Fall 2017 Applicants

[Thyestes76]

Hi terraaurea

 

I am from Cyprus myself, and I am applying for a PhD in Classics, mainly at Unis in the California area, I hold a BA Classics from Kings College London and an MA from UC Irvine, as well as a law degree from Germany. I am interested in narratology, and Roman law

[Argikeraunos]

Hi all! I'm a secondary Latin teacher and a recent MA grad in comp lit/classics looking to get back into academia. My interests are primarily in Homer and Classical Athens as well as Vergil on the Latin side, and I specialize particularly in comparative/philosophical approaches (especially psychoanalysis and Hegelian philosophy). Classics is a tough field for a comparativist but now that I have the MA I'm hoping I'll be more successful than when I failed to find a program last time! 

I'm applying to Harvard, Brown, Boston University, and Princeton for classics and Yale for their combined Classics/Comp Lit programs. I know this is a heavy list but it is driven more by geographical concerns than anything - I'm from the northeast and would like to stay, for now. 

Good luck to you all!

[terraaurea]

@Thyestes76Hello Thyestes76! Where in Cyprus are you from? I've dug in Athienou and spent a little time at the Larnaca museum. I've visited all around the island though and have been to CAARI in Nicosia a handful of times. I'm afraid my experience in Roman law is limited to reading about half of Pro Caelio (Cicero). 

[terraaurea]

@ciistai and @likeavirgil I'm glad to hear about that for publications. I thought about entering a linguistic anthropology paper for publication at my university's Anthropology organization, but this semester got way too hectic with applying to graduate programs. I want the first thing I publish (someday!) to be as good as it can be, and something that's a little more conducive to what I am researching in the long-run. I have my hands full enough as it is with this Honors senior thesis that I need to finish this spring. 

@ciistai I do have a quick question about IPCAA. Do you know when people start to hear back, and in what way? Looking at gradcafe I see a variety of things from phonecalls, to emails, to mail, etc. Also, what is the prospective student weekend like? I'm super curious and can't find any info on it anywhere. 

[pro Augustis]

20 hours ago, terraaurea said:

So far I've applied/will apply to: Umich-Ann Arbor (IPCAA, PhD), UCLA (Cotsen Institute, PhD), University of Cincinnati (Classics, PhD), Cornell (Classics, PhD; second choice CIAMS MA), UTexas-Austin (Classics, PhD), Brown (Joukowsky, PhD), Florida State (Classics, MA), Colorado-Boulder (Classics, MA), Boston University (Archaeology, MA), and maybe University of Arizona (depends on if I hear back from anyone before the Feb 15th deadline). 

All of the programs are so selective, and there are so many wonderful applicants, so I feel really overwhelmed. I have a double-minor in French and Latin, will have 4 semesters of Greek by the time I graduate, and will have 2 semesters of German. I've done a field school over a summer in Cyprus, and came back to Cyprus this past summer for a study season. Even then I feel so anxious because I don't have any publications and I only have 5 semesters of Latin total (it seems like many people have studied it since they were in the womb and I am jealous!). I know my profs will write me wonderful letters because I've gotten to know them well, but they are realistic with me and don't lie when they say that even very competitive applicants get turned down or waitlisted...

P.S. my interests are in mainly Roman provincial archaeology and GIS/spatial analysis. I also still have a sweet-spot for Cypriot archaeology because I've grown attached to it over the last two years. 

I am glad to see that you applied to Texas, as I think your interests in provincial archaeology could be very well accommodated here. My interests are generally on the more textual side of things, but I have in the semester that I have been here seen fellow students and faculty doing fascinating things re provincial and frontier archaeology. As for publications, I don't think that you have to worry. I certainly don't have any yet, nor does the average applicant. 

[ciistai]

3 hours ago, terraaurea said:

@ciistai and @likeavirgil I'm glad to hear about that for publications. I thought about entering a linguistic anthropology paper for publication at my university's Anthropology organization, but this semester got way too hectic with applying to graduate programs. I want the first thing I publish (someday!) to be as good as it can be, and something that's a little more conducive to what I am researching in the long-run. I have my hands full enough as it is with this Honors senior thesis that I need to finish this spring. 

@ciistai I do have a quick question about IPCAA. Do you know when people start to hear back, and in what way? Looking at gradcafe I see a variety of things from phonecalls, to emails, to mail, etc. Also, what is the prospective student weekend like? I'm super curious and can't find any info on it anywhere. 

Will send you a private msg later this evening to answer the second question (the short answer is that it's actually awesome). As to the first - I rec'd an email on January 14th last year about my interview which was for the following month. From what I understand, many rejections were mailed out in late January. Can elaborate more in my private message later

[terraaurea]

1 hour ago, ciistai said:

Will send you a private msg later this evening to answer the second question (the short answer is that it's actually awesome). As to the first - I rec'd an email on January 14th last year about my interview which was for the following month. From what I understand, many rejections were mailed out in late January. Can elaborate more in my private message later

Awesome, thank you! The sooner the better with some of these apps--it's more nervewracking waiting than anything.

