gods, do I *want* to give myself a nervous breakdown?

[bedlamsbard]

*breathes into paper bag* In order to meet most grad school requirements, I'm going to need preparation in another language that I'm not going to get if I don't (a) take an intensive course next summer or (b) start right now or (c) both. Which means I need to either drop a class and take a language (German and French don't fit, so Greek), or overload and take a language. Gods, I really don't want to overload, but I really don't want to drop a class either -- what's Tulane's overload policy? (Here, for the 2010-2011 school year.) Okay, I could overload, but could I actually handle it?

Also, if I did, my schedule would look like this, which isn't too bad:



I'm really, really worried about not having the languages to get into grad school, which is not at all helpful to my state of mind, and which is in turn bleeding over into my worry about what the fuck to do my senior honors thesis on, because I'm worried that I won't be able to do something historical or classical because I can't pull from primary sources without using translations. I mean, even in that case, the most comfortable thing for me to do would be to do my honors thesis on something related to English lit, because I'm much more comfortable doing literary analysis than I am historical analysis, even though I like historical analysis more. But the problem comes in the fact that I don't want to go to grad school for English lit, and also that anything I could do from the period that I can read it in the original (more or less) from I don't have the historical context for, which bothers me. AGH. *bangs head into desk*

*breathes* Okay, I have, like, four days. I will possibly try and go to Greek on Monday, to get a feel for it, and then I will set up meetings with my academic advisor and my two major advisors (and also find out if I'm down as a classics major; I filled out all the paperwork and sent it in and stuff, but it's not showing up online so I'm not sure if it actually went through), and then I shall panic. Well, panic more. There's always UNC's post-baccalaureate program in ancient languages, although, oh god, money.

Comments

[sara]

Keep in mind that you can also pick up languages down the road at community college or extension programs, if that turns out to be a barrier to grad school apps. I've been taking a Particularly Obscure Language at community college for the last year, and it's been a really good experience (I don't want to go back to grad school, I'm doing this as professional development and because I've been underemployed and this keeps me from losing my noodles.)

[bedlamsbard]

I keep trying to tell myself, but I've gotten really good at panicking at a moment's notice (which, sadly, not a marketable skill).

[sara]

To help you perspectivize: I have a cousin my age who finished his BA (in Psychology), worked for five years in technology, and then decided he thought med school was a good idea.

He is now, several years later, doing his residency (he spent about a year taking additional classes before med school). You can pick up languages, extra training, even an entire major (or its equivalent) through concurrent enrollment, community college, extension classes -- and it's all transferable into graduate programs. No panic! *GRIN*

(I am also really good at panicking at a moment's notice! Which no, does not pay, though it helped me jack up a job interview earlier this year, alas.)

[bedlamsbard]

As I mentioned below, as the Chair of the Classical Studies Department at Tulane told me, her big "secret" is that she was -- gasp! -- an English major.

*breathes* Panic! Maybe I'll burn out all my adrenal glands early so I can be perfectly calm during finals!

[aella_irene]

*hugs*

[bedlamsbard]

Trying to be calm, trying not to panic unnecessarily! Which I probably am!

[aella_irene]

You will be fine! You are fantastic! Remember how you did Latin in the summer break this year? You can do this.

[bedlamsbard]

Yes, but now I can't take it up in the fall! Which is where some of the panic is coming from!

[somnolentblue]

Chances are that you'll have a chance to acquire reading knowledge of languages in grad school; most of them have programs for the summer and whatnot (Greek, Latin, and a modern one?). Srsly, I wouldn't worry about not having five languages going in. Yes, classics is a bit more specialized and they require more languages, but most of us can't acquire ALL the languages before going any more because high school and undergraduate programs just aren't geared that way.

I know someone who took her Greek and Latin as a postgrad; she did her undergrad in Environmental Science but went to grad school in classics. You're going straight through, which is a bit different, but there are options. I came out of undergrad with some Greek and Latin (classics major), but I didn't really take French until the summer between undergrad and grad via Middlebury.

If you're looking at Middlebury's summer intensive programs (you mentioned German and French, both of which they offer), apply as early as possible. They have, or at least used to have, *really good* financial aid, but it's first come first serve so you need to apply as soon as applications open up. Start haunting their website in January.

[bedlamsbard]

In theory I am aware of this. In actuality, panic attack. (Randomly, the chair of the Classical Studies department at Tulane's big secret is that she was an English major, as she confided to me in somber tones. This seems to be fairly common, actually.) What hasn't been helpful is looking at all the admission requirements for both history and classics departments in a number of different schools -- most of the history departments on strongly recommend reading/translation level in one language coming in, but some say flat-out that you need two coming in (seriously, Harvard? Seriously?). And the classics departments seem to be more strict; I know Tulane wants you to have 3-4 years of college level Latin or Greek and 2-3 years of the other. I don't know how strict anyone actually is on that sort of thing, but... *sighs* I will talk to my professors when I return to campus! They too will probably tell me to stop freaking out!

Oooh, thanks for telling me about Middlebury. That looks -- seriously impressive, and somewhat alarming. (The idea of doing an immersive language program freaks me out. I like English! So much! English is my baby!)

[somnolentblue]

Middlebury is something I had moments of absolute hate for when I was doing it, but it was absolutely worth it and, in retrospect, it was awesome.

Also, contact the grad chair or a prospective advisor or somesuch in fall of your senior year. Often the requirements on the internet don't quite match of to expectations of reality. I think my program said that entering grad students in medieval history needed to have something like 3+ languages *going in* (Latin + 2 modern, German and French maybe?), which was absolutely not true. (Additionally, reading knowledge is an, ummm, flexible term; it can mean anything from relatively fluency within your field to the ability to pick your way through an article with the aid of a dictionary and grammar book and identify the main nouns and verbs.)

[bedlamsbard]

GYAH. *breathes, paper bag* I shall do that. I am mostly looking at history programs, which are less initially strident than the classics programs, but I like the classics programs! And the rare medieval studies programs I've looked at! (Dude, if I could figure out which one I wanted, that would be great. History, I think.) And talk to my advisors at Tulane, they shall probably be helpful, hopefully.

Can I ask what school you went/go to?

[somnolentblue]

Wow, late reply is late. If you want to follow this up a bit more, send me a PM; I'd be happy to talk to you about my unis in a slightly less public setting. (If not, that's totally cool.)