phd in philology

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As a PhD student in the Harvard philosophy program, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your ideas, knowledge, and abilities. You'll work with other doctoral students, our faculty, and visiting scholars, all in a stimulating and supportive environment. The program has strengths across a broad range of topics and areas, so you'll be able to pursue your interests wherever they may lead, especially in moral and political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Immanuel Kant, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. In addition, students can pursue joint degrees with classics, Harvard Law School, and in Indian philosophy.

Incoming cohorts consist of five to eight students per year. You will have substantial access to our renowned faculty and all the resources that Harvard makes available. This relatively small size also gives students a sense of intellectual community.

The curriculum is structured to help you make your way towards a dissertation: graduate-level coursework, a second-year research paper, a prospectus to help you identify a dissertation topic, and then the dissertation itself. Past dissertations in the department have addressed a broad range of topics: Aristotle, Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; contemporary moral and political philosophy; metaphysics; epistemology; and logic.

In addition to your research, you will also have the opportunity to develop your teaching skills in many different settings across the University.

You can find graduates of the PhD program in many universities. Some of our students have gone on to faculty positions at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, and Stanford University. Other graduates have gone on to diverse careers in, among others, the arts, the law, secondary education, and technology.

In addition to the standard PhD in philosophy, the department offers a PhD in classical philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics and a coordinated JD/PhD program in conjunction with Harvard Law School.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Philosophy and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Philosophy | Classical Philosophy | Indian Philosophy 

For information please consult the Department webpage on the  graduate program overview .

Admissions Requirements

Please review admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Philosophy .

Academic Background

Applicants to the program in Philosophy are required to have a solid undergraduate background in philosophy, indicating that they have a good grounding in the history of philosophy, as well as familiarity with contemporary work in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, and logic.

Standardized Tests

GRE General: Optional

Writing Sample

A writing sample is required as part of the application and should be between 12 to 30 pages long. The sample must address a substantial philosophical problem, whether it is an evaluation or presentation of an argument, or a serious attempt to interpret a difficult text. The upload of the writing sample should be formatted for 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper, 1-inch margins, with double-spaced text in a common 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.

Applicants seeking admission to the coordinated JD/PhD program must apply to and be separately admitted to Harvard Law School and the Department of Philosophy.

Theses & Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Philosophy

See list of Philosophy faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Course Catalog

Classical philology, phd.

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Philology

The Doctor of Philosophy is offered only in classical philology, which requires advanced work in both Greek and Latin. Candidates for the Ph.D. program are eligible for acceptance upon completion of the master's degree in classics or its equivalent. Once admitted, they must complete at least 64 additional graduate hours of coursework. Admission to Stage III requires passing examinations in the translation of Greek and Latin into English, the history of Greek and Latin literature, and a special author, as well as a preliminary oral examination (dissertation prospectus).

Admission Applicants for admission to the MA in Classics (Greek and Latin) must ordinarily present a minimum of 20 semester hours in one of the two languages (Greek or Latin) and 15 semester hours in the other language; candidates for admission to the MA with specialization in either Greek or Latin, or the MAT in Latin, must ordinarily present at least 20 semester hours in the relevant language. Previous work in ancient history, ancient art and archaeology, philosophy, literary criticism, or linguistics is desirable.

Applicants should ( apply online ) and submit a personal statement of 2-3 pages, a resume or CV, transcripts showing all undergraduate and graduate work completed, and a writing sample of approximately 20 pages (one or two papers) that showcases the applicant's ability to work in the original classical languages and incorporates relevant scholarship as appropriate. Three letters of recommendation are also required. 

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are required and should be submitted to institution code 1836. Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and must score at least 79 on the internet-based test (iBT); they must also pass the speaking sub-section of the iBT with a minimum score of 24 ). Applications are accepted for fall admission only. Application questions may be directed to SLCL Graduate Student Services .

Certifications Students wishing to add teacher certification in Latin to an MAT, M.A. in Latin, or Ph.D. must apply to the Foreign Language Teacher Education Program .

In order to receive certification, students must complete an M.A. in Classics with a concentration in Latin, an M.A. in Classics with a concentration in Greek and Latin, or an M.A. in the Teaching of Latin.

Graduate Teaching Experience Although teaching is not a general Graduate College requirement, experience in teaching is considered an important part of the graduate experience in this program, and almost all students teach. Non-native English speakers must first pass a test of their oral English ability. 

Faculty Research Interests Greek and Latin literature of all periods; gender and sexuality; Latin poetry of the imperial period; Greek historiography and ethnography; Greek and Roman drama; reception of Classics, especially in film; animal studies; pedagogy. For further details see our website .

