<p>Daughter applied & denied @ 3 Grad programs (Classics Major)-Harvard, Princeton, UC. Are there procedures to determine "real" reasons for Board's decision so she is successful with her future applications ? She is Ivy league grad, PBK , & serious student, good employment history as teacher for 2 yrs. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated by this parent so I can be supportive of her efforts. Thank you.</p>
<p>Why so few applications?</p>
<p>She told me those schools had the top Classics progs. any suggestions? Rgds</p>
<p>How are her languages? My roommate and friend said that languages are the first things that professors look at before they look at anything.</p>
<p>More applications. A range of programs, including top/dream/reach/top-5 programs, great/top-15/top-20 programs, good/respected/top-30 or top-50 programs. Applying to only the top 5 or so programs is a good way to get across-the-board rejections. Don’t apply to any programs that you wouldn’t attend or that don’t have good placement, but you need a range of schools because admissions can be such a crap shoot.</p>
<p>Languages: Excellent/honors Latin,Greek, Spanish .Taught L&G last 2 yrs @ private middle/hs. Left because she wants to pursue grad school. Tnx for reply.</p>
<p>Tnx for insight & guidance. Regards</p>
<p>The real reasons for your daughter’s denials were no doubt the lack of openings in her specialty at those schools. The three schools she picked- because they are among the best, will have 50-100 applications for two- possibly three- openings at each of these top programs. When you consider that only the most serious classics students will apply for these spots, you can see that not getting in is nothing to take personally. </p>
<p>The question I have is, did she apply to the specific programs that her mentor/advisor suggested to her? Or did she research on her own, and apply to those that she felt were the best fit. The reason I ask, is that often the professors in the field know the landscape and can direct a student where she will be the most successful. If she decides to apply next year, she may want to go to her college advisor (the prof that she mentored with) and get some advice! They know people, and they know where their recommendations will get notice.
Good luck to your daughter. She sounds like a great student, and had she applied more widely instead of just to the tippy top, she probably would have been accepted somewhere.</p>
<p>My thanks to each of you for your insight,thoughtfulness & guidance. Especially appreciate that you took the time to respond. I take it there is no SOP to get the schools to divulge the basis/reasons for their decisions. I wish each of you success in your individual endeavors !</p>
<p>Correct - there is generally no way to find out why a school rejected your application. You can ask your LOR writers however - if you got far enough in the process they may have been contacted. </p>
<p>This is my experience failing to get admitted to Classics programs:</p>
<p>As a data point I went to UPenn, 3.63 GPA, 8 semesters Latin, 4 Greek, 710/700/5.5 GRE, excellent LORs from well known professors, university funded research, competitive research and writing awards.</p>
<p>What killed my chances:
Applied only to PhD programs (should have included several MA apps.)
No modern research language (French or German, preferably German)
Overly specific SOP even though I chose the programs very carefully to match my interest</p>
<p>The take-away? Classics (and related fields like Classical Archaeology) is one of the most competitive humanities out there, in no small part due to the fact that departments tend to be small and the need for graduate TAs is limited. As someone mentioned above, top programs get on the order of 100 applications (nearly all highly qualified, unlike mine) for 2 or 3 spots. A quality mid size program like the University of Minnesota gets 45-50 applications and admits 6-10 for 3-5 actual matriculations. (info here: [The</a> Graduate School : University of Minnesota : Program Reports](<a href=“http://www.grad.umn.edu/data/stats/ad/1118400.html]The”>http://www.grad.umn.edu/data/stats/ad/1118400.html) ).</p>
<p>How to improve your chances:</p>
<p>1) Take a post-bac year at a place like Penn
2) Pick up German (“reading knowledge”)
3) Send out 10-15 applications including about 1/3 to MA programs.</p>
<p>And MOST IMPORTANT: talk in depth to your LOR writers about what you need to do over the next year to become competitive - they know who got admitted and what the criteria were for this year and they’ll have a good idea where you fall short.</p>
<p>Many thanks. Just came across this website today & did not know what kind of info I would receive. You & other responders are most helpful @ this time of particular stress in the family & we are appreciative.</p>
<p>I’m also a Classics major and I’ve been looking at the requirements. Besides Latin and Ancient Greek, they expect you to know Italian, German, or French. I think the emphasis on languages is big.</p>
<p>My roommate is in Classical Archaeology. She told me that her DGS gave a 2 hour lecture of their admissions process at Michigan.</p>
<p>Languages? That’s the first thing they look at when sorting applications. If they don’t see a minimum of 3 solid languages, they automatically throw out those applications regardless of GPA, GRE, and whatever other material. The writing sample, is the last thing that they read when they finally whittle down to 10-15 students in order to decide who to accept and invite for a campus visit before making funding decisions.</p>