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OdiEtAmo

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Everything posted by OdiEtAmo

  1. Why did you decide to cut those two out of curiosity? Was it based on visits?
  2. Just responding because I heard all of this stuff when I was applying from other schools then I actually visited and formed my own impressions....Personally, I don't know about the philology program, but the ancient history program is doing quite well right now. Last year it placed three in positions at Harvard, Cincinnati, and Yale. People put down Harvard but they still hire from there.
  3. I should mention I had a weird mix of programs, so my experience was with a range of areas in Classics Applied: 8 Accepted: 5 (3 Ancient History, 1 Classical Archaeology, 1 Classical Studies) Feedback I got: Every program I was accepted to (except for one) mentioned several times that the professors were impressed with my writing sample so that seems very important. Re: Beezelbub's post my writing sample was on an untraditional topic so that seems to have helped. Reaching out to programs: In my experience again, it depends on the program. I reached out to a little more than half of the programs I applied to and at some places it helped and at some it didn't. [For future reference, it seems to have helped a lot to reach out to Penn; they even suggest visiting in the fall if you can (although I just e-mailed and still got accepted). Comparatively, my friend warned me not to bother visiting Stanford before submitting an application because he and the other students there call it the kiss of death. Therefore, if you can, I'd suggest asking people at the programs whether or not it helps and which professors it makes a difference to talk to.] Number of applications: I actually agree with soleil on this one. I am one of those people that only applied to top name programs but that was because I only wanted to apply to places that I would actually go (granted a still applied to quite a few--I liked them all!). Also, since I am coming straight out of undergrad, I figured I could shoot big and hope it worked out and if it it didn't I could do something else for a year and reapply. Favorites: I also tried though not to have a favorite during the process since I did not want to get my heart set on a school. I'm really glad I did this because in the end the program that ended up seeming like best fit for me caught me very much by surprise! If I had made my decision without visiting the programs, I would have chosen very differently. Overall, this process completely upended my expectations. The programs that I thought were a complete reach I ended up getting and some of the ones I thought I was the best fit for I didn't.
  4. Hanbran: short-answer-- from what I know, it is very common to receive a Master's and PhD from different institutions. Often it seems the MA courses don't transfer to your PhD, but usually they are paying your tuition/stipend for your PhD so it doesn't make a huge difference. I was on the circuit for ancient history this season, and I met a lot of people who had Master's from a US or UK program and were going to other schools for their PhDs. I personally will be deferring a US PhD program for a year to get an MA in the UK, and the US program is very supportive of that. There are a few funded US MA programs out there but I'm pretty sure the deadline for funding has passed for this season. If you are looking strictly for more language experience, you might look at post-bac programs which I think (but I am far from certain) tend to be a bit cheaper. If you decide to take the PhD offer this is all moot, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Hope it helps! Pius Aeneas: Congrats on Arizona! I have a friend who does classical archaeology at the master's level there (I'm not sure which department she is in) but she has gotten some fantastic PhD offers this season.
  5. I know this thread has been quiet for awhile, but I feel I should add one thing in case future applicants read this thread. It applies to Harvard's Ancient History program, which I had very wrongly initially written off for the reasons Veilside mentioned. Harvard had three ancient historians on the job market this year (the first three since the program started in 2005), and they got tenure-track jobs at Harvard, Yale, and Cincinnati. Although arguably the program won't place this well every year, I think it is helpful to note that other departments seem to think highly of it and/or the people it produces.
  6. Scaeva--I know also that Harvard admitted an Italian student already this year. This student got offers from a lot of the top schools, so this person may have been relatively direct competition for you at the programs.
  7. Personally, I went to Catholic school, and I had five years of Latin and the equivalent of one year of Greek by the time I graduated high-school. My school was one of the few in the state to offer a full Latin program though.
  8. Another thought...I think writing samples are very important too. When I have talked to professors at programs to which I've been accepted, they often comment on mine. It seems to be one of the best ways to make an application stand out. It is also one of the best ways for the university to determine that ever-elusive "fit" to which soleil is very insightfully referring. The importance of writing samples may also tie into the discussion earlier about how difficult it is to gain admittance coming straight out of undergrad. Often master's students have more mature, polished samples to submit, or even those that are a year or two out of undergrad have a senior thesis to offer. Personally, I am still an undergrad but I wrote a thesis my junior year, which I think is the primary reason I've been accepted to top programs this year. Just my thoughts based on my experience with this whole process--no clue if they are legitimate! Good luck to everyone this week!
  9. I'm the Harvard admit! I know I was the first one he called, but I don't know if he was doing the rest today.
  10. I have a friend who has been invited to interview in Ann Arbor for IPCAA, so I think they are in the process of finalizing their decisions.
  11. The visit for Brown is March 16-17 and Penn's Ancient History days are March 22-24
  12. The Joukowsky finalists are going to be there the same weekend as the Ancient History finalists, so I would guess they've already been invited too, but then again not necessarily.
  13. I had a phone interview with Cambridge (who knows, they might do things differently). It was all about my research. Most of the questions were based on the writing sample I submitted. I had another interview recently (for a scholarship, not a graduate school, but conducted by academics) in which they asked me mostly questions about my intended discipline: problems plaguing the field, what my contribution would be, etc. Based on these experiences, I would expect some questions related to your personal statement/writing sample/field of interest.
  14. Veilside, Actually my Michigan app was for Classical Studies. I have a kind of random assortment of applications. Hope that means there is still hope for you for IPGRH!!
  15. Hi! I posted the UPenn ANCH acceptance. SUPER excited!! Got an e-mail from Cynthia Damon last night. Also, woke up to an invite to visit Brown's Ancient History program (posted in the results survey), so it looks like the Classics side of the program is notifying now.
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