Facilities and Resources We have a renowned university library which boasts the second largest number of volumes among US university libraries after Harvard. Housed within the main library building is our first-rate Classics collection with over 60,000 volumes on open shelves. The University of Illinois Library's Rare Book Room houses the Turyn Archive of Greek manuscript photographs and the American Center of the International Photographic Archive of Papyri. The Department of the Classics also publishes the widely circulating peer-reviewed journal Illinois Classical Studies and its Supplements. The Krannert Art Museum and the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures have outstanding collections of ancient vases and other artifacts.

Financial Aid University fellowships are available for the academic year. Teaching assistantships are available for both the academic year and Summer Session II.

For additional details and requirements refer to the department's  graduate program requirements  and the  Graduate College Handbook .  

Other Requirements

• Students demonstrate knowledge of Greek and/or Latin languages at an expert level. Students are able to carry out a detailed analysis of the language, style, and content of individual works of Greek and/or Latin literature.
• Students demonstrate expert knowledge of the history of Greek and Latin literature (as well as of the relevant secondary work on those subjects)and the ways in which classical texts have been transmitted through the centuries down to our own time.
• Students are able to conduct and effectively present the results of original scholarly research.
• Students are familiar with the printed and electronic resources available for advanced study of classical languages and literatures.
• Students are prepared to teach college-level courses in the languages and literature of ancient Greece and Rome in an effective manner.
• Students know about opportunities for alternative employment/non-academic career paths and can articulate the value of a Classical education for these.

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Philology  

Graduate Degree Programs in Classics

• Medieval Studies
• Teaching of Latin, MA

Department of Classics Department Head: Craig Williams Director of Graduate Studies: Brian Walters Classics Department website 4080 Foreign Languages Building, 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 333-1008 Classics email

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences College of Liberal Arts & Sciences website

Admissions Graduate College Admissions & Requirements

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2024-2025 Catalog (PDF)

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Doctoral Program

Stanford's Ph.D. program is among the world's best. Our graduate students receive their training in a lively community of philosophers engaged in a wide range of philosophical projects. Our Ph.D. program trains students in traditional core areas of philosophy and provides them with opportunities to explore many subfields such as the philosophy of literature, nineteenth-century German philosophy, and medieval philosophy.

Among other areas, we are exceptionally strong in Kant studies, the philosophy of action, ancient philosophy, logic, and the philosophy of science. We attract some of the best students from around the world and we turn them into accomplished philosophers ready to compete for the best jobs in a very tight job market.

The most up-to-date requirements are listed in   t he Bulletin .  

CHECK PHD REQUIREMENTS

From the 2020-2021 edition of Explore Degrees:

Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy

Prospective graduate students should see the  Office of Graduate Admissions  web site for information and application materials. 

The University's basic requirements for the Ph.D. degree including candidacy, residence, dissertation, and examination are discussed in the " Graduate Degrees " section of this bulletin.

University candidacy requirements, published in the " Candidacy " section of this bulletin, apply to all Ph.D. students. Admission to a doctoral degree program is preliminary to, and distinct from, admission to candidacy. Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is a judgment by the faculty in the department or school of the student's potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program. Students are expected to complete department qualifying procedures and apply for candidacy at the beginning of the seventh academic quarter, normally the Autumn Quarter of the student's third year.

Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is granted by the major department following a student's successful completion of qualifying procedures as determined by the department. Departmental policy determines procedures for subsequent attempts to become advanced to candidacy in the event that the student does not successfully complete the procedures. Failure to advance to candidacy results in the dismissal of the student from the doctoral program; see the " Guidelines for Dismissal of Graduate Students for Academic Reasons " section of this bulletin.

The requirements detailed here are department requirements. These requirements are meant to balance structure and flexibility in allowing students, in consultation with their  advisors , to take a path through the program that gives them a rigorous and broad philosophical education, with room to focus on areas of particular interest, and with an eye to completing the degree with an excellent dissertation and a solid preparation for a career in academic philosophy.

Normally, all courses used to satisfy the distribution requirements for the Philosophy Ph.D. are Stanford courses taken as part of a student's graduate program.  In special circumstances, a student may petition to use a very small number of graduate-level courses taken at other institutions to satisfy a distribution requirement.  To be approved for this purpose, the student’s work in such a graduate-level course would need to involve an appropriate subject matter and would need to be judged by the department to be at the level of an 'A' in a corresponding graduate-level course at Stanford.  

Courses used to satisfy any course requirement in Philosophy (except Teaching Methods and the summer Dissertation Development Seminar) must be passed with a letter grade of 'B-' or better (no satisfactory/no credit), except in the case of a course/seminar used to satisfy the third-year course/seminar requirement and taken for only 2 units. Such a reduced-unit third-year course/seminar must be taken credit/no credit. 

At the end of each year, the department reviews the progress of each student to determine whether the student is making satisfactory progress, and on that basis to make decisions about probationary status and termination from the program where appropriate.

