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!