Classics and Semitics @ GWU

How is a post-bacc different (or similar) from undergraduate and graduate studies?

Although my long absence is admittedly due in part to the pre-Turkey Day workload and the post-Turkey Day coma, it is also due to the fact that this is actually the hardest question to answer. In fact, one of the disadvantages of a post-bacc program is its rather ambiguous position, being neither an undergraduate program nor a graduate program. Whenever I tell someone what I am doing this year, I have trouble getting it across to them that this is not just a 5th year of undergrad, and that I will also not have a Master’s at the end of it.

At the most basic level, since this is a certificate program, at the end of it you theoretically get another piece of paper that, in the words of a good friend of mine, “says you know stuff.” The program is also now on your transcripts, and this proves to graduate schools that you are serious about your education, since you have already postponed your life one year in pursuit of your goal.

A post-bacc can also offer a student extra opportunities that are not necessarily available to undergraduates. As mentioned in a previous post, a post-bacc student may be able to take classes with graduates, often pass/fail. In this way a student can experience the workload and pace of a graduate-level class without all of the pressure, making the post-bacc sort of like a baby-step into grad school. A student may also get the opportunity to be a grader.

I guess that’s the last of the post-bacc series. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask away! Meanwhile, good luck on all your end of the semester activities and I promise to devote some of the holiday break, when I’m not filling out grad school applications, to thinking about what I will be posting next.

Happy Holidays!

More info you are dying to know (or at least you would be, if you knew what was good for you) about life after a Classics and Archaeology major:

What sort of a person does a post-bacc? Is a post-bacc only for someone who isn’t good enough to get into grad school?

There can be quite a variety of people who will complete a post-bacc program:
• Some of them are like me and decided late to concentrate on classics and consequently don’t have enough of either Greek or Latin (or both) to get into the grad schools they want to get into.
• Other post-bacc students are those who only applied to top-tier schools, focusing more on the reputation of the school rather than whether or not they would be a good fit at that school.
• Still others may have made poor decisions during their first round of applications for grad school. For example, one person in my program insisted on applying to schools like Michigan, even though she didn’t have experience in any modern language, which is sometimes a requirement for admission. Another student applied to schools for Linguistics, but had an Art History writing sample.
• Finally, the last group of people who are in a post-bacc (or, I should say, are in *my* post-bacc) are those that took a few years off after college before returning to school, during which time they forgot much of whatever Greek and Latin they had learned.

As you can see, you can have a rather diverse group of people in a post-bacc. Additionally, you may also find a diversity of research interests. At UCLA, for example, they specifically try to admit people with a variety of interests. Right now we have people interested in archaeology, history, and linguistics, with time periods ranging from Etruscan to Medieval.

Coming up next time:
How is it different (or similar) from undergraduate and graduate studies?

Meanwhile, I shall enjoy having Veteran’s day off for the first time in four years. Vale!

Odds are, you’ve seen the ‘300′ about five times now (give or take). Doesn’t matter–come watch it again. “THIS IS SPARTA” will never, EVER, get old.

Basically—
We’ll be having our monthly movie night this Thursday, November 8 at 8:00 pm in Corcoran 111. We’ll have something light–chips and popcorn–or you can bring your own food (though I’ll forever disavow any knowledge of it to Academic Scheduling).

Hope to see everyone Thursday!

Since I know that you have all been breathlessly waiting for the answers to the questions asked in my last post, here goes:

What is a post-bacc in Classics? Why would a person complete a post-bacc instead of just going to a community college, or doing an independent study of the languages?

A post-bacc in Classics is a program designed specifically for the improvement of a person’s knowledge of Greek and Latin. It is usually a yearlong program in which the student is required to take at least one Greek and one Latin course per semester (or quarter). The student may also be able to take other related courses.

At the post-bacc I’m attending, during the first quarter we also have a seminar which is designed to help us with applying to graduate school and to introduce us to some of the different fields of study open to people pursuing Classics. We also have opportunities to hear different lectures and we are allowed to take graduate courses, if we wish. This aspect of the post-bacc is particularly beneficial, because a student gets to experience a graduate class without actually being in grad school. It is because of opportunities such as these that a person will be better off if they complete a post-bacc, rather than studying the languages elsewhere.

What schools offer a post-bacc in Classics?

The University of Pennsylvania and UCLA are the two main schools that offer a post-bacc in classics. The programs at these schools have been around for a while, but other schools have decided that a post-bacc is the cool thing to do, and have begun to offer it as well. One significant difference between the two programs at UCLA and Penn is that Penn holds seminars in the languages specifically for the post-baccs, whereas at UCLA, the students take classes along with the regularly matriculated students (i.e. undergraduates or graduates). In fact, half the people in the second year Greek course that I’m taking are post-baccs! This aspect of UCLA’s program allows them to accept students with a wider range of preparation in the languages.

And that leads us nicely into the questions for next time:

What sort of a person does a post-bacc? Is a post-bacc only for someone who isn’t good enough to get into grad school?
How is it different (or similar) from undergraduate and graduate studies?

Until then,
Have a great week!

Promised in the “About Us” section of this blog is an attempt to keep you, dear reader, informed about what “our former and current students are up to.” In order to help our dearly beloved authors keep their promises, I shall subject you little tidbits about what I, as a recent recipient of a BA in Archaeology and Classical Humanities, am doing now.

Having decided a little late in my undergraduate career that what I really wanted to do was study classics, I graduated with only one year of Greek under my belt. Thus, with decreased hope of getting into a good classics MA/PhD program, I decided to do a post-baccalaureate program in Classics this year. Consequently, until I come up with something more interesting to say, I will spend a few posts answering general questions about what a post-bacc in classics is, why it is, etc. drawing on my own experience, of course (suggestions welcome!).

Coming soon:
What is a post-bacc in Classics?
What schools offer a post-bacc in Classics?

Until next time - Vale!

If so, come to the Classics (and Archaeology) Major Lunch and Advising Fair on Monday November 5th from 11am-12:30pm and have some pizza and get your registration hold lifted! If you are new to the department, now is the time to meet other majors or minors and faculty.  Learn as well about our new Semitics Minor (Hebrew and Arabic)–perfect for those of you headed of to do Near Eastern Archaeology!

Prof. Cline will be  there to sign your registration forms.