Any student in one of the Ph.D. programs may apply for the M.A. when all University and department requirements have been met.

Proficiency Requirements

• First-year Ph.D. Proseminar : a one quarter, topically focused seminar offered in Autumn Quarter, and required of all first-year students.
• two courses in value theory including ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of law. At least one of the courses satisfying this distribution requirement must be in ethics or political philosophy.
• Two courses in language, mind, and action. One course satisfying this requirement must be drawn from the language related courses, and one from mind and action related courses.
• two courses in metaphysics and epistemology (including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science). At least one of the courses satisfying this requirement must be drawn from either metaphysics or epistemology.
• Instructors indicate which courses may satisfy particular requirements. If a course potentially satisfies more than one requirement the student may use it for only one of those area requirements; no units may be double-counted. Students must develop broad competencies in all these areas. Those without strong backgrounds in these areas would normally satisfy these distribution requirements by taking more basic courses rather than highly specialized and focused courses. Students should consult with their advisor in making these course decisions, and be prepared to explain these decisions when reviewed for candidacy; see requirement 6 below.
• Logic requirement:  PHIL 150  Mathematical Logic or equivalent.
• History/logic requirement. One approved course each in ancient and modern philosophy, plus either another approved history of philosophy course or  PHIL 151  Metalogic.
• Students should normally take at least 64 graduate level units at Stanford during their first six quarters (in many cases students would take more units than that) and of those total units, at least 49 units of course work are to be in the Philosophy department. These courses must be numbered above 110, but not including Teaching Methods ( PHIL 239  Teaching Methods in Philosophy) or affiliated courses. Units of Individual Directed Reading are normally not to be counted toward this 49-unit requirement unless there is special permission from the student's advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.
•  Prior to candidacy, at least 3 units of work must be taken with each of four Stanford faculty members.

Writing Requirement: Second Year Paper

The second year paper should demonstrate good scholarship and argumentative rigor, and be a polished piece of writing approximately 8000 words in length. The second year paper need not bear any specific relationship to the dissertation. It may be a version of a prospective dissertation chapter, but this is not required. The final version must be turned in on the last class of the Second Year Paper Development Seminar in Summer Quarter of the second year. Extensions of this deadline require the consent of the instructor of the Second Year Paper Development Seminar and the Director of Graduate Studies and are only granted in exceptional cases (e.g., documented illness, family crisis). The final paper is read by a committee of two faculty members and it is an important consideration in the department’s decision on the student’s candidacy. 

Teaching Assistancy

A minimum of five quarters of teaching assistancy are required for the Ph.D. Normally one of these quarters is as a teaching assistant for the Philosophy Department's Writing in the Major course,  PHIL 80  Mind, Matter, and Meaning. It is expected that students not teach in their first year and that they teach no more than two quarters in their second year. Students are required to take  PHIL 239  Teaching Methods in Philosophy during Spring Quarter of their first year and during Autumn Quarter of their second year. Teaching is an important part of students’ preparation to be professional philosophers.

Review at the End of the Second Year for Advancement to Candidacy

The faculty's review of each student includes a review of the student's record, an assessment of the second year paper, and an assessment of the student's preparation for work in her/his intended area of specialization, as well as recommendations of additional preparation, if necessary.

To continue in the Ph.D. program, each student must apply for candidacy at the beginning of the sixth academic quarter, normally the Spring Quarter of the student's second year. Students may be approved for or denied candidacy by the end of that quarter by the department. In some cases, where there are only one or two outstanding deficiencies, the department may defer the candidacy decision and require the student to re-apply for candidacy in a subsequent quarter. In such cases, definite conditions for the candidacy re-application must be specified, and the student must work with the advisor and the DGS to meet those conditions in a timely fashion. A failure to maintain timely progress in satisfying the specified conditions constitutes grounds for withholding travel and discretionary funds and for a denial of advancement to candidacy.

• Writing Seminar : In the Summer Quarter after the second year, students are required to attend the Second Year Paper Development Seminar. The seminar is intended to help students complete their second year papers. 
• Upon completion of the summer writing seminar, students must sign up for independent study credit,  PHIL 240  Individual Work for Graduate Students, with their respective advisors each quarter. A plan at the beginning, and a report at the end, of each quarter must be signed by both student and advisor and submitted to the graduate administrator for inclusion in the student's file. This is the process every quarter until the completion of the departmental oral.
• In Autumn and Winter quarters of the third year, students register in and satisfactorily complete  PHIL 301  Dissertation Development Proseminar. Students meet to present their work in progress and discuss their thesis project. Participation in these seminars is required.
• During the third and fourth years in the program, a student should complete at least three graduate-level courses/seminars, at least two of them in philosophy (a course outside philosophy can be approved by the advisor), and at least two of them in the third year. The three seminars can be taken credit/no-credit for reduced (2) units. Courses required for candidacy are not counted toward satisfaction of this requirement. This light load of courses allows students to deepen their philosophical training while keeping time free for thesis research.

