PhD in the Classics

[Adelais Valerius]

I want to get my PhD in the classics, because I'm just in love with the history of those civilizations. what should I study? Latin/greek or both, how should I go about doing it?

[docoflove1974]

Some of this was discussed in this thread

 

What I advise anyone who thinks they are interested in a PhD program (regardless of discipline) is that they sit down and answer a few questions:

• What is it that you want to study? (You don't have to have a specific topic in mind, but at least you should know a general area of study (Republican Rome, Ancient Sparta, etc.) that you are interested in learning more about.)
  
• Are you prepared to give up 4-8 years of your life to study? Yes, you probably will have opportunities to work on campus (teaching, research, etc.), but realize that your life while you're working on a PhD is truly dedicated to the program that you're in, the professors that you work with, and probably working on papers and other academic endeavors.
  
• Do you work well in a hierarchy? It's amazing sometimes how many Masters' students enter thinking that they're going to go onto a PhD, and then realizing how much of a hierarchy there is in academia, and often get frustrated.
  

As for finding a PhD program for your needs, part of this is knowing your discipline...knowing the professors at given universities who work on your topic of interest. Take tours, email/talk with professors AND grad students in order to get a feel for the campus environment and what is expected of you.

 

There are several of us who either have PhDs or have started PhD programs on here...I'm sure that several other opinions and pieces of advice will be added to this.

Edited March 21, 2008 by docoflove1974

[M. Porcius Cato]

Both Latin and Greek are necessary for reading primary source materials on ancient Rome. Additionally, there is a vast secondary literature that is only available in German and French. Proficiency in both ancient languages as well as German would be a real asset.

 

Re: graduate programs. Choose your potential mentors first, then focus on the school. I was very lucky to have found a graduate mentor who was a good fit for my scholarly interests, but many are not so lucky. Take luck out of the equation by pro-actively identifying who will be a good fit. So, if you want to focus on the Roman Republic, identify the leading scholars working today (e.g., Erich Gruen at Berkeley), and apply there.

 

Also, ace your GREs.

[spittle]

So learn Latin, Greek, German and French. Earn a Degree followed by a Masters. Then clear your schedule for the next eight years?

Is that all?

 

I loved six form. Loads of discussion and interaction with enthusiastic and interesting lecturers and students. My friends said it was totally different after they progressed to Uni. No discussion, just sat listening to the lecturer, recording his/her voice on a dictaphone and becoming rapidly disillusiioned with it all.

 

Does this sound like a bad example of a graduate course or the normal situation?

[M. Porcius Cato]

I loved six form. Loads of discussion and interaction with enthusiastic and interesting lecturers and students. My friends said it was totally different after they progressed to Uni. No discussion, just sat listening to the lecturer, recording his/her voice on a dictaphone and becoming rapidly disillusiioned with it all.

Does this sound like a bad example of a graduate course or the normal situation?

 

Graduate classes in the US typically involve very little lecture and a great deal of discussion. If students read material reliably, all classes could focus on the evaluation and discussion of materials.

[docoflove1974]

I loved six form. Loads of discussion and interaction with enthusiastic and interesting lecturers and students. My friends said it was totally different after they progressed to Uni. No discussion, just sat listening to the lecturer, recording his/her voice on a dictaphone and becoming rapidly disillusiioned with it all.

Does this sound like a bad example of a graduate course or the normal situation?

 

Graduate classes in the US typically involve very little lecture and a great deal of discussion. If students read material reliably, all classes could focus on the evaluation and discussion of materials.

 

I'd add that there's usually quite a bit of what I call 'practicum'...not only discussion but paper-writing, all utilizing the information found in the readings and the personal interests of the students. But I must say that in Europe it can be different; in Spain, for example, there's quite a bit of lecture, even in graduate courses. I've heard similar stories elsewhere.

[Klingan]

I'm working myself up the road with classical studies. Know that it is not easy to succeed.

 

I'm at my 4th semester at Uni and I'm finishing my candidate exam (3 years normal time) as soon as all courses are finished that I'm on right now. I've also written my magistrate essay (One more year for the exam)

 

Here's what I've taken so far:

 

Culture and society of antiquity: A (One semester)

Culture and society of antiquity: B (One semester)

 

Culture and society of antiquity: Candidates essay (One semester, urban water systems. Published as Xerxes. Unfortunately it's in Swedish.)

Culture and society of antiquity: Magistrate essay (Half a semester, the technology behind a roman bath. Published as Xerxes (Swedish))

 

Archeology, introduction (One semester)

 

Experimental archeology (One semester, ongoing, working with a comparison of Vitruvius castellum and the one from Pompeii concerning how the water flows)

 

The Etruscans (ongoing)

 

I plan on taking a course partly in Athens next semester on ancient Greek water supplies. I will also study Latin B and possibly a short course about ancient Egypt.

