bedlamsbard: animals: a cougar standing on a tall rock (girlyb_icons) (a high place (girlyb_icons))
[personal profile] bedlamsbard
Differing opinions on what I should do this summer continue to differ. *sighs* I started polling professors on whether I should go the archaeology summer school or do languages; so far I've asked my Age of Reformation prof (specialty: medieval Spain) and my Etruscans & Early Rome prof (specialty: archaeology of imperial Rome, I think in the first century AD?) and gotten two different answers. OF COURSE.

I really really want to go to the Cambridge program. I think it would be awesome and a great experience; I haven't had the chance to go abroad during my undergraduate career and I probably won't get to otherwise before I graduate. It's not just fieldwork which I expect I'll be doing during grad school anyway (if I get in, oh my god); it's a lot of sites over a pretty broad period of time, which is, heh, what my undergraduate program has been about: a vast diversity of geographical and temporal difference. I've taken classes in everything from prehistoric Italy to the Byzantine Empire to medieval England to Reformation Germany and a heck of a lot in between, and I've liked nearly all of it. (Well, except when we got to sixteenth- and seventeenth- century missionaries in Asia and the New World, which bored me nearly to tears. And the Russian Revolution. But that's way out of my period.)

I think it would be fun. And it's something that I wouldn't get to do in the U.S.; sure, I guess I could hold off and apply next summer, but right now I know I can afford it. I don't know if I'll be able to next summer. And nobody's said yet that it's actually going to hurt a graduate school application, especially for a history program. (In comparison -- the summer language program that I'm looking at costs roughly the same, sans airfare but plus housing in Seattle. The program my Etruscans prof recommended is in the same range, but I'd also have to deal with finding housing in NYC, which, no, my worst nightmare is living in New York City.)

I really want to do the program. But I don't want to do it if I think it's actively going to hurt an application for grad school; I'm worried that not doing a summer language program is going to do that. I mean, maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I'm way overestimating how hard it actually is to get into graduate school. Am I actually going to be judged for something I didn't do when I had the opportunity to do so? How serious are grad school admissions pages when they say you don't need to come in with advanced study in multiple languages? If I can't get into graduate school, what the hell am I going to do with my life? (I gotta be honest here, the place I'm going with this is, "Apply for library school.")

*worries* (By the way, I have to pay the deposit within the next week, so...yeah. I have to make a decision pretty soon.)

ETA: Wait, did my Etruscans prof actually imply that if I did not do summer language classes, I would not be able to get tenure at a hypothetical future date? I...think she did.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-07 06:28 pm (UTC)
starlady: a circular well of books (well of books)
From: [personal profile] starlady
I think most programs are fairly serious when they say that advanced language study isn't necessary--languages can be learned during graduate school (she says, as she picks times for Chinese and German next semester), after all, and at least in history, or at least in my program, admit committees are looking for proof that you have an interesting approach to the material, which is going to come from your writing sample and personal statements. The Cambridge thing won't hurt an application, either, and passing up a language program for it is understandable. And if living in NYC is going to make you miserable, the language skills level-up is not going to be worth it. If you have some familiarity with the required languages (Latin and Greek, I'm assuming?) and a good application otherwise, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tell me if you want me to stop throwing in my ยข2 about this at any time, btw.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-07 07:29 pm (UTC)
pinesandmaples: A rough half of a brown coconut on a green leaf. (theme: gaping maw)
From: [personal profile] pinesandmaples
Do the damn program. You can take language classes later. You have no guarantee that you will be accepted for the program next year, but you were accepted this year.

Everyone I know in top-tier grad schools did not do summer language programs. They did other things during the summer that related to their own interests, and they were accepted to the grad schools they wanted for lots of liberal arty things.

How serious are grad school admissions pages when they say you don't need to come in with advanced study in multiple languages?