Dissertation Work and Defense

The third and following years are devoted to dissertation work. The few requirements in this segment of the program are milestones to encourage students and advisors to ensure that the project is on track.

• Dissertation Proposal— By Spring Quarter of the third year, students should have selected a dissertation topic and committee. A proposal sketching the topic, status, and plan for the thesis project, as well as an annotated bibliography or literature review indicating familiarity with the relevant literature, must be received by the committee one week before the meeting on graduate student progress late in Spring Quarter. The dissertation proposal and the reading committee's report on it will constitute a substantial portion of the third year review.
• Departmental Oral— During Autumn Quarter of the fourth year, students take an oral examination based on at least 30 pages of written work, in addition to the proposal. The aim of the exam is to help the student arrive at an acceptable plan for the dissertation and to make sure that student, thesis topic, and advisors make a reasonable fit. It is an important chance for the student to clarify their goals and intentions with the entire committee present.
• Fourth-Year Colloquium— No later than Spring Quarter of the fourth year, students present a research paper in a 60-minute seminar open to the entire department. This paper should be on an aspect of the student's dissertation research. This is an opportunity for the student to make their work known to the wider department, and to explain their ideas to a general philosophical audience.
• University Oral Exam— Ph.D. students must submit a completed draft of the dissertation to the reading committee at least one month before the student expects to defend the thesis in the University oral exam. If the student is given consent to go forward, the University oral can take place approximately two weeks later. A portion of the exam consists of a student presentation based on the dissertation and is open to the public. A closed question period follows. If the draft is ready by Autumn Quarter of the fourth year, the student may request that the University oral count as the department oral.

Below are yearly lists of courses which the faculty have approved to fulfill distribution requirements in these areas: value theory (including ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of law); language; mind and action; metaphysics and epistemology (including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science); logic; ancient philosophy; modern philosophy.

The most up-to-date requirements are listed in  t he Bulletin .  

Ph.D. Minor in Philosophy

To obtain a Ph.D. minor in Philosophy, students must follow these procedures:

• Consult with the Director of Graduate Study to establish eligibility, and select a suitable  advisor .
• 30 units of courses in the Department of Philosophy with a letter grade of 'B-' or better in each course. No more than 3 units of directed reading may be counted in the 30-unit requirement.
• Philosophy of science
• Ethics, value theory, and moral and political philosophy
• Metaphysics and epistemology
• Language, mind and action
• History of philosophy
• Two additional courses numbered over 199 to be taken in one of those (b) six areas.
• A faculty member from the Department of Philosophy (usually the student's advisor) serves on the student's doctoral oral examination committee and may request that up to one third of this examination be devoted to the minor subject.
• Paperwork for the minor must be submitted to the department office before beginning the program.

Interdisciplinary Study

The department supports interdisciplinary study. Courses in Stanford's other departments and programs may be counted towards the degree, and course requirements in Philosophy are designed to allow students considerable freedom in taking such courses. Dissertation committees may include members from other departments. Where special needs arise, the department is committed to making it possible for students to obtain a philosophical education and to meet their interdisciplinary goals. Students are advised to consult their advisors and the department's student services office for assistance.

Graduate Program in Cognitive Science

Philosophy participates with the departments of Computer Science, Linguistics, and Psychology in an interdisciplinary program in Cognitive Science. It is intended to provide an interdisciplinary education, as well as a deeper concentration in philosophy, and is open to doctoral students. Students who complete the requirements within Philosophy and the Cognitive Science requirements receive a special designation in Cognitive Science along with the Ph.D. in Philosophy. To receive this field designation, students must complete 30 units of approved courses, 18 of which must be taken in two disciplines outside of philosophy. The list of approved courses can be obtained from the Cognitive Science program located in the Department of Psychology.

Special Track in Philosophy and Symbolic Systems

Students interested in interdisciplinary work relating philosophy to artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, linguistics, or logic may pursue a degree in this program.

Prerequisites—Admitted students should have covered the equivalent of the core of the undergraduate Symbolic Systems Program requirements as described in the " Symbolic Systems " section of the Stanford Bulletin, including courses in artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive science, linguistics, logic, and philosophy. The graduate program is designed with this background in mind. Students missing part of this background may need additional course work. In addition to the required course work listed in the bulletin, the Ph.D. requirements are the same as for the regular program, with the exception that one course in value theory and one course in history may be omitted.

