About the Program

Study leading through the MA to the PhD in Classical Archaeology is intended to ensure that 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. Degree recipients 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 including graduate instruction in large areas of ancient archaeology and art history.

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Admissions

Admission to the University

Uniform minimum requirements for admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
2. A minimum grade-point average of B or better (3.0);
3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g. Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, 230 on the computer-based test, 90 on the iBT test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
4. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants who already hold a graduate degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees as evidence of broad research training, not as vocational training certificates; therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to take up new subject matter on a serious level without undertaking a graduate program, unless the fields are completely dissimilar.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may only apply to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Any applicant who was previously registered at Berkeley as a graduate student, no matter how briefly, must apply for readmission, not admission, even if the new application is to a different program.

Required documents for admissions applications

1. Transcripts:  Upload unofficial transcripts with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcripts of all college-level work will be required if admitted. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) you have attended. Request a current transcript from every post-secondary school that you have attended, including community colleges, summer sessions, and extension programs.
   If you have attended Berkeley, upload unofficial transcript with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required if admitted.
2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants can request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This requirement applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and most European countries. However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a U.S. university may submit an official transcript from the U.S. university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement: 1) courses in English as a Second Language, 2) courses conducted in a language other than English, 3) courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and 4) courses of a non-academic nature. If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests.

Admission to the Program

Competition for admission to graduate study at Berkeley is extremely keen. In recent years there have been from 60-80 applicants per year, and the Department’s admission quota has been around 12 to 16 admits, with the expectation that 5 to 7 new students will enroll each fall. While some applicants are denied admission for lack of adequate preparation or for undistinguished academic records, a substantial number each year who are judged capable of doing good graduate work at Berkeley are denied admission through a process of competitive ranking. The Department's policy is to try to limit enrollment to the number of students who can be fully supported through a normal graduate career.

Applicants are judged by an Admissions Committee of 5 to 7 faculty members, including the Graduate Advisor. The Committee represents a variety of specialties and interests, and different members assign somewhat different weights to the various criteria for admission, which include the following:

1. Preparation: In Greek and Latin. Whether the applicant has a major in Greek or Latin or Classical Languages or some other subject, the committee is looking for, as a minimum, language preparation more or less equivalent to what is received in the undergraduate major at Berkeley itself. This includes a full year of introductory language study, three additional semesters in central authors or texts of each language (e.g., Homer [3-4 books], Plato [a short dialogue], Greek drama [1 complete play], Vergil [3-4 books], Republican prose [40-50 pages], Horace [30 poems]) plus two additional semesters of more advanced reading in either Greek or Latin. In practice, a student with two years of study in the weaker language is usually considered marginally prepared.
   An applicant with an MA is expected to offer substantially stronger preparation in at least one of the two languages, since the Committee will be judging such an applicant against a real or notional pool of other MA students and not against students with only a BA.
   Elements of additional preparation which reflect favorably on an applicant include: courses in Greek or Latin composition; especially extensive reading in one or both languages; reading knowledge of modern languages (particularly German and/or French or Italian); courses in ancient history, classical civilization, ancient and world literature in translation, philosophy, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and other disciplines that are helpful to the broad range of Classical Studies.
2. Academic Distinction: The Committee considers overall GPA, GPA in junior and senior years, and GPA in Classics courses, with emphasis on the last two and especially on the last. Successful applicants in recent years have usually offered a junior/senior GPA in the range of 3.6 to 4.0, with many above 3.8. A student who has floundered in other fields earlier in his or her undergraduate education and then performed well upon discovering Classics is not necessarily at a disadvantage because of the earlier record, although the Committee is duly impressed by candidates who have been able to achieve excellence in many disciplines.
   The Department has had many students from overseas and in evaluating academic distinction makes every effort to make appropriate allowances for the differences in grading and examination systems. Successful applicants from Great Britain usually have a first class or a high second class degree.
3. Letters of Recommendation: A minimum of three letters of recommendation is required. The Committee values letters that are frank and specific as to the applicant’s achievement and promise. If possible, recommenders should make comparisons with other students they know have applied to or enrolled at Berkeley. 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.
4. GRE Scores: GRE scores are normally required by the Classics Department of all students receiving a BA in North America and of those overseas students whose native language is English or who have studied for one or more years at a university at which classes are conducted in English. Applicants are strongly advised to take the October GRE, since results of later exams may not arrive in time to be given due consideration in the admission and fellowship competition. There is disagreement on most committees about how important and relevant the GRE scores are, and some members do not attend to the quantitative score.  GRE scores older than 5 years old will not be accepted. Code 2609 (Classical Languages) should be used to have GRE scores reported to the department by ETS.
5. Statement of Purpose: The Committee appreciates clearly-written and cogent statements of purpose explaining why applicants are interested in graduate work in Classics, what they hope to accomplish, and where their eventual specialization may lie. The statement of purpose is also the appropriate place for the applicant to address and explain any particular weaknesses in the dossier.
6. Writing Sample: The Committee finds it helpful for candidates to submit a sample of scholarly writing, such as a paper written for a course or a portion of a senior honors thesis. (A candidate who wishes to submit an entire honors thesis should submit a summary with the application and indicate its most representative sections.) Writing samples are submitted as part of the online application. Members of committees differ in their treatment of writing samples. Some refer to them only if they judge the previous five criteria insufficiently indicative.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Curriculum

Courses

Classical Archaeology

Faculty

Professors

Anthony W. Bulloch, Professor. Language, classics, Greek literature, myth and religion, ancient metrics, ancient Greek culture and society.
Research Profile

Giovanni R. F. (John) Ferrari, Professor. Classics, ancient philosophy, Greek culture, ancient poetics and rhetoric.
Research Profile

Mark Griffith, Professor. Gender and sexuality, Greek literature and performance, Greek and Roman education, Greek tragedy and comedy, Hesiod and wisdom literature, ancient music.
Research Profile

Leslie V. Kurke, Professor. Classics, Greek literature and culture, archaic Greek poetry, Herodotus.
Research Profile

Francois Lissarrague, Professor.

Donald J. Mastronarde, Professor. Classics, Greek literature, Greek drama, Greek textual transmission, Greek literary papyrology, Greek palaeography.
Research Profile

Ellen Oliensis, Professor. Latin Literature, Ovid.
Research Profile

J. Theodore Pena, Professor. Roman archaeology, Roman and pre-Roman Italy, city of Rome, Pompeii, ancient economy, ceramic analysis, material culture studies.
Research Profile

Associate Professors

Frank Bezner, PhD, Associate Professor. Medieval Latin literature; Medieval literary culture; Neo-Latin; Intellectual history.
Research Profile

Kathleen Mccarthy, Associate Professor. Classics, Roman literature and culture, slavery.
Research Profile

Trevor M. Murphy, Associate Professor. Ethnography, classics, Roman prose authors.
Research Profile

Nikolaos Papazarkadas, Dphil, Associate Professor. Greek epigraphy, Greek history.
Research Profile

Dylan Paul Sailor, Associate Professor. Rhetoric, classics, Greek literature, Latin Literature, ancient Greek, Latin, historiography, ancient Rome, ancient Greece.
Research Profile

Assistant Professors

Sara Magrin, Assistant Professor.