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!