Joint Program in Ancient Philosophy

This program is jointly administered by the Departments of Classics and Philosophy and is overseen by a joint committee composed of members of both departments:

•         Christopher Bobonich , Philosophy (Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ethics)
•         Alan Code , Philosophy, Philosophy (Ancient Greek Philosophy, Metaphysics)
•         Reviel Netz , Classics (History of Greek and Pre-Modern Mathematics)
•         Andrea Nightingale , Classics, (Greek and Roman Philosophy and Literature)
•        Josh Ober , Classics and Political Science (Greek Political Thought, Democratic Theory)

It provides students with the training, specialist skills, and knowledge needed for research and teaching in ancient philosophy while producing scholars who are fully trained as either philosophers with a strong specialization in ancient languages and philology, or classicists with a concentration in philosophy.

Students are admitted to the program by either department. Graduate students admitted by the Philosophy department receive their Ph.D. from the Philosophy department; those admitted by the Classics department receive their Ph.D. from the Classics department. For Philosophy graduate students, this program provides training in classical languages, literature, culture, and history. For Classics graduate students, this program provides training in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophy.

Each student in the program is advised by a committee consisting of one professor in each department.

Requirements for Philosophy Graduate Students: These are the same as the proficiency requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy.

One year of Greek is a requirement for admission to the program. If students have had a year of Latin, they are required to take 3 courses in second- or third-year Greek or Latin, at least one of which must be in Latin. If they have not had a year of Latin, they are then required to complete a year of Latin, and take two courses in second- or third-year Greek or Latin.

Students are also required to take at least three courses in ancient philosophy at the 200 level or above, one of which must be in the Classics department and two of which must be in the Philosophy department.

Ph.D. Subplan in History and Philosophy of Science

Graduate students in the Philosophy Ph.D. program may pursue a Ph.D. subplan in History and Philosophy of Science. The subplan is declared in Axess and subplan designations appear on the official transcript, but are not printed on the diploma.

1.  Attendance at the HPS colloquium series. 2.  Philosophy of Science courses.  Select one of the following:

• PHIL 263 Significant Figures in Philosophy of Science: Einstein
• PHIL 264: Central Topics in the Philosophy of Science: Theory and Evidence
• PHIL 264A: Central Topics in Philosophy of Science: Causation
• PHIL 265: Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time
• PHIL 265C: Philosophy of Physics: Probability and Relativity
• PHIL 266: Probability: Ten Great Ideas About Chance
• PHIL 267A:  Philosophy of Biology
• PHIL 267B: Philosophy, Biology, and Behavior

3.  One elective seminar in the history of science. 4.  One elective seminar (in addition to the course satisfying requirement 2) in philosophy of science.

The PhD program provide 5 years of  financial support . We also try to provide support for our sixth year students and beyond though we cannot guarantee such support. In addition to covering tuition, providing a stipend, and covering Stanford's health insurance, we provide additional funds for books, computer equipment, and conference travel expenses. Some of the financial support is provided through requiring you to teach; however, our teaching requirement is quite low and we believe that this is a significant advantage of our program.

Stanford Support Programs

Additional support, such as advances, medical and emergency grants for Grad Students are available through the Financial Aid Office. The University has created the following programs specifically for graduate students dealing with challenging financial situations.

Graduate Financial Aid  homepage :

https://financialaid.stanford.edu/grad/funding/

Cash Advance:  https://sfs.stanford.edu/gradcashadvance

Emergency grant-in-aid :  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/pdf/emergencygrant-in-aid.pdf, family grants:  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/pdf/gradfamilygrant2021.pdf, housing loans:  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/loans/other/gradhousing.html, program characteristics.

Our program is well known for its small size, streamlined teaching requirements, and low average time to degree.

The program regulations are designed to efficiently provide students with a broad base in their first two years. In the third year students transition to working on their dissertations. During the summer prior to the third year, students are required to attend a dissertation development seminar. This seminar introduces students to what is involved in writing a dissertation. During the third year the course load drops to just under one course per quarter.

The rest of the time is spent working closely with a faculty member, or a couple of faculty members, on the student's area of research interest. The goal of the third year is that this process of intensive research and one-on-one interaction will generate a topic and proposal for the dissertation. During the fourth and fifth year the student is not required to take any courses and he or she focusses exclusively on research and writing on the dissertation.

Stanford University

Being a part of  Stanford University  means that students have access to one of the premier education institutions in the world. Stanford is replete with top departments in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In addition, our professional schools, such as the  Stanford Law School , are among the best. The range of research in a variety of areas, many of which touch on or relate to philosophical issues, is simply astounding. Students have the freedom to take courses across the university. Graduate students also regularly earn joint degrees with other programs.

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29d89c38c178a6334c22d4b5664d7ca4, department of the classics.

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• Classical Philology

Greta Galeotti

Research interests: Greek dialectology, historical linguistics, Greek lyrics, Vedic Sanskrit

BA in Classics, Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia...

