one of my super powers is worrying
Apr. 7th, 2011 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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)Tell me if you want me to stop throwing in my ยข2 about this at any time, btw.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 04:23 pm (UTC)I get antsy when universities say things like "you need reading knowledge of a language to get out of the grad program, but we'd really like it if you had it coming in, and if you're in one of these areas, we'd like you to have started getting a working knowledge when you apply, and you'll have a better chance of getting in if you do." (That's paraphrased off the UW's page.) Which, like, what does that even mean?
At least the classics programs are straight-forward: "you need three to four years of one language and two to three years of the other to even be considered. Goodbye!"
Thank you for the advice. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-07 07:29 pm (UTC)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)+1 IAWTC
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 04:27 pm (UTC)Anyway. One of the things I keep telling myself is that not every applicant (probably most applicants) don't have the resources to do summer programs, and they probably get accepted to grad schools anyway. And yet. AND YET. Like I said, my super power is worrying.
But aside from my Etruscans prof, no one's said, "Do languages instead of archaeology."
Thank you for the advice!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 09:40 pm (UTC)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)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 04:34 pm (UTC)*has a moment* But what if my entire package is TERRIBLE? (...at least I interview well? I think?) Er, don't mind me, I have anxiety issues and am aces at worrying.
My worry about language requirements is that sometimes they're terribly unclear, especially with history departments. (Classics departments are generally pretty straightforward, though.) Here's the UW's page:
*crosseyes* What does that even mean?
Thank you for the advice! Sorry for the panic!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 09:46 pm (UTC)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 10:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 11:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 11:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-07 10:09 pm (UTC)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)In short, if they like your package, they will help you make it work.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 04:37 pm (UTC)Thank you for the advice!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-08 04:36 pm (UTC)She didn't say it in so many words; it was something along the lines of, "You have to get the languages as early as possible so you can start doing research as early as possible, and you can be a great teacher but you won't get tenure if you don't do research!" Which...I'm still a junior in university. I think I have to get a doctorate before I start worrying about tenure. (She just got tenure last semester though, so I can see how it might be on her mind, though.)