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Prospective Students

 

The University of California, Berkeley, is regarded by many as the premier public university in the world, and its Department of Ancient Greek & Roman Studies has been for some time recognized as one of the outstanding departments in the field, known for its distinctive blend of philological rigor and theoretical adventurousness.  Most faculty members are affiliated with at least one other department or  program on campus (e.g., Anthropology, Art History, Comparative Literature); connections with the Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology (AHMA, aka "The Group") are especially strong.  Our students benefit from this culture of interdisciplinarity and are encouraged to explore what the university has to offer and to connect with faculty and students beyond the department.

The department is committed to developing students as teachers as well as scholars.  There is a departmental pedagogy course for first-time Graduate Student Instructors and students receive ample guidance and advice all along the way, both from the faculty GSI supervisor and from more experienced graduate students.  Every student has a chance to teach both language classes and sections of our lecture classes (e.g., Mythology, Introduction to Greek Archaeology) and there are also opportunities to teach in the summer.

We typically have about 30 enrolled graduate students; when students with classical specialties in (e.g.) Comparative Literature and AHMA are taken into account, the number increases to about 35. In recent years students have come to Berkeley from a wide range of institutions in the US (public and private, colleges and universities) and beyond (e.g., Canada, the UK, Italy). At present the graduate body is fairly evenly divided between women and men.

The Berkeley campus commitment to increasing the diversity of its graduate student population and the Department of Ancient Greek & Roman Studies strongly encourages applications from first-generation and historically underrepresented groups. We are committed to ensuring that all members of our community feel supported and included; more information on our efforts in this connection may be found here.

We offer two graduate programs, in Classics and Classical Archaeology (for other related programs, see the section entitled “Related Programs” below):

Classics

The Graduate Program in Classics provides a thorough preparation in the fundamentals of classical scholarship while encouraging intellectual inquiry and the development of original research. The Ph.D. program is designed to be completed in 6–8 years: 2 years attaining the M.A., 2–3 years completing preliminary Ph.D. requirements, and 2–3 years writing a dissertation. Students who enter with an M.A. normally need 2 or 2 1/2 years to complete preliminary requirements and a total of 4 or 5 years to complete the Ph.D.

One distinguishing feature of the program is that it requires two proseminars (normally taken in the first two years): an introduction to the tools of philology (including topics such as papyrology and textual criticism) and an introduction (tailored to Classics) to literary and cultural theory. In addition, students take courses in at least three different sub-fields (e.g., literature, philosophy, history, archaeology/art history). 

Students who enter without the M.A. obtain the Berkeley M.A. with an emphasis in either Latin or Greek. The emphasis determines the area of the M.A. exams in translation, literature, and history and the language in which competence in prose composition must be shown.  At the Ph.D. level there are translation exams in both Greek and Latin. A reading knowledge of German and French or Italian must also be demonstrated. Upon completion of these requirements, the student takes an oral qualifying exam; the writing of the dissertation follows.

Classical Archaeology

The Graduate Program in Classical Archaeology is intended to ensure that its students are fully competent in Greek and Latin and have a good understanding of historical method as well as a thorough training, including experience in fieldwork, in Greek and Roman archaeology. The holder of a Ph.D. should be qualified either for a major museum post or for university teaching (up to senior undergraduate level in the ancient languages and in ancient history, and at all levels from elementary to graduate in large areas of ancient archaeology and art history).

The program is designed to be completed in 6-9 years (including time spent abroad): 2-3 years attaining the M.A., 2-3 years completing preliminary Ph.D. requirements, and 2-3 years writing a dissertation.

The Ph.D. program in Classical Archaeology requires coursework in Art History and Classical Archaeology, satisfaction of requirements in ancient languages and in ancient history by either coursework or examination, and a written general exam followed by the oral qualifying examination. A reading knowledge of German and French or Italian must also be demonstrated. The writing of the dissertation follows. Every student shall, if possible, spend at least one year as a regular student of either the American Academy in Rome or the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

Students who enter without the M.A. are required to obtain the Berkeley M.A. in Classical Archaeology. This degree requires coursework, demonstration of a reading knowledge of one modern foreign language, and the writing of a short M.A. dissertation. Coursework done at the M.A. level fulfills requirements for the Ph.D. as well. Every student normally takes a one-semester proseminar introducing key topics and methods of the field.

