Ancient Philosophy Applicants

[Krauge]

One of my AOIs is Ancient Philosophy. I’ve got a background in both classics and philosophy. I’ve seen people around here who have applied to some schools for the philosophy track and some for the classics track. For those of you who applied to PHD programs in Ancient Philosophy, how did you decide which track to apply to at the different schools? Especially helpful would be Those of you who applied to some schools Phil track and other schools Cla track.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Hi! Member of your target audience here. I applied to 4 joint programs through Classics, 2 joint programs through Philosophy, and 7 regular Philosophy departments. I've been exceedingly fortunate and was accepted to a joint program through Classics and another through Philosophy. With the caveat that I'm no expert and can only speak from my limited experience this cycle:

First question: how are your languages? If they're not pretty decent (3+ years, preferably in both, but at least for the language you intend to do the most work in), apply through Philosophy. 

Second question: how many professors could write you good letters? I got 3 letters from Philosophy profs and 3 from Classics profs. Could've gotten by woth 5, though (since one of the Philosophy profs does Ancient). If you don't have enough good letters to do either, pick based on whom you could get good letters from.

Third question: what are your interests? If you have major interests outside Plato and Aristotle, consider applying through Classics; Philosophy department folks tend to focus on them almost exclusively, particularly on ethics/metaphysics/mind/biology/rhetoric, so if you're mainly interested in works like Aristotle's Poetics or Plato's Symposium, also highly consider Classics.

Fourth question: how many language courses do you want to take in grad school? If you don't want to take more than a few and prefer to just participate in reading groups, go to Philosophy, because on a Classics track you'll have to take a whole bunch of (non-philosophical) language courses.

Fifth question: what do you want to teach while in grad school? On a Classics track, you'll teach language. Ideally you'd get a chance to teach Philosophy too, but if have a strong preference on what you'll teach, take that into account.

These questions aren't exhaustive, but they're some of the major issues. My main advisor (a Philosophy professor) recommended I apply to top programs through Classics because he thought it'd increase my chances and then once I arrived I could focus on my interests; although there are many factors that go into admissions, mt initial impression is that he's correct that Classics is a little less competitive (but still very competitive) at many places. After many conversations with both Philosophy and particularly Classics professors, I was torn about which way to apply because I really love both ways of approaching texts, and I care deeply about language and want to take and teach language but also want to do lots of philosophy and teach at least some philosophy. I eventually decided not to apply through Classics to Toronto because their website said they expect applicants to already have 4 years of both languages (even though a Classics prof told me I'd still be ok to apply there; for reference, I have 4 of Latin, 3 of Greek, and 1 of German). I decided not to apply through Classics to Stanford because I was on the fence and couldn't decide and wanted to apply to some top ones through Phil. Ultimately, I didn't make a decision when applying and still haven't; I will in large part when I choose a program in early April (not sure which way I'll go).

I hope this helps! Happy to answer more questions/chat here or by PM.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Marcus_Aurelius

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Addendum: I had separate statements of purpose for the Classics vs. Philosophy apps. Same writing sample.

[Krauge]

Thanks very much. Some of that I suspected, such as classics being slightly less competitive, if only just slightly, based on numbers. 

My big interests are outside Plato and Aristotle, so that’s helpful. In what you’ve come across, does that hold true even when departments have professors who specialize in other areas of Ancient. For example, I applied to Cornell because they have two people who do Hellenistic Philosophy, a big interest of mine. It might not be able to be calculated, but based on why you said, would something like that be better received through Classics?

Finally, do you know of any difference between the two tracks GRE wise, like classics maybe being more concerned with verbal and less with quantitative.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Cornell is a bit of an exception, yeah, because they have multiple joint appointments between Philosophy and Classics and a couple professors (Brennan and Brittain) who have done lots of work on Hellenistic. (I also quite like the interests of their faculty.) So yeah, there it might not matter as much, but there's still a difference. (I applied to Cornell through Philosophy.) Even within Hellenistic, though, there are more Classics-y and more Philosophy-y ways to do things. (E.g. you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in a Classics dept. working on Stoic logic.)

I don't have any knowledge of GRE differences, but I doubt there are any. Both departments probably just glance at it in a cursory way.