A brief description of the department:
Classics at the University of Colorado at Boulder offers students
personalized attention and individual instruction in all aspects of
classical antiquity. Three full-time and one part-time Latinists, three
full-time Hellenists, two historians, and three art historians and
archaeologists cover literature, art, and culture from the Bronze Age
through Late Antiquity.
Particular strengths or unique areas of interest for the department: Augustan Latin Literature; Classical Greek Literature; Social and Military Ancient History; Achaemenid, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Archaeology; Late Antiquity
Average number of new graduate students per year: We have one or two new PhD students and twelve to fifteen new MA students every year.For “best consideration for admission”, applicants should have (note that there are always special cases, and that meeting the stated numerical goals will not guarantee admission to any program):
Our criteria for admission are not as exacting as those for funding. We
would ideally like to see GRE scores of 600 and above, a GPA of 3.5 or
higher (especially in Classics-related courses), and several years of
preparation in both Greek and Latin (preferably more in at least one of the
two). We do occasionally admit and even fund people with lesser
qualifications, especially if they have focused interests in one area and
have significant language preparation in that area but not in the
other--e.g., a Greek historian with excellent Greek language and Greek
history but little knowledge as yet of Latin.
Approximate percentage of incoming students given full funding: We fund approximately one-half of our students: almost all of our PhD
students, and about one-third of our incoming MA students.
Number of guaranteed years of funding: PhD students are usually guaranteed full funding for four years. We
generally guarantee funding to incoming MA students for two years, as part
of their initial offer. Occasionally we are able to offer additional
highly-qualified MA students funding for a second year, even if they were
not funded for their first year of study.
Out of those years, number student will be expected or required to serve as TA, RA, or the like: Most of the funding we offer is through TA-ships. We also submit students'
applications to the competitive pool for University fellowships and
generally win one to three of those per year. Those fellowships tend to be
for one year only for MA students and two years for PhD students, which we
follow with guaranteed teaching positions. On top of the stipend students
earn for teaching, we offer our funded students additional fellowship money,
usually between $1000 and $5000 per year. We also have provided a semester
fully funded through a dissertation-writing fellowship to advanced PhD
students to assist them in finishing their theses.
PhDs and MAs awarded since January 2004: Including this year, we will have produced 3 PhDs and 59 MAs since January 2004.
Major changes anticipated in the department over the next few years, if any:
We do not anticipate major changes in the next few years, after this year's
hire of a new professor in Greek literature to replace a departed colleague.