Related Programs

The interdisciplinary Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology offers degrees with major and minor fields drawn from Near Eastern history, art and archaeology, Greek history, Roman history, classical art and archaeology, epigraphy, ancient law, and religion. Applicants are expected to have sufficient language training to undertake advanced work in at least one ancient language.

The Department of Comparative Literature has a strong classical component. Students of literature and literary theory may study Greek and/or Latin literature as a major or minor element of their program.

For information about either of the above, please write to the Graduate Advisor of the relevant program.

For specialization in Ancient Philosophy, there is a joint program involving faculty and courses in the Departments of Ancient Greek & Roman Studies and Philosophy. Students who may wish to pursue this option should apply to either Classics or Philosophy, as appropriate, and will receive a Ph.D. in Classics or a Ph.D. in Philosophy.

Applications are submitted electronically through the Graduate Division's online application website at http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/grad_app.shtml. The online application is available in early Fall.

The application deadline for Fall 2025 admission is December 17, 2024. Please note that this deadline applies not only to your application materials but also to the application fee: for your application to be considered, you must either pay the fee or file for a fee waiver by this date.

Applications are read by an Admissions Committee of 4-6 faculty members, including the Graduate Advisor and the Equity Advisor, representing a variety of specialties and interests. We look for the following (different committee members weigh these elements differently):

(a) preparation in Greek and Latin. To thrive in our program, you will need to arrive at Berkeley with substantial preparation in both languages; this usually means a full year of introductory language study + three additional semesters in each language, plus two additional semesters of more advanced reading in either Greek or Latin. Applicants in Classical Archaeology are expected to meet the same minimum preparation standards as those in Classics.

An applicant with an M.A. is expected to offer substantially stronger preparation in at least one of the languages, since the Committee will be judging such an applicant against a real or notional pool of other M.A. students and not against students with only a B.A.

(b) general preparation. The committee values various forms of additional preparation such as: extensive reading in one or both languages; reading knowledge of modern languages (particularly German and/or French or Italian); courses in disciplines relevant to Classical Studies such as ancient history and archaeology; courses in adjacent areas such as literary theory and methodology.

(c) academic distinction. The committee considers overall GPA, GPA in junior and senior years, and GPA in Classics courses, emphasizing the last two, especially on the last.

(d) (for international applicants) competence in written and spoken English. International applicants should submit a TOEFL or IETLS score unless their undergraduate or previous graduate work has been carried out at an institution where the language of instruction is English.

In addition to your transcript(s) and (if required) TOEFL IETLS score, which will provide us with the information listed above under "criteria," you will need to provide:

(a) three letters of recommendation. The most useful letters are written by faculty who know you well, admire your work, and can be specific about your achievement and promise. The contacts for letters of recommendation will be entered by you during the online application process. Recommenders will be contacted via email to submit their recommendation online.

(b) statement of purpose. The committee would like a written statement explaining why you are interested in graduate work in Classics, what kinds of research questions you have found most engaging, and/or what projects you envision pursuing during your graduate career. Please do not list accomplishments that appear elsewhere in your application; tell us why you want to spend a portion of your life studying Classics—and why in our department in particular. The statement of purpose is also the appropriate place for you to address any weaknesses in the dossier.

(c) personal statement.  This is your chance to tell us anything about yourself and your experience that will help convey what you personally bring to the field.  We are especially interested in learning about any challenges and obstacles you may have overcome and about your contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academy and your community. 

(d) writing sample (ca. 10-15pp. double-spaced). This could be a paper written for a course or a portion of a senior honors thesis. This sample should show you at your best and give us an idea of the kind of writing and thinking you are capable of. We want to see how you engage with the primary materials (texts, objects, etc.).

(e) Greek and Latin reading lists. Please list works read in Greek and Latin (not in translation), specifying which sections you have read or roughly how much of the work you have read, e.g., Aeneid 1 and 4, Sophocles OT (entire); Greek lyric (selections in Campbell).

