Medieval Studies Competitiveness?

Graduate School
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<p>Hello, I'm just finished my first year at Vassar College with a 3.58 gpa so far. I'm looking into top Medieval studies programs in the US or abroad. What are the best and what are their standards? </p>

<p>My stats thus far... first semester: 3.46, second sem: 3.71, shooting for a 4.0 next semester and to maintain it for the next 3 years. Currently a medieval/renaissance studies major (interdepartmental program). </p>

<p>This year, I also got a fellowship that enabled me to do an archaeological dig in Spain this summer. I plan to continue doing digs and research, and hopefully an internship at a museum.</p>

<p>How much can the prestige of my school help me? It's a top liberal arts college.</p>

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<p>What kind of medieval studies are you looking for? History-based, art-based, anthropology-based, literature-based...? It makes a huge difference in the relative competition.</p>

<p>In a lot of cases, the best Medieval Studies programs at the graduate level will either be terminal M.A./certificates or "second major" concentrations within a PhD in another field. If you're talking about one of the few Medieval Studies specific programs, I don't have much information on them (other than that it was highly recommended to me to pick a broader field, as it would make me more employable in the long run); I know more about lit-based programs.</p>

<p>So what are you looking for, other than "Medieval Studies"?</p>

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<p>Salve from another VCer!</p>

<p>The poster above is correct, and is asking you precisely the right questions. The PhD programs you consider will depend completely on the discipline you choose (art history, lit, etc.).</p>

<p>In terms of professorial positions, history and lit both have terrible job markets for the near and not-so-near future. Museum studies would be more promising, if you have interests in that area.</p>

<p>However, medieval studies within the context of Religion (European Religious History) has a decent future employability outlook right now, imho (again, assuming you wish to become a professor), so if this is a possibility for you, I would strongly advise you to take some upper-level classes in THEORY in the study of religion, and look toward Religion grad programs later on.</p>

<p>This advice would apply no matter what discipline you choose: take upper level courses in theory in that discipline. Languages (French, German, Latin and any other languages that bear on your specific area of intended subspecialization, like Greek or Spanish) will also be important when you apply to graduate programs.</p>

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<p>I second on the languages and narrowing focus aspect. I would also recommend going to Livejournal's ApplyingtoGrad community- I've seen a LOT of medievalists. Apparently, it's very competitive if you don't have the languages lined up by the time you apply for PhD- Latin, German, French...</p>

<p>I did an interdisciplinary minor in Jewish Studies. Fortunately, I figured out pretty quickly that I did not want to do the religion or biblical or archealogical aspect because they bored me. I liked literature but I loved history (and that was my major). So when I looked around for a MA program in Jewish Studies, I searched for professors strong in literature and history so I can enjoy my classes and get advisors to prepare for history PhD. The schools I ended up applying (for PhD too) were all very strong in history. Yes, there was maybe one or two other programs that were just as good but they were more religion focused.</p>

<p>So take a look at your classes, and decide which ones were your favorites and figure out why. Then let that guide you to choosing programs for your graduate degree.</p>

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<p>I'm mostly interested in manuscript studies (paleography) and field archaeology. But literature as as well. I love languages. I'm taking German, and 2nd year Latin this year and I've got 4 years of high school French and plan to take upper level French courses next semester. </p>

<p>If possible, I'd also like to learn Arabic at Middlebury one summer.</p>

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<p>Once you've gone through the rigmarole of narrowing your interests down, you can get to the business of answering the question you posed here.</p>

<p>Ask your professors.</p>

<p>I know it's a lame answer and what you're probably looking for is some sort of statistical data, like the average GPA and GRE scores of admitted students, how many apply and how many are admitted and how many are funded (if you want a basic idea of that, try Peterson's grad search; it isn't perfect, and probably isn't very accurate, but it's one of the few sites I've seen that offers hard numbers). The truth of the matter is, however, that none of it is relevant.</p>

<p>Your professors will be in the best position to help you answer these questions. Firstly, they're -doing- what you want to be doing. Who better to ask? Secondly, they're tapped into the field; they're aware of who's "hot" and who's not (can't believe I just said that, but it's true), what schools might GENERALLY have faculty your interests might sync with, where your unique experience would get you in. </p>

<p>The graduate admissions process is not a "crap shoot" in the sense they mean for undergraduate admissions at, say, Harvard. "Crap shoot" in graduate admissions responds to the idea that there is something VERY specific that the department is looking for, and it changes every year, and there is nothing you can know about it and no way to prepare for it*.</p>

<p>Do you need a good GPA? Good recommendation letters? A good writing sample, if you do literature? A sparkling Statement of Purpose? Of course. But what will be "good enough" and what will be "right" will depend entirely on who you are, what you want to study, and where you're applying.</p>

<p>Even a 60%+ admission rate won't trump that.</p>

<p>(* This isn't strictly true, of course. There are always ways to find out. I just mean they don't publicize it very well outside of their departmental website.)</p>

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<p>I know this is a pretty old post (by CC standards), but we actually have a lot of the same interests. I, too, am a Medieval Studies major, and I think I'll double that with either Linguistics, French, or Archaeology. I also love languages and palaeography. That's cool about your dig next summer - I've just started getting interested in Archaeology, and while I'd love to work on a dig, I have no idea how I'd go about doing that! </p>

<p>Phew. Anyway, I don't know if I want to go to grad school, but it might be a necessary evil given my amorphous interests and tentative career aspirations. </p>

<p>I would second using LiveJournal as a resource. Make a post in applyingtograd.livejournal.com or medievalstudies.livejournal.com (you might get more results in the latter). Generally people are very open to helping out their younger counterparts.</p>

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<p>You can focus on medieval in any traditional department; however, there are also Medieval Studies Programs at Cornell, Yale, Rutgers, Toronto, and elsewhere, and those allow you to focus on (say) History or Literature but to get an interdisciplinary training that includes paleography, Latin, and other items as well as traditional disciplinary study. USNews used to include these programs in its listing, but no longer does for some reason; they are alive and well and should be in students’ minds.</p>