MA Ancient Near East History Distance Program?

[toby42]

I'm finishing up my MA at ND right now and was planning on going on to PhD studies... but the top-level programs will be residency programs and I may not be able to relocate across country when the time comes. So I thought about adding to my repertoire by adding a History MA degree in a related field (ANE) and would like to see if anyone knows of a school that has a distance learning program in ancient history, preferably ANE-specific.

 

Long shot, I know, but hey... who knows.

Thanks.

[mvlchicago]

I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "distance learning program." Do you mean a program that does not require you to be in residence? Because regardless of your field or interest that will be a tough sell.

More specifically, why are you adding to your repertoire now? Like, if this inability to relocate is only temporary, I would think your best bet is to inform the faculty at your current program and see if they can't keep you in the loop about events and discussions happening. Second, language work––especially for the ANE––is always in vogue. I'm only saying that because I don't think another MA––especially a year-long one––will be super helpful for you at this point.

Good luck though~

[nevermind]

ANE is a notoriously difficult field to break into, especially if you don't have a certain academic pedigree. Many of my friends at "top" schools (Harvard, JHU, Yale, and UChicago) have completed 2 masters degrees before their PhD applications (usually 1 in a Near Eastern Language/comparative languages)...and they've usually taken classes with professors at their desired choices (through something like the BTI consortium)--who write them strong LOR. Honestly, enrolling in a distance learning MA would be more of a hindrance, assuming you're not independently wealthy (though maybe you are) and you'd have to go into debt to fund it. Added to the fact that you'll be competing against people from Harvard's MTS, Yale's MAR and Chicago's MAPSS for a coveted Ph.D spot--the academic rigor of a distance learning MA program would be called into question. 

If you're looking at ways to bolster your profile, I agree with the above poster who says to focus on your language acquisition. If you can't relocate, maybe you can attend a summer program (like Middlebury's language immersion). ND has pretty solid coursework in Arabic, which depending on your chosen subfield, may be extremely beneficial. You might look into their graduate program in Classics or start independently researching topics, writing papers, and consulting faculty for advice on presenting at regional conferences, etc.

[toby42]

I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "distance learning program." Do you mean a program that does not require you to be in residence? Because regardless of your field or interest that will be a tough sell.

More specifically, why are you adding to your repertoire now? Like, if this inability to relocate is only temporary, I would think your best bet is to inform the faculty at your current program and see if they can't keep you in the loop about events and discussions happening. Second, language work––especially for the ANE––is always in vogue. I'm only saying that because I don't think another MA––especially a year-long one––will be super helpful for you at this point.

Good luck though~

Thank you both for the input. Yes, I do mean one that does not require residency. So yeah, I know this is a long shot, but that's why I came here; ya'll are pretty well-informed in this realm.

To answer your other question, There are two primary reasons for my desire to seek an MA in Ancient History. The first was that I thought this might better allow and equip me to teach at the local HS or community college level (if nothing else pans out) as my degrees are thus far liberal arts degrees in Bible and Theology. Ancient history (particularly ANE and its relation to developing cultures) is a fascinating field that dwells largely within the secular realm, thus giving me something other than 'churchy stuff' to present to a local college or HS. The second reason is that I also hoped something like this might help my chances for getting into a decent PhD program (while, yes, informing my studies at the same time). I was hoping to possibly not relocate (for PhD) for another two years or so and thought I might do this in the meantime. But that's even if I get accepted to a PhD program of my choice, which I may not, so this is a bit of a back-up plan as well.

Your advice about being kept in the loop by faculty is a good one, thank you. I also always attend the SBL conferences that I'm able to, and the regional ones have thus far included ASOR as well, which is helpful for this field.  As for languages, I'm only beginning to expand past Hebrew, and am working (slowly) on Ugaritic and Aramaic. So I'm sort of behind in that area as well, having focused only on Hebrew and Greek thus far. As TMT suggested, though, I may see if I can take an Arabic course before I finish up at ND. 'twould be nice.

 

Thanks again for the advice!