The Department is usually able to fund three to five entering students each year. We are committed to equity in funding and (so far as this is within our control) offer the same level of support to all students in the program, whether they are teaching or on fellowship.

Our support package comprises two initial years of fellowship, a third year of mandatory teaching (“Graduate Student Instructorship”), and thereafter a mix of GSIship and departmental and university fellowship. In the third year and beyond, summer support is a mix of summers of fellowship stipend and summers of GSIship. Students who are accepted with an offer of funding can count on being supported throughout their time in the program (up to eight years) as long as they make satisfactory progress.

Most students entering without the MA complete the Ph.D. program in six to eight years; the current typical distribution for a seven-year degree is six or eight semesters of fellowship and six or seven of teaching. Because the demand for fellowship and GSIship varies from one year to the next, it is impossible to say in precisely which semesters after the third year a student will be supported by one as opposed to the other, but the department makes it a high priority to create equity between all of our students in the distribution of fellowship and teaching semesters over the course of their time in the program.

Students at the dissertation stage receive two semesters of fellowship support (the “Dissertation Completion Fellowship”) from the Graduate Division; these semesters must be used before the end of the eighth year. Our students have also applied to and received campus-wide and external funding sources such as the Ratliff Fellowship in Classical Antiquities, the Townsend Center for the Humanities Dissertation Fellowships, and the Mabelle McLeod Lewis Fellowship.

Students who decide to enroll at Berkeley without any initial support should be aware that they can only count on receiving two years of funding: one in the form of the mandatory GSIship (usually in the third year), the other in the form of the Dissertation Completion Fellowship (contingent on advancement to candidacy before the eighth year). While GSIships sometimes become available, the Department can only commit to supporting those students who were offered funding packages upon entering the program. Students contemplating enrolling without an offer of funding from the department should consult with the Head Graduate Advisor.

Students are required to act as Graduate Student Instructors (the formal title of a teaching assistant) for two semesters, usually in the third year of the program. GSIship is also an important source of financial support for students beyond the third year, after which students are supported by a mix of fellowships and semesters of GSIship. Teaching experience is an essential part of graduate education, and significant and broad preparation in teaching has been a major advantage for our PhDs when they go on the job market. There are two kinds of teaching roles beginning GSIs will likely receive in a given semester. One is as the instructor of a first-year Latin section; in teaching one of these, the GSI takes responsibility for all material presentation, exam development, and tutorial work outside of class, though with the guidance of a faculty member. The other is as discussion section leader in one of the Department’s lower-division lecture courses such as “Introduction to Greek Civilization” or “The Classic Myths”; in these assignments, GSIs coordinate closely with the faculty member teaching the course in conducting discussion sections, developing assignments, and grading and commenting on exams and papers. All first-time GSIs take the department’s semester-long pedagogy seminar, which covers language and section teaching. More advanced GSIs may be able to teach introductory Greek, intermediate language courses, and lower-division lecture courses in epic or tragedy.

The Department also offers summer courses, including introductory literature and culture courses and Summer Language Workshops in both Greek and Latin. These are usually staffed entirely by graduate students.

The University is committed to the ongoing diversification of our communities and supporting all of our community members; current initiatives can be viewed here. 

The graduate body (about 10,000 students) is ethnically diverse and represents a wide range of national and international places of origin.  Our undergraduates are also a diverse group.  Most of them are from California, but most other states and nations of the world are also represented. The University of California is the highest tier in the state’s public higher education system, and we view the chance to teach these exuberantly gifted students as one of the attractions of our graduate program. 

The Berkeley campus is a lovely park-like setting enhanced by glades, plazas, and a wide variety of architecture, including some graceful examples of the Beaux Arts style. The campus is surrounded on three sides by residential and commercial neighborhoods of the city of Berkeley, a lively part of the conurbation that stretches along the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. The fourth side rises into the Berkeley hills and a regional park. The climate is temperate year-round, with a pleasant alternation of cooling fog and bright sunny skies, and an even level of moderate to low humidity. Severe smog is rare in San Francisco Bay Area and especially near Berkeley, which is directly exposed to Pacific winds entering the Golden Gate.