[Thyestes76]

@terraaurea I am actually based in Nicosia, I hope you enjoyed Cyprus! 

[the gadfly]

On 1/2/2017 at 4:25 AM, FlosVeterisVini said:

Good luck to all! Following this post because I will be going through this process next year. (Umich junior)

@the gadfly I believe we met at the graduate school information session! 

Ah, of course.  Hopefully I will have some insight to share as a successful applicant.

On 1/10/2017 at 7:44 AM, Thyestes76 said:

Hi terraaurea

 

I am from Cyprus myself, and I am applying for a PhD in Classics, mainly at Unis in the California area, I hold a BA Classics from Kings College London and an MA from UC Irvine, as well as a law degree from Germany. I am interested in narratology, and Roman law

Not that the sub-field is huge, but where within narratology and classics to your interests fall?  My thesis on Herodotus I is somewhat informed by narratology and reader-response criticism.  Interested to hear where you are applying--my interest in the area is best represented in my application to UCLA, where Kathryn Morgan works on Plato's narrative.  

 

Here's to speedy admissions decisions...

[terraaurea]

5 hours ago, Thyestes76 said:

@terraaurea I am actually based in Nicosia, I hope you enjoyed Cyprus! 

Awesome! I loved it both times I went! Nicosia was one of my favorite places to visit. Some of the programs I've applied to have people who work on Cyprus, so if I were to be lucky enough to go to any of those places I'd have an excuse to go back again for archaeology, which would be soooo amazing. 

[Thyestes76]

14 hours ago, the gadfly said:

Ah, of course.  Hopefully I will have some insight to share as a successful applicant.

Not that the sub-field is huge, but where within narratology and classics to your interests fall?  My thesis on Herodotus I is somewhat informed by narratology and reader-response criticism.  Interested to hear where you are applying--my interest in the area is best represented in my application to UCLA, where Kathryn Morgan works on Plato's narrative.  

 

Here's to speedy admissions decisions...

I also applied to UCLA, and mentioned Kathryn Morgan, but UCLA is far to competitive for me. I have applied to several in the California area. 

I have been reading the work of Irene de Jong, Mike Ball, Jonas Grethlein etc. At the moment I am reading again,  Cicero, prose composition, history, trying to refresh everything, as it has been a while since I was last at school

[the gadfly]

9 hours ago, Thyestes76 said:

I also applied to UCLA, and mentioned Kathryn Morgan, but UCLA is far to competitive for me. I have applied to several in the California area. 

I have been reading the work of Irene de Jong, Mike Ball, Jonas Grethlein etc. At the moment I am reading again,  Cicero, prose composition, history, trying to refresh everything, as it has been a while since I was last at school

That sounds like good reading.  Emily Baragwanath is another scholar to consider, if you haven't yet, in the realm of classics/narratology (though she also incorporates other branches of criticism such as reader response).  Her big work involving theory is on Herodotus, but her approach is innovative and quite good.

It's cool to hear of another applicant interested in narratology.  Perhaps, with some luck, we will get the chance to have this discussion in LA.   

[Thyestes76]

@GadflyThanks for the information! Yes, who knows, though I dont believe that I will be accepted into UCLA, I am set my hopes more for UCSB and USC, I was already in contact with UCSB, the faculty strikes me as vibrant and very dynamic, and they have made new hirings with important scholars, such as Helen Morales. I would be very lucky to get in!

My other interest is Roman law, as I have studied law in Germany, and took papers in Roman law, I am very interested in Cicero, and the influnces of the Stoa

Edited January 12, 2017 by Thyestes76

[Thyestes76]

@terraaureathe next time you are in Cyprus feel free to contact me, I am very interested to hear about your work, though I am from a different field entirely

I have spent some time at UC Irvine, where I did an MA some time ago, and I would love to return again to Southern California, for more studies

[terraaurea]

Has anybody ever had any problems with page requirements for applications? I just turned in my app for the University of Cincinnati and their page requirement is 20-30 pages, but I've never had to write something that length for undergrad in Classics (in fact, when I've told my profs about this requirement they're kind of flabbergasted). If I turned a 20 page paper in to most of my classes my profs wouldn't have read it, because you can write just as well in smaller portions...Cincinnati accepts PhD students straight from the BA, but also accepts students with MAs, so I don't know if that's why. Either way I turned in something that I managed to stretch to 19 pages somehow, and just mentioned in my personal statement that it's the longest thing I had Classics-related to turn in...My senior honors thesis will be 50-70 pages, but it won't be done until Spring. 

