<p>My school doesn't have a classics department. What would one have to study in order to go to grad school to obtain a PhD in said subject? I'm a philosophy major --- is that a start? </p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Does your school at least offer Latin and/or Greek? I'd imagine a good knowledge of one of those would be necessary to pursue a MA. Other than that, history courses on Greece/Rome/Middle Ages might be good as would philosophy courses on the same time periods.</p>
<p>Does your school have a Religion or Religious Studies department? There's lots of crossover between Classics folks and Religion faculty who do Late Antiquity. Also, I echo the History recommendation. Usually when colleges have no classics departments, they have faculty in History who do Ancient Greece and Rome.</p>
<p>Just a note: philosophy is text-driven, while Religious Studies, History, and Classics are history-based.</p>
<p>I'm in Classics at Penn and will be applying to grad school this fall. Here's the deal:</p>
<p>You must have at least one of the languages (Latin and Greek) to the advanced undergraduate level. Realistically that means the equivalent of 2 semesters of "upper level classes AT LEAST. Ideally you'll also have the other language to the intermediate level, i.e. 2 full years. You'll also want to have as much ancient history and culture as possible. Toss in some Art History if you have time. But the languages are absolutely number 1 on the list.</p>
<p>Almost every school offers at least Latin. To get the Greek you may have to look for a summer program. Here at Penn we have a CRAZY intense program where you get two years of Greek in a single summer. Chicago and a few other places also offer these programs.</p>
<p>But wait, there's more! If you can get some language study in but need more for aplication to a higher end program a number of schools offer "post-bac" programs that include some fairly intensive language study. Not surprising, I'd recommend the one here at Penn!</p>
<p>Finally, there are a number of very fine masters programs that accept students with less than optimal language prep. and subsequently feed them into top level PhD programs.</p>
<p>If you'd like more detail, feel free to ask here or PM me.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Yea for Classics at Penn.</p>
<p>I'm an English major, but love our Classical Studies department.</p>
<p>Are you applying for a Classics Ph.D., WilliamC, or to a Comparative Literature program like Peter Struck and Emily Wilson came out of?</p>
<p>Actually, I'm aiming for Classical Archaeology. </p>
<p>My current research (I've got a poster scheduled for January's AIA/APA conference) is on the relationship of known "brothels" and other areas of commercial sex to elite houses in Pompeii. </p>
<p>It turns out that the rich guys built 'em, often at their own back doors, but wherever there was enough "worker" traffic to keep the prostitutes "productive".</p>
<p>Pompeii and the other Vesuvian cities and villas are falling apart due to hasty excavation over the last couple centuries, lack of funding, organized crime, you name it. My long term research goal is to develop a project like that at the Insula of the Menander. No actual digging - just integrating all the materials in the archives, the artifact stores, and so forth, that nobody's looked at since it was dug up.</p>
<p>here's what I want to do:</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>Sorry, completely insubstantial post: Man, just hearing about all the things to study (i.e. --- Vesuvian cities and their remains) makes me excited! </p>
<p>I just had to be an English/Philosophy major. Darn.</p>
<p>Its never too late - I've been a software engineer for 32 years and finally went back to school in 2002!</p>
<p>wow WilliamC, u r definitely an inspiration for all ages.</p>