Sarah Gonzalez

Research interests: Greek tragedy; gender & sexuality; feminist theory; familial dynamics in antiquity, especially mother-daughter relationships...

Nathaniel Herter

Research interests: Archaic and Homeric Greek poetry, Platonic philosophy, the Pre-Modern novel, theoretical approaches to the Classics, especially psychoanalytical and post-Marxist... Read more about Nathaniel Herter

Stephen Hughes

Research interests: Greek literature; historiography; historical linguistics; comparative studies of Greek and Sanskrit

... Read more about Stephen Hughes

Vivian (Yijie) Jin

Research interests: poetry, aesthetics, historical linguistics, literary theory 

BA in Classics and Philosophy, Cornell University, ...

Lyubov Kiriakidi

Research interests: Plato; Varro; late republican and Augustan poetry; Hellenistic poetry; Greek and Roman comedy; etymology and its socio-cultural...

Phoebe Lakin

Hannah Lynch

Research interests: gender and sexuality in antiquity;   the body; historiography; epistemicide; voices and silences; issues of identity...

Justin Miller

Research interests: Hellenistic literature and history, linguistics (historical, sociolinguistics, phonology), Egyptology, Assyriology, Persian...

Emily Mitchell

Research interests: imperial Latin texts, both literary and epigraphic; Roman social history; memory and commemoration in the ancient world; comparative...

Felix Montgomery

Research interests:  historical linguistics, Greek-Anatolian interface,...

Davide Napoli

Research interests: Fifth-century Athens, sophistic culture, Athenian law, Hippocratic medicine

Dissertation Topic: Antilogy—opposed...

Esther Reichek

Research interests: epic, Homeric scholia, Graeco-Arabic transmission and translation, political thought

BA and MA in Classics, Yale University...

Allison Resnick

Research interests: Latin literature of the late Republic and early Empire; Greek and Latin epigram; historiography; literary depictions of...

Alexander Schwennicke

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Program Overview

The Department of Philosophy offers programs covering a wide range of fields in philosophy. The department’s graduate program is primarily a PhD program. In addition to the standard PhD in Philosophy, the department offers a PhD in Classical Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics, a PhD in Indian Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of South Asian Studies, and a joint JD/PhD program in conjunction with the Harvard Law School. Below you will find a list of the requirements for each program. The department does not admit applicants who wish to study only for the master’s (AM) degree. The AM may be taken as a step toward the PhD after a minimum of two terms in residence.

PhD in Philosophy

Graduate advising.

The department’s arrangement for advising students is structured to correspond to four stages of a student’s progress toward the PhD. These stages include the first year, the second-year paper, reading and research toward a dissertation topic, and work on the dissertation.

• The director of graduate studies is assigned as an advisor to all first-year students and continues to meet with all students at the beginning of each term and sign their study cards throughout their time in the program. Their advising role is particularly important during the coursework stage (generally through the second year), because they have principal responsibility for monitoring the student’s progress toward fulfilling the general requirements for the degree: the preliminary requirement, and the distribution requirement. In addition, each first-year student is assigned an informal faculty advisor.
• At the end of the first year, students should arrange with a member of the faculty to supervise the student’s second-year paper. That faculty member will be the student’s advisor during the second year. If necessary, the director of graduate studies is available to assist a student in finding a suitable faculty member.
• At the beginning of the third year, after the second year paper is completed, a student arranges for a faculty member to be their advisor during the process of exploring areas for a possible dissertation and formulating a topic and a prospectus. This advisor may be the same person as the second-year paper advisor but need not be. Normally, a student will continue with this advisor until the topical examination, but change is possible by arrangement among the parties involved.
• When a prospectus is well along, the student should discuss the formation of a dissertation committee with the advisor, the director of graduate studies, and possible committee members.  Normally, this committee has three members, two of whom must be Harvard faculty as members; however, the committee may consist of only two members at the time of the topical examination.  Committees may have a fourth member, who may be, with permission of the DGS, a faculty member in another Harvard department or at another institution. This committee conducts the topical examination and, after a successful topical, will continue supervising the student’s work on the dissertation. Normally it conducts the dissertation defense when the dissertation is completed.
• During work on the dissertation, change is possible by arrangement with the parties involved and with the approval of the director of graduate studies. At this stage, one member of the committee will be designated as the student’s advisor. The significance of this will vary as the supervision of dissertations is more collective in philosophy, for example, than in many other fields. In some cases, the advisor will be the principal supervisor, in others the role of the committee members will be close to equal and the choice of one advisor is a matter of convenience.

