"Depth and Breadth" of undergrad curriculum

<p>As a transfer student I will be spending a total of 3 years at my undergraduate institution and am majoring in Classical Languages and Literature. Since most people don't declare their major until the second year anyway I don't feel like I've lost much time. However because of my attempts to gain some knowledge in Greek and Roman areas of archaeology plus working with Greek and Latin literature it doesn't look like I will have shown much depth in any area. I will only have the equivalent of 10 courses in Latin (4 in language and 6 in literature), 6 courses in Greek language and literature (4 in language and 2 in literature), 4 courses in classical archaeology, and then the two courses for my honors thesis.</p>

<p>Is it common for undergraduates to have so few courses in the major when applying to graduate programs.</p>

<p>I don't understand. You will have had enough to graduate with a major in the field, correct? So why will you not have had "enough" credits?</p>

<p>Chill. You're fine.</p>

<p>Good to see you pop up again zuzusplace!</p>

<p>When you say "language" and "literature" are the literature courses "literature in translation"? If so, you <em>might</em> be a little light on the languages for the philology side of things. The programs I've looked at typically ask for one language at the intermediate level (2 years/4 semesters) and the other at the "advanced undergraduate" level for at least a year. </p>

<p>Your advisors will point you in the right direction.</p>

<p>Will you be able to get to the AIA/APA meeting in Chicago?</p>

<p>The literature courses will be in Latin and Greek, I used the term only to differentiate from the typical 4 term sequence to teach the language itself.</p>

<p>I'll have the equivalent of 3 years in Greek, 5 years in Latin (plus French for Reading and some German). I'm not sure if I want to ultimately study classical lit or archaeology, but I figured languages would be important for both (I'll probably need more arch courses if I decide to go that route).</p>

<p>I get conflicting advice from my advisors, so I thought additional opinions would be helpful.</p>

<p>Yeah, I've not "popped up" lately because I've been trying to get through the first semester at UofM.... there were times when I thought it would kill me to get through the work load for the semester and the various illnesses of my kids at the same time.</p>

<p>No, I won't be able to go to the meeting in Chicago, but one of my friends is. I'm hoping she bring back tons of fascinating info.</p>

<p>You're completely golden on the languages. Looking at Harvard as a proxy for "top program in Classics", they're asking for:</p>

<p>"Competence in both Greek and Latin sufficient to allow the student to take courses numbered above 100 upon entering Graduate School."</p>

<p>Those 100 level courses appear to be the "advanced undergraduate" courses, i.e. the ones that come after the intermediate prose/poetry pair. </p>

<p>For archaeology they ask for that level in one language and "above the beginning level" in the other.</p>

<p>Really... Nobody at the undergrad level has much depth simply because there is so darn much to learn. If you develop a specific interest that might carry over to grad. school, that's where your honors thesis will come in. </p>

<p>As you probably already know, be sure to save all your papers since your honors thesis won't be ready in time for grad school apps. You'll likely have a few 10-15 page papers in the upper level language classes and (if you're lucky) some 15-20 pagers in upper level history/archaeology classes. Be sure to attend all the colloquia and such you can manage and once you find a professor or two you like try to take one or two additional classes from them with an eye to using them for LoRs.</p>