What will I learn?
The Classics Department of the University of Arizona offers graduate study leading to the Master of Arts degree in Classics. Students may emphasize Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Classical Philology (i.e., the study of Greek and Latin languages and literatures), Latin Pedagogy, or Latin Philology. This degree provides graduate preparation in the languages and/or material culture of antiquity preliminary to entering a doctoral program in classical studies. Alternatively, the M.A. in Classics prepares recipients to teach at the community college level, in K-12 private and charter schools, or in the public school system (K-12) when accompanied by state certification.Our graduate program has enjoyed remarkable growth since its inception in 1985 and, along with our undergraduate program, continues to expand. It is now one of the premier M.A. programs in the United States and attracts qualified students from all regions of this country and from abroad. In the last ten years, for example, graduates have been accepted at, and received fellowship packages from many prestigious doctoral programs, such as Berkeley, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, U. of British Columbia, U. of Chicago, U. of Michigan, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U. of Cincinnati, UCLA, U. of Toronto, U. of Virginia, and Yale, in the fields of Classics, Comparative Literature, History, and Philosophy.To take full advantage of our M.A. program, an undergraduate applicant should have basic preparation in the classical languages, ancient history, and archaeology, and will be expected to demonstrate basic reading knowledge of German, French or Italian by the end of the first year of graduate study. Applicants who are not equally prepared in all these areas, but who have shown promise in their undergraduate coursework in ancient Greek, Latin, or archaeology (as well as courses in related areas) are also encouraged to apply. The department generally expects students to earn the M.A. degree in two years. Our faculty are committed to promoting deserving M.A. students in every possible way and routinely nominate them for departmental, university, regional, and national scholarships. The department has also established a Graduate Student Educational and Professional Development Fund.