Preliminary Requirement

Candidates must pass at least twelve approved philosophy courses or seminars. The norm is that these course are completed during the first four terms in the department. Courses numbered 301 or above do not count toward this preliminary requirement, save that the two required terms of Philosophy 300, the First Year Colloquium, may be counted as two of the twelve. Independent Studies (Philosophy 305) may also be used to satisfy distribution requirements but not the preliminary requirement with the prior approval of the DGS. For a letter-graded course philosophy course to be considered satisfactory, the candidate’s grade in the course must be B or higher.  The average grade for all letter-graded philosophy courses taken during the candidate’s time in the program must be at least B+.

Courses taken to meet the preliminary requirement must be approved in advance by the department’s director of graduate studies. Students must take and complete Philosophy 300a plus two letter-graded courses or seminars during their first term and Philosophy 300b plus three letter-graded courses or seminars more in their second term, thus completing five letter-graded courses during the first two terms of residence.

These courses, like the rest of the twelve, should be among those designated “For Undergraduates and Graduates” or “Primarily for Graduates” in the course catalogue. At least ten of the courses must be taught by members of the Department of Philosophy (including visiting and emeritus members). This requirement can be modified for students specializing in Classical or Indian Philosophy.

All graduate students must complete two semesters of the Pedagogy seminar, Philosophy 315hf. Normally this is done during a student's third year in the program, when students begin functioning as teaching fellows. Exceptions to taking 315hf in the third year must be approved in advance by the DGS.

Students who have done graduate work elsewhere may petition the DGS to obtain credit for up to three courses, which may be counted toward the preliminary requirement. If they are in philosophy (as would normally be the case), such courses will be regarded as equivalent to those taught by members of the department.

Distribution Requirement

This requirement, intended to ensure a broad background in philosophy, is met by completing eight distribution units of work, normally before the beginning of the fourth year of graduate study. A distribution unit may be fulfilled (i) by completing an approved course or seminar (which may also be counted toward the preliminary requirement), or (ii) by writing a paper under the guidance of a faculty member, with the approval of the director of graduate studies. In the latter case the work does not count toward the preliminary requirement.

The units are to be distributed as follows:

• Contemporary Theoretical Philosophy: Three units in core areas of twentieth- and twenty-first century metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and the like.
• Practical Philosophy: Two units in contemporary or historical ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and the like.
• History of Philosophy: The distribution requirement in history is intended to assure that students have knowledge of the philosophical tradition out of which contemporary Anglo-American philosophy has grown, as well as an ability to work though texts whose philosophical presuppositions are different enough from those of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy that careful historical and philosophical analysis is required to bring them to light.

Three sorts of courses satisfy the requirement:   A. Courses in ancient Greek, Roman, or medieval philosophy.   B. Courses in early modern European philosophy up to and including Kant.   C. Courses on the foundations of philosophical traditions other than contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. These might include courses on traditional South Asian or East Asian philosophy, 19th century Continental European philosophy, early 20th century work of Heidegger, and so on.   A student must take three history courses to satisfy the requirement; at most one of these may be in practical philosophy. Save in the most exceptional circumstances (and with the approval of the DGS), at least one of these courses must be of category A and at least one must be of category B. Students should verify (with the DGS) in advance of taking a course to satisfy the requirement that the course will in fact satisfy it.

The First-Year Colloquium (Philosophy 300a and 300b) may not be used to fulfill any part of the distribution requirement. Philosophy 299hf, the second-year paper, may be used to fulfill a distribution requirement.

Logic Requirement

Candidates for the Ph.D. are expected to have mastered the fundamentals of logic and to have an understanding of the elements of logic’s metatheory. Normally, this requirement is satisfied by successfully completing one of the Department’s 100-level courses in logic: 140 (Introduction to Mathematical Logic), 144 (Logic and Philosophy), or 145 (Modal Logic). It can also be satisfied by taking an appropriate mathematics course (for example, Mathematics 143, 144a, or 145b). The requirement may also be satisfied by an examination set by the DGS in consultation with appropriate Department members or by serving as a TF in a Department logic course.

Second-Year Paper

Students are required at the end of their second year in residence to submit a paper whose length is between 7,500 and 12,000 words including footnotes.

The expectation is not that the second-year paper should constitute a kind of Master’s Thesis; a better model is that of a journal article: i.e., an essay that sets out a focused philosophical problem, articulates its significance, and makes a significant contribution rather than a mere intervention. Given this goal, the second-year paper may under no circumstances be over 12,000 words, and generally will be significantly shorter. Students must annotate the paper with an accurate word count.

By the end of the first year, students need to have a faculty advisor who will supervise the second year paper. Together the advisor and advisee will write a plan of study for the summer and the first term of the second year, and submit it to the DGS. This plan of study will specify a schedule for submitting work and receiving feedback, and will also specify a benchmark to be met before the beginning of the second semester.

