rkg2012

I've always had the impression that such strict guidelines were to deter the faint of heart. You won't be so far behind someone with such a degree by the time you apply. In fact, you'll be at a higher Greek level, which should work to your advantage and I don't remember Arizona having super high language requirements, but then again, I'm an archaeologist. Have you had any history/archaeology/civ courses? Or did any of your philosophy classes deal with ancient philosophers?

If you're worried about whether you will be able to come close enough to meeting requirements, you can contact any of the schools and talk to someone about it. If you do it this cycle, then by the time you apply, they won't even remember that you thought your application would be weak. Just sell yourself in the personal statement when the time comes.

That reads more like a contrived autobiography than a personal statement. Three (four?) paragraphs about your pre-college enthusiasm is quite excessive. I put my research interests up front and then tailored my SoP to highlighting particular aspects of my education/work/previous research that showed something in particular about me that would make me a good graduate student and/or showed why X university was the best for me. The SoP should be professional...more like a cover letter for a job than like a story.

My two cents.

That reads more like a contrived autobiography than a personal statement. Three (four?) paragraphs about your pre-college enthusiasm is quite excessive. I put my research interests up front and then tailored my SoP to highlighting particular aspects of my education/work/previous research that showed something in particular about me that would make me a good graduate student and/or showed why X university was the best for me. The SoP should be professional...more like a cover letter for a job than like a story.

My two cents.

Hanbran,
It definitely is normal to apply to PhD programs with an MA from a different institution. I would recommend that you apply to a Post-Bac program for the upcoming fall, since it's too late to apply to MA programs. UPenn's program is by far the best out there, and they consistently place students in top programs. I also recommend taking UPenn's intensive Greek 112 and 212 over this summer before beginning their post-bac program, and mention your intent on doing do in your personal statement. From UPenn apply to both PhD programs and terminal MA programs which offer full funding ((WashU/WUSTL, UArizona, UColorado-Boulder, FSU, Tufts) to ensure options for the following fall.
Pius,
I'm at Arizona now, and can ensure you that each and every year all, yes all, Classics MA students get in to top programs. Out of this year's graduating class we have students going to: Stanford, UNC-Chapel Hill (2, maybe 3 of us), Rutgers, Virginia (with the Thomas Jefferson Fellowship-$30,000/year on top of stipend), UC-Irvine (rejected offers from Cincinnati and Wisconsin-Madison), and at least three of us turned down offers from Michigan. The previous year students went to Yale, Brown, Stanford, and Michigan.
As far as helping your odds to get in to Arizona's PhD, definitely. To have faculty at any institution that you're applying to already know you, and perhaps be writing on your behalf is a major advantage. The Classics MA here at Arizona is a fantastic program, and I'm glad that I chose it over the other 3 MA options that I had.
Hope this helps.

When you apply to graduate programs, you typically waive your right to see the letters of recommendation. You do have the choice, but confidential letters are stronger because they are considered more frank and honest.

When you apply to graduate programs, you typically waive your right to see the letters of recommendation. You do have the choice, but confidential letters are stronger because they are considered more frank and honest.

When you apply to graduate programs, you typically waive your right to see the letters of recommendation. You do have the choice, but confidential letters are stronger because they are considered more frank and honest.

Honestly there aren't many options at this point. To fund a UK degree, you pretty much need to apply to Fulbright/Marshall/etc before you ever apply to the program. I don't know about Edinburgh, but my university doesn't have much (meaning close to nothing) for Americans. Everything seems to be for UK/EU students. Oxbridge is the only place I know of that has full funding of their own, but that's super competitive. I chose to do a one year unfunded MSc here since the program is something that just doesn't exist in the US. I think it really depends on what you will get out of the degree. I hear Edinburgh doesn't have much coursework or assignments (whereas you submit many more papers at Oxbridge), so make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before you decide. Also,if you are looking for a PhD later (without a gap year) make sure you talk to profs and become well-acquainted very early on so that they can write you strong recommendations. If possible, try to get a feel from current students about how MAs are treated by faculty. Some schools really only care about their PhD students or have too many MAs to really get to know you.

I have officially declared war.

Wrong on both counts. The British spelling is programme; the American spelling is program. I wouldn't worry about it though. I always use American English here - it's better than finding out that there's a weird British spelling that you don't know about. On the other hand, I think that I wrote programme in my correspondences after receiving acceptances last year. They were very understanding about waiting for decisions at American schools.

Affect is correct. Effect is rarely a verb and only in the sense of causing an effect.