Pretty serious. Hell, their GPA requirements are only a suggestion based on the strength of your package. My wife got a full ride to a PhD program at your school despite having a GPA lower than what they wanted because of her GRE scores, recommendations, and general experience.

Okay, actually, if you are applying to a program to get a PhD in Spanish, you probably need a pretty good grasp on the language. Otherwise, I think you are solid.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-08 03:28 am (UTC)
highlyeccentric: Manuscript illumination - courtiers throwing snowballs (medieval - everybody snowball)
From: [personal profile] highlyeccentric
Do the damn program. You can take language classes later. You have no guarantee that you will be accepted for the program next year, but you were accepted this year.

+1 IAWTC

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-08 09:40 pm (UTC)
pinesandmaples: Half a brown coconut. (theme: half shell)
From: [personal profile] pinesandmaples
In general, I'm a fan of the "go with your gut" mode of action. Despite its interest in waffles, your gut seems to be quite excited about the Cambridge program.

Most of my hard decisions were made by my digestive system. (When I phrase it that way, it doesn't sound very appealing, does it?)

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-07 08:36 pm (UTC)
snacky: (Default)
From: [personal profile] snacky
I really really want to go to the Cambridge program. I think it would be awesome and a great experience

Do the program. I agree, it would be a great experience.

Am I actually going to be judged for something I didn't do when I had the opportunity to do so?

No, they want to know about all the things you DID do! The summer program will be one more part of your entire package. They don't know about the things you DIDN'T do! There's a million things you didn't do, so it would be impossible to judge you on those.

How serious are grad school admissions pages when they say you don't need to come in with advanced study in multiple languages?

Going on the grad school I worked for, they're pretty serious about what they say are the requirements. If it was necessary, they'd let you know it. And even with that - the biggest dealbreaker for the grad school I was at was a language requirement, and they were flexible on it, if you had other things going for you.

I mean, I sat in the grad admissions meetings, and it basically boiled down to the faculty presenting the students they wanted to admit, and saying, "Well, s/he's exactly what I am looking for in this field, I want to work with them, and we can work around [this language deficiency] or [that lower GRE score]."

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-08 09:46 pm (UTC)
pinesandmaples: A white flower in front of half a brown coconut. (theme: distracted)
From: [personal profile] pinesandmaples
*crosseyes* What does that even mean?

4 semesters of mostly As and Bs in a language that will help you out. Since your uni has really rigorous language requirements, you are already ahead of the game here. (For example, if you really love the history of Peru enough to get a PhD in it, you should probably have some Spanish under your belt.)

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-08 11:04 pm (UTC)
pinesandmaples: Text only; reads "Not everything will be okay, but some things will." (theme: au naturel)
From: [personal profile] pinesandmaples
Dude, the fact that you can take Greek during undergrad still blows my mind.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-07 10:09 pm (UTC)
lady_songsmith: owl (Default)
From: [personal profile] lady_songsmith
Do the program. It'll look good on a grad school application, and the language thing can be worked around - the program will probably have "ways to satisfy x deficiency" if you ask them.

Also in ETA, if your prof actually did say that, they are more full of shit than a constipated bull.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-04-07 10:15 pm (UTC)
lady_songsmith: owl (Default)
From: [personal profile] lady_songsmith
Here, personal anec-data for comparison: Grad school program I went to had a stats requirement. I had never taken a stats course in my life - it wasn't in the Calc-track I went through in HS, and I was doing more interesting things (number theory!) on the rare occasions I had room for math courses in college. I got in, I didn't sign up for the undergrad-level stats class suggested as the 'makeup' course, I didn't sit the proficiency exam that was also offered as a substitute (I *meant* to, it just conflicted with things, and I forgot) -- and somehow no one noticed this until it came time to fill out my graduating requirements sheet, at which point I confessed all to my program director. Who said, "wait, didn't you *TA* the introductory stats lab this year?" and signed the damn excused form.

In short, if they like your package, they will help you make it work.

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