanning on them. I would be worse than doomed. As soon as I see the word "scan" my mind goes blank about everything, including translating! It is always best to keep expectations low. It is easier to be less disappointed then. It is very difficult to keep expectations low for something that makes me so happy and excited. They didn't email you with the information about how to get your number and everything? I have set up my UBmail already. I don't know if that shows how excited I am. They should have sent you an email with a single use password to set up your UBIT account. Maybe you are talking about something different though. We totally need to claim the best office first year's can get. With two Roman historians working together (Late-Republicans nonetheless!) the others won't be able to stop us!

Kittie, that is awesome that you have college teaching experience outside of when you were a graduate student! With this information I have now been able to find out more about you. Nothing to worry about; I was just curious. I wanted to teach at the local community college, but the're were not open teaching spots when I applied. It is sounding like it is really hard to find living within walking distance of the North Campus, but I have heard that parking is pretty cheap and easy to find in the lot around the department; especially compared to the terrible situation at the universities in Arizona. From the little I have read of Dyson's stuff, it is really clear and straight forward, even for someone who has as little experience with archaeology as I do. I really liked the book on the city of Rome. It sounds like your practical procrastination is working a bit better than my procrastinating due to amount of work in my ideal plans. And I do blame French completely on the Celts, at least that's what I always tell my celtic friends. I have a really good feeling about the people in the department from what I've heard from one grad student and all my interactions with the faculty. I really like that the department takes field trips together. The MA program I left had an awesome group of people, and I was nervous that I wouldn't have another great experience while getting a PhD. I become a whole lot less nervous the more I interact with members of the department and you.

That is the same program, but be careful with your words. It is the University of Arizona with the Wildcats as their mascot. A lot of people throughout the state would be upset to hear ASU-Tucson, even when the UA is a public school.

I went to the University of Arizona for my MA with an emphasis on Ancient History. The program in general is pretty nice. I thought there could be a bit more interaction between the Classics department, which was my department, and the History department, but I can't complain. I really improved my languages there, and there are also many opportunities to work on archaeology as well. The program's strengths are in Rome, Greece, and Egypt, so I'm not quite sure if it is what you'd be looking for. As far as funding, most students seem to get at least partial funding, although I can think of a few that were exceptions. Loans were definitely available though.

My email invite had ten names next to mine. I was only able to successfully stalk/find out more information on one of them. I have an idea of some of the other schools some are coming from, but I don't know if they were finishing bachelor's, post-bac, master's, etc. Maybe the other ten and I had been accepted without funding. Were you walking two miles everyday to and then from school? I am also nervous about driving in the winter. I drive in the rain during the monsoon down here, and it actually did snow one Easter when i was pretty young, but that is all my experience with driving conditions that are not clear. I used some of Dyson's newest book (Rome: A Living Portrait of an Ancient City) in my thesis, but I'm trying to read a bit more of his stuff. It is hard because the school library won't let me check out books anymore and the public libraries in Tucson are terrible when it comes to books dealing with any classics topic. My plans are also super ambitious as well. I want to read at least an hour each of Latin and Greek a day. I also want to relearn German, while starting French for reading. None of that has not been happening. I've only been going over a history of Rome again to keep everything fresh in my mind. Even that has started to slow down a bit. I also really need to work on Greek history. Most of my time up until early April was spent obsessively checking my email for news from schools. Currently I've been unwinding from all the stress of not knowing what was happening with my applications. Has it been any harder teaching since you were accepted? Have you been teaching for a long time?

It could be just us in the cohort, but that seems small. In 2007 the department reported to the Classical Journal that the average number of new graduate students per year were 2 PhDs and 4 masters. I wasn't able to go to the visiting day. So I don't know how many potential students attended or anything. Were you able to visit? I'm still compiling possible places to live, but I'm finding it difficult to find apartments within walking distance from the North Campus. I have a list of 9 that are within 2 miles, but I don't think I want to walk that far when it gets snowy outside. As you know, out here that is not that much of a problem, but I can imagine the cold, ice, and snow make quite a difference. I can't believe the difference right now between the temperature in Buffalo (36) and Tucson (88).

Kittie, I too am looking for a place for my girlfriend and I to live. I was hoping Flickinger Court campus apartments, but like all university housing I've run across they have a no pet policy. I am currently looking through ads, craigslist, and every apartment website known to man. Since I know absolutely nothing of the city I am trying to stay within walking distance of the North Campus. I also do not want to uhaul all my crap out there, so I'm trying to find furnished places on top of that. I am (not surprisingly I suppose) from Arizona. Despite all the people who have received their MA's from Arizona in the program, I only know Jennifer Kendall because I TA-ed for her last Fall (she is an instructor at the UA while finishing her dissertation). I am really excited to see how all the classes are taught. I just can't wait to finally get started up again. Having graduated in December has made this an uneasy and boring spring.

I am going to Buffalo as well (I just found out yesterday that I was going to receive funding). I am nervous about the diagnostic exams but really excited about having the opportunity to continue studying with someone like Prof. Dyson. I mainly focus on the history of the Late Republic, and recently I have become interested in Pannonia in general.

I'm still waiting to hear from five more schools. I'm also waiting to hear about possible funding from one of the schools that did contact me. I think it is killing me slowly.

I guess my chances aren't very good since I was not interviewed. I'll keep waiting for some news from anywhere.

I've been following this board for a few weeks now, but the lack of responses from schools have finally driven me to post something. It seems like it is unclear about whether Brown has started informing people. Does anyone have news from Penn State, Rutgers, Boston University, or Toronto's joint history program with York? I heard back from UT Austin this week. Buffalo and University of Washington sent me their decisions in mid-Feb.