Public transportation serving the campus area is good. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system operates trains that provide direct access to downtown Oakland (adjacent to Berkeley on the south) and under the bay to San Francisco. Buses provide access from the campus area to many intermediate destinations. Most of the cultural and recreational resources of the Bay Area are thus accessible by public transit. These include, apart from the museums, theaters, sports arenas, and concert halls of Oakland and San Francisco, the local resources of the campus, which offers a wide range of athletic and cultural events and facilities (many either free or discounted for students), and of the city, noted for its abundance of fine ethnic restaurants, its bookstores, cinemas, repertory theater, and its unparalleled range of musical offerings. There is an excellent network of hiking, bicycling and horseback-riding paths in the East Bay hills.

The housing market is tight and relatively expensive, but with adequate time and help from the campus housing service, new students do find suitable lodgings to start with, and once established in the area many graduate students seek houses to share in small groups and otherwise take advantage of the graduate student network.

The local airports are Oakland International (which is slightly closer) and San Francisco International (which boasts more non-stop flights and more international flights). Both are well served by public transportation.

The Berkeley Library possesses one of the largest collections in North America and is old enough to have an excellent historical coverage of books and periodicals in the field of classical studies. The center of activity for most graduate students is the Art History/Classics Library, located on the third floor of Doe Library. This includes a seminar classroom, two rooms of bookshelves and study-tables, and a hallway study area with computers and printer. The Classics rooms contain a reserve collection of the most commonly used Classics and Classical Archaeology texts, periodicals, and reference materials. Students also have access to numerous other library services and branches, such the Graduate Service and the Bancroft Library (rare books, manuscripts, some Tebtunis papyri, etc.).

The Department is located on the seventh floor of Dwinelle Hall. Its facilities include faculty, staff, and GSI offices; a graduate student lounge; a multi-use lounge shared with the Department of Rhetoric; the Nemea archive room; a conference room; and copy and mail rooms.

Three research centers associated with the Department provide many opportunities to graduate students.

The Sara Aleshire Center for the Study of Greek Epigraphy has a research collection and funding for graduate students and faculty to pursue studies in Greek epigraphy.

The Center for the Tebtunis Papyri offers opportunities for training in papyrology and publication opportunities, as well as graduate student research assistantships and financial support for attending conferences related to papyrology and for participating in excavations in Egypt.

The Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology, which consists of the Nemea Excavation Archives, housed in 7125 Dwinelle Hall, and the Nemea Archaeological Center in Nemea, Greece, promotes teaching, research, and public service centered on the University of California excavations at Nemea, Greece and its surrounding region.

The Department also owns an extensive study collection of ancient coins, most of which are the gift of Henry Lindgren.

Opportunities for archaeological fieldwork and post-excavation study experience are readily available. The Department sponsors the Nemea Center Research Program and Excavations, in addition to annual seasons of research, publication preparation, and small-scale test digs under the direction of Prof. Kim Shelton of the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology. Prof. Shelton also directs excavation and study in Mycenae at Petsas House. Material from both sites are also available for dissertation research.

Prof. Ted Peña has ongoing projects in Italy, including Pompeii. The Center for Tebtunis Papyri has sent students to participate in digs at Umm-El-Breigat (Tebtunis) and Soknopaiou Nesos in Egypt. Students have also gained experience at Dhiban, Jordan (under Prof. Ben Porter of Near Eastern Studies), and at Morgantina (Sicily) and Butrint (Albania), and often gain positions in the year-long or summer programs at the American School of Classical Studies and the American Academy in Rome.

The academic job market for PhDs in Classics, as for the humanities in general, is very challenging. In the face of that, Berkeley candidates have continued to do quite well on the job market in the past decade. PhDs since 2010 hold tenured and tenure-track positions at the American University of Rome, Brown University (x2), Cornell University, Florida State University, Gettysburg College, Grand Valley State University, Harvard University (x2), Indiana University, Kalamazoo College, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, UCLA, the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Williams College.

The Department's placement committee holds a job search orientation meeting every fall, provides advice on all aspects of the job search, reads and gives feedback on draft application materials, and organizes mock interviews and practice job talks. The Department provides a travel subvention for each candidate to attend one joint meeting of the Society for Classical Studies and Archaeological Institute of America.

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