Anyone else had this problem? Did admissions ever get picky about it? 

[likeavirgil]

An old FAQ by Classical Journal says that writing samples don't need to be single papers! http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/29318-graduate-study-in-classics-faq-program-lists-classical-journal/

'Your writing sample does not need to consist of a single long paper, although it may. In some circumstances, in fact—for example, if you have several distinct areas of interest within the field—several short papers may be equally effective.'

Luckily, my favorite chapter of my thesis was exactly 20 pages, which made it an easy choice. For the schools that asked for 25 or 20-30, I also included the tiny introductory chapter. It doesn't have much in the way of argument, but I hoped that the brief descriptions of all the chapters might be a good way to show some breadth/variety. (And the writing was a little catchier.)

Did anyone who still had pages to go consider filling space with, e.g., a table of contents (if your writing was an excerpt of a longer work)? Or using your remaining pages to include some small sample of something unrelated but still interesting?

[terraaurea]

@likeavirgilUnfortunatly the upload-system wouldn't let me put up more than one paper. I suppose I could have put two papers in one word document, but it didn't come to mind at the time...dang! Either way I managed to stretch the paper I turned in to 19 pages without writing anything else (nobody should notice the 2.5 spacing...), but I still mentioned in my personal statement why I uploaded that one. I have a linguistic anthropology paper I could have uploaded, but the style of writing is so drastically different from what I write for Classics, so it may have seemed strange for them to read, I feel. This is so tough, ugh!

[ciistai]

13 hours ago, terraaurea said:

@likeavirgilUnfortunatly the upload-system wouldn't let me put up more than one paper. I suppose I could have put two papers in one word document, but it didn't come to mind at the time...dang! Either way I managed to stretch the paper I turned in to 19 pages without writing anything else (nobody should notice the 2.5 spacing...), but I still mentioned in my personal statement why I uploaded that one. I have a linguistic anthropology paper I could have uploaded, but the style of writing is so drastically different from what I write for Classics, so it may have seemed strange for them to read, I feel. This is so tough, ugh!

I'm honestly quite convinced they only skim those anyway, so don't feel too bad Though, at the same time, I can't confirm this, it's just a suspicion... 

[terraaurea]

5 hours ago, ciistai said:

I'm honestly quite convinced they only skim those anyway, so don't feel too bad Though, at the same time, I can't confirm this, it's just a suspicion... 

I hope so. I just want to fall to my knees and shout to the heavens "I know how to write!" and "The Analytical Writing is the only score on the GRE that I did really well on!". Pump my fist up at the heavens and await the wrath of the Grad school gods. 

[likeavirgil]

!!

There's now an IPCAA interview post on the Results page. They're on schedule, it looks like!

(Relatedly: does anyone know whether IPGRH follows a similar timeline?)

[terraaurea]

2 hours ago, likeavirgil said:

!!

There's now an IPCAA interview post on the Results page. They're on schedule, it looks like!

(Relatedly: does anyone know whether IPGRH follows a similar timeline?)

Oh boy, that makes me so anxious because I haven't gotten any emails about interviews...I would think they would send all the emails out at the same time? 

Sadly I'm not sure about IPGRH's timeline. 

 

[pro Augustis]

2 hours ago, likeavirgil said:

!!

There's now an IPCAA interview post on the Results page. They're on schedule, it looks like!

(Relatedly: does anyone know whether IPGRH follows a similar timeline?)

Last year I got a request for an IPGRH skype interview on 1/7 and an invitation to the campus visit on 1/25. 

[ciistai]

9 hours ago, likeavirgil said:

!!

There's now an IPCAA interview post on the Results page. They're on schedule, it looks like!

(Relatedly: does anyone know whether IPGRH follows a similar timeline?)

IPGRH meets separately from IPCAA when it comes to deciding whom to invite, though our prospectives weekend is always the same weekend. Sometimes they meet earlier, other times they meet later. As pro Augustis mentioned, he had an interview prior to prospectives weekend which seems to mean two rounds of interviews; IPCAA does not do this.

[Archaic_Smile]

I'm the IPCAA interview. It was an invitation to the weekend on campus, sent over email by the prof I was in touch with last year (when I was unsuccessful in the process). Very excited and nervous! So happy to make it even this far this year.

[the gadfly]

11 minutes ago, Archaic_Smile said:

I'm the IPCAA interview. It was an invitation to the weekend on campus, sent over email by the prof I was in touch with last year (when I was unsuccessful in the process). Very excited and nervous! So happy to make it even this far this year.

Congrats!  I'm in my fourth year (UG) at UM, so if you have any questions about Ann Arbor or (the philologists in) the department, I'd be happy to chat.