Graduate Degrees
The graduate program in classics offers both the M.A. and the Ph.D. degrees. The M.A. program is designed for those who wish to continue their work in classics in preparation for teaching on the secondary level, while the Ph.D. program provides a strong background for college teaching and continuing scholarship.
Admission Requirements
Prerequisites
An applicant for admission will normally have an undergraduate major in classics, but programs may be arranged for promising students who do not.
Criteria
The student should have an undergraduate record satisfactory to the department. At least three letters of recommendation from the student's undergraduate teachers should be sent to the chair of the department. All applicants are required to take the verbal and quantitative general tests of the Graduate Record Examinations.
Degree Requirements
These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the Requirements for Graduation section and the Graduate School section of this catalogue for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.
Master of Arts in Classics
Work toward the M.A. consists of six four-unit courses (24 units) and a thesis and oral defense, or the M.A. comprehensive examination. Two of the survey seminars are required and five of the six courses must be taken in the Department of Classics. Under the guidance of a faculty committee, the student elects those courses appropriate to individual areas of special interest and previous academic preparation.
Doctor of Philosophy in Classics
The course of study for the doctoral student is 60 units of course work consisting of: the four survey seminars (16 units), and 44 units of course work, both within and outside the department, which are related to the student's general preparation and field of interest, and which are selected under the guidance of a faculty committee.
When the student has completed two of the survey seminars in Greek or Latin literature, a final examination, which constitutes a screening examination, is administered. These examinations include passages for translation from Greek or Latin and questions on the history of Greek and Roman literature and thought.
By the end of the second year, under the guidance of a faculty committee, the student selects two special authors and two special fields, one of which should be an historical period. The student should have passed departmental examinations in both German and French or Italian and the second screening examination based on work in the second two survey seminars.
In the third year the student should complete the qualifying examinations, which consist of separate inquiries into the student's knowledge of special authors and fields.
Under the Johns Hopkins-USC Exchange Program in Classics, graduate students at either university may spend one or two semesters at the other school. USC students must obtain a cross-registration form from the Resource Sharing Coordinator in the USC Graduate School, Grace Ford Salvatori Hall 315, obtain signed approval and return the forms to the Graduate School. Students then enroll in USC 700o Off-Campus Studies, CR/NC, through the USC Office of the Dean of Academic Records and Registrar. At the conclusion of the semester(s), the Johns Hopkins instructors will report the student's grades to the USC Graduate School Resource Sharing Coordinator. Credit (CR) will be granted only for work completed with a grade of B or higher. The student's transcript will show that the courses were taken at Johns Hopkins and also record the names of the courses.
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Produced by the USC Division of Student Affairs, Office of University Publications, May 1, 1995
univpub@stuaff.usc.edu