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Helping each other out is part of what this board is about isnt it? 🙂 I am glad I could give you some good ideas. Carey is one of the better professors I had during my undergrad. He actually seemed to care about his students and was very constructive in his criticism and grading. I took him for both my ancient and medieval military history classes for my BA. He has also written two military surveys of the ancient and medieval worlds that are excellent primers in the military technology and methods of the periods.Once again, glad I could help.I believe that if you take an independent study course you pick the professor and between the two of you hash out the topic and write a major paper. I thought about doing one on Clausewitzean theory for my undergrad but ended up taking a different class instead.
Yeah, we're going to talk about that when I call him this weekend. There's two senior independent study courses and I want to ask him how those work. Would really like to do something on the Peloponnesian War; just need to know how specific my focus/thesis needs to be. (wonder if 'why does Thucydides gloss over the religious aspects of it?' is focused enough) I might drop my European Studies minor so I can take more Ancient/Medieval history and military history courses plus I need to seriously consider taking Greek or Latin language courses somewhere, and soon.
Just spoke with Carey about a bunch of things. What a great guy and help he was. I asked him about the independent study course and what I have to do and what kind of topics. He said he would be a mentor but the only thing he suggested was to take as many classes with him that are available. He teaches ancient military history, so that's a given, and he also teaches Medieval military history. Also discussed were types of graduate programs and what I need to look for and what I should do now. He advised me to start a language, doesn't have to be Greek or Latin, but if those languages, he suggested finding a tutor. He also said I should contact history departments of local schools, and even doing now is not too early. I'm glad because now I noty only have a plan, but have directions for that plan.
I am happy to hear that you had a good talk. Like I said, Carey impressed me as one of the best professors AMU has to offer, I just wish that there more classes I could have taken from him. He teaches a lot but even better, he inspires you to look up stuff on your own.
OK, it's only been a few weeks researching this, but I'm getting sort of discouraged. Other than Brown, there are no local schools that have graduate (MA or PhD) programs in classical history. Tufts is the only one in Boston who offers this (BU, BC, Brandeis do not, although BC andf Brandeis have a classical studies program, but I do NOT want that. I want history). I've spoken with professors at URI, PC, RIC, and Brown. With Brown, I was mostly inquiring about a Greek language rather tha their history program. Professors at both PC and URI don't think that an online BA will be an issue, but they didn't rule it out either. Here's my thing with Brown. I think if I applied there, I'll be laughed at because my BA will be from an online school. But if I can get a foot in the door, then who knows. Being ideologically Leftist, I would never take a US or Modern European course from them, but how bad could a Marxist (or worse) professor be when teaching Classical Greek History? And even if the professor is acomplete Leftist loon, I can play along just to get a passing grade, unless it really goes against my principles. The positives about Brown, and I'm probably living in fantasyland here, is the prestige of an MA or PhD from there, and mostly because they have a PhD (and MA I think) program that is specifically Greek history. It may be a slim chance, but when I start applying to various schools, and if application fees are not expensive, why not Brown too? I have still not ruled out AMU yet, but I really want a graduate degree from a brick & mortar.My ultimate goal is to be a university-level professor which absolutely requires a PhD. What I found out (and if this is inaccurate, please tell me), is that I can teach at a community or junior college with an MA. If that's true, I may go that route, try to get a job in one of those schools, then continue on to get a PhD while teaching. I don't know if that's realistic or not though. Is it?
Just briefly – I don't think it would matter if you're “laughed at” at Brown for having an online degree. I think that a) it's becoming more generally accepted now and will continue this direction in the future, and b) who cares? If they laugh at you, you'll be in a better position because they won't expect much from you and you'll be able to show them who's the boss. But I really don't think that you'd have to worry about all this anyway unless you come across some really pompous student in your program with an ego problem….Yes, you should be able to teach in some schools with an MA in history. You could likely do this as an adjunct or maybe full time at a small or community college. I think that if you were doing a Phd program, you would be teaching classes on the side anyway as part of your education...some, if not all, Phd students get fellowships/funding to take classes and they need to teach as part of this.A Phd program is obviously a big investment and lifestyle decision, so it may come down to you needing to move in order to get into a program. Personally, I'm looking at the prospect of moving halfway across the country if I get into one...
I'm willing to move, even internationally if an opportunity arises after I get a grad degree. What I'd like to do, if possible, is stay in my current job and house, start off with an MA if I don't get accepted as a PhD candidate locally, and after the MA, apply for jobs in areas near a school I'd want to attend. I'm not so willing to move right now just to be near a school. It looks like my only choices locally will be an Ivy League school like Harvard, Brown, or Yale but unless they really like my writing, I ace the GRE, and get proficient in 2 or 3 languages my chances of acceptance are slim IMHO.It's not so much laughed at by students, I meant laughed at (brushed off) during the application process.
I have to agree with Phid here, online schooling is the wave of the future and just like Traditional schools they have reputations. AMU is one of the most highly respected online schools out there. A degree from AMu is not the same as a degree from Phoenix. Most B&M professors that have low opinions of online schooling have never bothered to find anything out about it and probably feel threatened by it. I can foresee a day when the vast majority of schooling is done by distance methods and it is probably not far-off, in the neighborhood of 30-40 years I would guess.From my inquiries to various schools I think you can generally get adjunct teaching positions at most schools teaching undergrad with an MA.I too, am considering pursuing a PhD but if I do so, I will do it in a traditional school. I have spoken with some of the schools here in Germany and as far as they are concerned an MA is an MA as long as the school is accredited. AMU is accredited by the same organization that acrredits many state and private universitys inluding The University of Oklahoma and Ohio State, the list is here. I want a PhD from a Traditonal scholl because I want to be able to concentrate on research and I just dont think the funding will be available in a distance program as there will be in a traditional school. I also dont want all my degrees from the same school.I would say keep looking, you have the time to research all your options before you have to decide.
