GRADUATE STUDY IN CLASSICS

The Graduate School of Cornell University was founded in 1909, and graduate study in Classics dates from that time. Over the years the Cornell Graduate School has developed a committee system to provide the special flexibility that allows graduate students to tailor their courses of study to suit their individual interests within the Field of Classics and other related areas.

Qualifications for Entrance

Applicants should have studied both Greek and Latin to an advanced undergraduate level (an ordinary minimum is three years of each), though students whose area of interest is Classical Archaeology may be admitted with less language preparation (see Classical Archaeology concentration). Also desirable, in most cases, is the kind of familiarity with Greek and Roman civilization in general that is provided by an undergraduate major in Classics or its equivalent. Students who have come to Classics late in their undergraduate careers should consider taking summer or post-baccalaureate courses to advance their knowledge of the languages before applying.

The Graduate Field of Classics is a Ph. D. program. Since we do not offer an independent M.A. program, students whose final goal is a M.A. should not apply. During the week preceding the first week of classes of the Fall term, all entering students take a diagnostic test, comprising a two-hour sight translation of Greek and a two-hour sight translation of Latin. The diagnostic is evaluated by the First-Year Committee, and serves to guide the Committee in advising entering students on their curriculum for the first year. If the performance on the diagnostic raises concerns about the student's ability to pass the First Year Examination (see below) or complete the reading list of his or her program of study, the Committee may require the student to take a second diagnostic at the beginning of the second term.

The Field and the Committee

The number of resident graduate students is normally eighteen.  Every discipline taught and administered in the Cornell Graduate School is organized into a Graduate Field, coordinated and administered by a Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). The Graduate Field of Classics includes not only the faculty in the Department of Classics, but also professors from other departments whose research and teaching involve them substantially in teaching and research relevant to the Classics.
The departments currently represented in the Field are: Asian Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, English, History, History of Art and Archaeology, Landscape Architecture, Linguistics, Near Eastern Studies and Philosophy. (Several members of the Field of Classics are also members of Interdisciplinary and Special Programs, such as Archaeology, Medieval Studies, and Religious Studies.) This wide representation means that instruction is available over an unusually wide range of subject matters.

Students admitted to a Graduate Field at Cornell are supervised by their own Special Committee, a group of at least three members of the given field's faculty, chosen by the individual student to guide him or her through the various stages of the chosen concentration.

In the Field of Classics, all incoming students are supervised during their first year by a First-Year Committee, selected from among the Graduate Faculty in the Field, which helps them design an initial course of study. By the end of the second semester a student should have chosen his or her own Special Committee. The committee guides the student in developing a course of study appropriate to his or her individual needs and interests, sets the general examinations, and supervises the writing of the thesis.

Financial Aid

All Cornell graduate students in Classics are admitted with five years of guaranteed support, including tuition, health insurance, as well as an annual stipend ($19,360 in the academic year 2006-7), and summer stipend after the first through fourth years ($3,225 in the summer of 2006). Two years of this support (ordinarily the first and the fifth) take the form of fellowships provided by the Graduate School. The other three years are derived from fellowships controlled by the Department and from teaching assistantships.
The Classics Department, with the support of the Graduate School, makes available from the Townsend Endowment financial support for a sixth year. This sixth year funding is awarded at the discretion of the Classics Department to students demonstrating excellent progress.
A student who seeks sixth year funding must:

1. give a dissertation colloquium to the Field in the first semester of his or her fifth year and
2. submit to the Department of Classics, no later than January 1 of the fifth year, an application that includes:
   (a) all work completed on the dissertation thus far,
   (b) a letter from the applicant justifying the need for a sixth year and detailing the work to be done over the course of it, and
   (c) a letter from the Special Committee in support of the application. Sixth year funding will normally take the form of appointment as a Temporary Teaching Assistant, or, in the case of a student who has completed the Ph.D., a Temporary Lecturer.

The Townsend Fund enables the department to offer travel grants to graduate students. We encourage students to spend some time at other universities in North America and Europe in order to study with scholars whose work would complement and enrich their individual research interests.