 

Later I plan on continuing by taking one or two courses in Greek and possibly in German even as I must say I really don't want too.

Edited March 23, 2008 by Klingan

[Adelais Valerius]

What do you polan on specializing in? Anything? or just the classical civilizations?

[Klingan]

What do you polan on specializing in? Anything? or just the classical civilizations?

 

Roman urban water technology. I have a vague idea on how to implement it today. We'll know if it'll work in ten years

[M. Porcius Cato]

What do you polan on specializing in? Anything? or just the classical civilizations?

Roman urban water technology.

 

Cool!

[sullafelix]

I loved six form. Loads of discussion and interaction with enthusiastic and interesting lecturers and students. My friends said it was totally different after they progressed to Uni. No discussion, just sat listening to the lecturer, recording his/her voice on a dictaphone and becoming rapidly disillusiioned with it all.

Does this sound like a bad example of a graduate course or the normal situation?

 

Graduate classes in the US typically involve very little lecture and a great deal of discussion. If students read material reliably, all classes could focus on the evaluation and discussion of materials.

 

I'd add that there's usually quite a bit of what I call 'practicum'...not only discussion but paper-writing, all utilizing the information found in the readings and the personal interests of the students. But I must say that in Europe it can be different; in Spain, for example, there's quite a bit of lecture, even in graduate courses. I've heard similar stories elsewhere.

 

It can be quite disillusioning for students if there is no discussion I agree, but as someone teaching undergrads in the UK I would have to say that discussion has to come from the students too. Sometimes I am banging my head against a wall trying to get people to speak in seminars. Here we generally have lectures and seminars in the first year and only seminars in the second and third years. My own graduate study has been all research but it is possible to start grad study in a taught programme.

 

As to what languages for PhD I would say don't kill yourself trying to do everything at once. If you want a career in academia afterwards then you will also need to have done other things while a PhD student. You need to organise a conference, give a paper at one too and preferably get an article published in a decent scholarly journal. You will also almost ceratinly need to work to support yourself during this time. If you do any teaching the preparation will take you ages when you first start out.

 

I have been at it nearly three years (and yes I am nearly done) and I have got Latin and Italian so far. I intend to do the Greek intensively after I finish and I will almost certainly learn German over the next three years too. But none of that matters if you don't finish your thesis. It is the thesis above evrything that matters, learn the languages as you go along - NOT before you start out or you will never start.

 

Hope that helps

SF

[docoflove1974]

It can be quite disillusioning for students if there is no discussion I agree, but as someone teaching undergrads in the UK I would have to say that discussion has to come from the students too.

 

Tell me about it...if I don't get any participation, I threaten the students with jumping jacks

[Klingan]

We do not have too much discussions, but we tend to start them by our self after the first year.

[spittle]

I would wonder if these students were in the right place if they cannot even summon enough enthusiasm to offer comments and join in discussions.

After years of workplace chat about beer and football I loved the lively debate of the classroom.

 

Surely thats what its all about?

 

As for learning languages I have just started Polish lessons and I am taking one to one lessons using a skype connection and headset. The possibilities that technology provide are amazing.

I enlisted on a beginners class at a local college but it was cancelled due to lack of interest at the last minute so I had to look for other ways of learning.

 

If your a little more confident you can meet study partners at myhappyplanet.com

Say your a native English speaker and you want to learn German you'll meet a German wanting to learn English and help each other out.

I'm not sure how successful you'd be with Ancient Greek or Latin but its worth a try.

[Maty]

I would wonder if these students were in the right place if they cannot even summon enough enthusiasm to offer comments and join in discussions.

After years of workplace chat about beer and football I loved the lively debate of the classroom.

...

Say your a native English speaker and you want to learn German you'll meet a German wanting to learn English and help each other out.

I'm not sure how successful you'd be with Ancient Greek or Latin but its worth a try.

 

Indeed - and you might have to pick a version of Ancient Greek. I struggled for a year with Thucydides and then discovered that most of the texts I needed were in demotic Greek anyway. As someone who still teaches ancient history (albeit over the internet) I've found one of the best ways to encourage discussion is to put people into the situations faced by ancient protagonists and ask what they would do. e.g. 'Where did Pompey go wrong? Come up with a strategy that would have beaten Caesar in Greece' works better than 'Discuss the Pharsalus campaign'. A colleague reports a discussion becoming well over-heated on the topic 'Were the Gracchi social reformers or socialists?'

 

But going back to languages, apart from the advantages of being able to read Mommsen and Herder (for example) in the original, someone who studied with me at university now has a well-paid job in the EU, not because of the topic of his thesis, but on the strength of the languages he acquired in order to be able to write it.