<p>Does Anyone know of any good programs?</p>
<p>There's lots, but what they are depends on what you want to study. Early or late medieval? Religious, social, political history? Europe? Middle East? Asia?</p>
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<p>Well I'm not too sure on when or what about the Middle Ages I'm going to study, but I do know I want Europe.</p>
<p>At this point in your college career, just focus on doing well in your courses. There's no point in picking out possible graduate schools before you've even completed your freshman year.</p>
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<p>I've been thinking about what you wrote Addwit, and I'm not sure I agree. Do not the different graduate schools have different language requirements for admission? If a first-year college student knew in advance that the graduate school s/he was thinking of applying to demanded three languages upon entry, s/he would possibly come up with a different list of college courses to take than if all graduate schools in mind required only one or two languages.</p>
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<p>Most medieval programs require three languages upon entry - Latin, French, German. That's not particular to any program, it's a general rule. Other than that, there is absolutely no way to pick a program without having well-fleshed out interests. If you look at the questions I asked before, anyone who doesn't have answers to those cannot possibly pick a program. Most history grad schools have medieval history, but the details are what narrows it down.</p>
<p>Addwit is right. Focus on undergrad. Take languages if you feel you'll need them. But asking about specific grad programs - it's way too soon.</p>
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<p>Coming from someone who does late antique/medieval art history...</p>
<p>Schools you should think about -
(which basically means <em>people</em> you should think about - who do you read? who inspires you, reveals higher levels of thinking about your discipline? you should be writing your statement letters to individuals, not institutions, and all the better if your profs know at least a few of them first hand)</p>
<p>But obviously the Ivy Leagues..<br>
- Princeton - although as I understand it Peter Brown and John Gager aren't t taking students anymore, Elaine Pagels and Slobodan Curcic form the backbone of a nice department. i've heard that princeton is focused on their undergraduates more than on their graduates - someone have an opinion on this? i'd be interested to know...</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Yale - Jacqueline Jung, Bentley Layton, Robert Nelson)</p></li>
<li><p>NYU - tops on classics/medieval, at least by reputation, although Norman Cantor is the only one who comes to mind, I know they have a huge dept for medieval studies.</p></li>
<li><p>Penn - where I'll be - <em>amazing</em> department, classicists and medievalists oozing out of the pores of philadelphia. Robert Maxwell, Bob Ousterhout, Linda Safran, Renata Holod, Haselberger, Elizabeth Bolman, Josef Wegner, a couple more. very interdisciplinary, very collegial, college gothic campus, huge libraries set in a 19th cent version of a romanesque italian cathedral - great work environment. archaeological fieldwork opportunities abroad at every turn.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia - can only think of Stephen Murray... </p></li>
<li><p>JHU - who wants to live in baltimore? not me! but they've got herbert kessler and henry maguire, both huge assets for medieval and classics.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>so obviously the ivies... there really aren't a whole lot of other places that teach medieval history...something like 70% of instructors in medieval/classics come from the ivy league plus like courtauld (fr), oxford, cambridge. also, i know that penn has relations with jhu, princeton, nyu, columbia, temple, bryn mawr (also another <em>excellent</em> place you should investigate for medieval!).. so if you should get into any of those schools, you can move around to take classes as needed (if say, you need byzantine greek, and there's a seminar at princeton once a week, you can go if it works w/ your schedule). </p>
<p>but otherwise...</p>
<p>Toronto - they have an amazing program, which is very well regarded, full of bright and well published scholars like Adam Cohen and TD Barnes. their manuscripts library is top notch. program is very latin heavy (as most for medieval are, but theirs particularly so). Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies on campus (see the pontifical? means they get [or got] vatican money..oooooh yeah).</p>
<p>Indiana - my alma mater, has a very well regarded medieval studies program, although it doesn't offer a terminal degree, merely a phd minor i believe. but there are some excellent medievalists in bloomington: david brakke (patristics), john harrill (roman religion, new testament), diane reilly (medieval), d. deliyannis (byz/medieval), jan van voorhis (roman), eugene kleinbauer (byzantine architecture, retired emeritus, alas!), willis barnstone (comp lit, also emeritus, but still teaching), several people in romance languages... indiana has always had a strong dept for history, art history, religion, but the ancient studies/medieval there continue to grow.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr - Dale Kinney. not sure who else, but its well regarded.</p>
<p>Notre Dame - they have an old and well established medieval studies program, although i'm not sure if one should be hesitant of applying to a faith based program for medieval studies?? they might not describe themselves as such, but reading Brian Daley's work i'd have to disagree.</p>
<p>UCLA has a program which i confess i know little about.</p>
<p>hmm...
if anything else comes to mind i'll post, but for sure - apply to what you know, and what you read is what you know, so apply to people whose work you know!!! </p>
<p>and ps - on the language issue - yes, if you want to do medieval and get a job, you <em>must</em> learn the languages. in interviewing on the east coast, i was told by a laughing professor how they just disregard applicants who can't read french - its the easiest of the grad school req'd languages. if issues arise, they tend to be from the german, but you should at least have had a start in it by the time you apply, with the certainty that you'd have to finish your proficiency (probably in an intensive course for no credit) within a semester or so. and yes, for medieval, of course you'll need to know latin. </p>
<p>there's an old joke, part of the miranda warning for medieval studies as i was told 3 years ago, that says...</p>
<p>what do you call someone who finishes last in their class at law school?</p>
<p>a lawyer.</p>
<p>what do you call someone who graduates last in their class for medieval studies?</p>
<p>unemployed.</p>
<p>for medieval and classics, if you wanna be in the game, you've gotta be on top of it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
NYU - tops on classics/medieval, at least by reputation, although Norman Cantor is the only one who comes to mind, I know they have a huge dept for medieval studies.
[/quote]
Adding to this, NYU accepted a $200 million gift last year from Shelby White (:rolleyes:) to start an institute for the ancient world.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nyu.edu/academics/isaw.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nyu.edu/academics/isaw.html</a></p>
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<p>I am currently a grad student in medieval history at University of Toronto. It is an incredible program with arguably the best profs in North America. More importantly, we have the largest medieval manuscript repository in the world outside of Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris (Sorbonne). But Eusebioskos is incredibly right in stating that Toronto is incredibly language-intensive. Don’t bother applying for the PhD unless you’re fluent (and I mean FLUENT) in French, German, and Medieval Latin. The language examinations are rough. The upside? Unless you’re dissertation absolutely sucks, you get a lecturer post at an institution pretty quick.</p>
<p>Boston College and UWisc - Madison.</p>
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<p>DO NOT STUDY medieval history as a Phd program, it will lead you to a life of poverty and destitution.</p>