Degree Requirements

The Graduate Field of Classics is a PhD program. Since we do not offer an independent MA program, students whose final goal is a M. should not apply. During the week preceding the first week of classes of the Fall term, all entering students take a diagnostic test, comprising a two-hour sight translation of Greek and a two-hour sight translation of Latin (except for the Classical Archaeology concentration). The diagnostic is evaluated by the First-Year Committee, and serves to guide the Committee in advising entering students on their curriculum for the first year. If the performance on the diagnostic raises concerns about the student's ability to pass the First Year Examination, the Committee may require the student to take a second diagnostic at the beginning of the second term.

The Classics Reading List

The core of the student's curriculum and preparation consists of his or her reading list. The reading list has two parts:
(a) a common list of required texts, taken by all students (except those in the Classical Archaeology concentration); and
(b) an additional individual reading list determined by the student's Special Committee in accordance with his or her choice of concentration within Classics. Students must have completed the common list and part of their additional individual reading list (as specified by their committee) by the end of the second year (before the Q-exam).
The remainder of their individual list must be completed by the end of the third year (before the A-exam).

Requirements for the PhD (common to all concentrations, except the Classical archaeology concentration)

1. At least three years of residence.
2. Satisfactory performance on the First Year sight translation Examination, at the end of their second semester (i.e. by the end of May). This is a written examination in Greek and Latin prose and poetry; it is designed to ensure basic linguistic competence in Greek and Latin.
3. Satisfactory performance on the "Q" Examination, by the end of their fourth semester (i.e. by the end of May). This is a written examination designed: (a) to examine knowledge of the common reading list; (b) to test progress on the individual reading list (up to half of this should be completed by this time, as specified by the special committee); and (c) to demonstrate a high level of proficiency in the languages.
4. Satisfactory completion of course work required by the individual concentration (see below).
5. Satisfactory completion of the "A" Examination, before the beginning of the seventh term of residence (i.e. by the end of August). The "A" Examination is a comprehensive general examination covering the authors, fields, and subjects chosen by the student and his or her committee. These usually comprise two major areas and one minor area of study, but the requirements of the individual concentrations differ (the Ancient Philosophy concentration, for example, has one major and two minor areas). The precise format of the exam, including the distribution of written and oral components, is determined by the student's Special Committee.
6. Satisfactory performance on two Modern Language Examinations. These are written examinations, offered every semester for anyone wishing to take one. All students must demonstrate reading knowledge of (a) German and (b) French or Italian. One of these modern language examinations must have been passed by the end of the student's third year, and the second by the end of the fourth year.
7. Presentation and public oral defense ("B" Examination) of a doctoral thesis.
8. Submission of the approved doctoral thesis to the Graduate School.

The five concentrations of the PhD in Classics are Ancient History, Ancient Philosophy, Classical Archaeology, Classical Literature and Philology, and Greek and Latin Languages and Linguistics.

Application Procedure

Application forms, as well as Graduate School catalogues and additional financial aid information, can be obtained by writing to the Graduate Field Assistant, Department of Classics, 120 Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201, or contacting us via e-mail at: kn59@cornell.edu.

You may also apply for graduate study at Cornell on the web at:  http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/?p=1

Completed applications for fall admission are officially due at the Graduate School no later than January 5. But we encourage applicants to submit their forms as early as possible, preferably by mid-December, so that the Field can alert them to missing letters or documents. GRE scores are required as part of every application, and a ten to twenty page sample of written work should also be submitted.

We strongly recommend that you choose as a writing sample work that shows your ability to work closely with ancient texts in the original language. Ideally your writing sample should also demonstrate research abilities and critical use of secondary sources. If you are writing an undergraduate Honors Thesis a chapter from it would be a good choice.   If you are applying for the concentrations in Ancient History, Ancient Philosophy, Classical Archaeology, or Indo-European Linguistics it is particularly important that you submit a sample that will enable us to evaluate your work in that area.   Students from overseas whose native language is not English are required to take the TOEFL examination.

Applications are evaluated in February and March, and applicants are usually notified of their status no later than April 1st. For further information about graduate study in Classics at Cornell, write or call the Director of Graduate Studies, or Katrina Neff, the Graduate Field Assistant, at: Department of Classics, 120 Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201. Tel: (607)-255-3354 Email: kn59@cornell.edu

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revised 9/07