A preliminary draft of the second-year paper is to be submitted by the end of the spring vacation of the second semester, and a final draft is due by June 1st. Under extraordinary circumstances and with the written approval of both advisor and the DGS, the final version of the paper may be submitted after June 1st, but no later than August 1st.

Once the second-year paper is submitted to the advisor, the advisor forwards the paper to the DGS, who selects a faculty member to act as the paper’s reader. The author, advisor, and reader meet in a timely manner to discuss the paper, after which the examiner in consultation with the advisor awards the paper a grade. This grade will be recorded as the student’s grade for their two semesters of 299hf.

Normally, a student is not allowed to participate in a dissertation workshop until they have submitted their second-year paper.

The Third Year

In a successful third year, graduate students do two things: they acquire pedagogical skills and confidence as teachers; they make enough progress on isolating a dissertation topic that they are able, at the end of that year or by the end of the first term of the fourth year, to write a prospectus and have a successful topical exam.

Normally, at the end of a student's second year, the student's 2YP advisor and the DGS consult and then assign a pre-prospective advisor to the student. The pre-prospectus advisor need not, and often will not, be someone who specializes in the area in which a student expects to write a dissertation. Rather, the advisor is someone with whom the student is comfortable discussing philosophy and who can advise about directions of research. In many cases the pre-prospectus advisor may be the 2YP advisor, since the student has formed a working relationship with that faculty member.

The student and pre-prospectus advisor should meet before the end of spring exams. The meeting's purpose is to discuss the student's general area(s) of interest for a dissertation and, if the student is ready, to devise a tentative list of articles or books which the student will read and reflect on over the next twelve months.

G3s meet with their pre-prospectus advisor in the first days of the fall term. The aim of this meeting is to give the student a manageable set of concrete tasks to complete toward settling on a prospectus topic. In this meeting, advisor and student should decide on: a collection of at least six articles or book chapters to discuss at meetings; a schedule for meetings during the fall (the norm being a meeting roughly every two weeks); the written work the student commits to doing in advance of each meeting. This work need not be elaborate --it might, for example, be a few pages of critical summary and discussion of the reading for the meeting.

Until a successful defense of a prospectus, students register of that section of Philosophy 333 associated with their pre-prospectus advisor.

The norm is that in the fall term of year 3 students do research in the area in which they expect to write so that they can fashion a fairly specific topic for the prospectus; spring term is then devoted to writing a prospectus. Students normally aim at having a prospectus and a topical before the beginning of classes in the fourth year; the expectation is that students have done a topical by the end of the first term of their fourth year.

Students who have completed their second year paper are required to enroll each term in one of the two dissertation workshops, Philosophy 311, Workshop in Moral and Political Philosophy or Philosophy 312, Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. In an academic year in which a student is actively seeking post Ph.D. employment, they are not required to enroll in a workshop.

This a requirement for the Ph.D.; it is only in unusual personal circumstances that students may fail to enroll in a workshop. Permission not to enroll in a Workshop must be granted by the director of graduate studies. G3s are not required to present more than once a year in a workshop, and it is understood that their presentations may consist of such things as (constrained) literature reviews, overviews of the particular area in a sub-discipline, or drafts or presentations of a prospectus.

Prospectus and Topical Examination

When the prospectus is complete, a candidate must pass an oral topical examination on the prospectus. The examining committee consists of at least two Philosophy Department faculty members. If the topical examination is not passed, it must be taken again and passed by the beginning of the winter recess in the year immediately following. Normally students have a successful topical by the end of their fourth year in the program.

Requirements for a prospectus are set by a student's dissertation committee and may vary with committee membership. That said, in many cases a good default model for a prospectus will simply be a list of clear, straightforward answers to the following five questions: (1) What question(s) do you intend your dissertation to answer? (2) Why do you consider these questions to be important? (3) What is a good summary of what you consider to be the most important contributions to these questions in the literature? (4) Why, in your view, do these contributions leave more work to be done? (5) What is your tentative plan of attack (including a list of sources you anticipate using)? Think of your answers to these questions as building a case for why your dissertation project needs to be done , along with a sketch of how you in particular plan to do it. Finally, limit yourself to about 5000 words.

Although called an examination, a topical (which is approximately ninety minutes in length) is in fact a conference on the dissertation topic, not an occasion on which the candidate is expected to produce a complete outline of arguments and conclusions. The conference is intended to determine the acceptability of the topic on which the candidate wishes to write a dissertation, the candidate’s fitness to undertake such a dissertation, and the candidate’s command of relevant issues in related areas of philosophy. A dissertation on the proposed topic may be submitted only if the topical examination is passed.

Application to take the topical examination must be made to the director of graduate studies at least two weeks in advance. At the same time, the candidate must submit copies of a dissertation prospectus to the director of graduate studies and members of the student’s prospective committee.

Financial Support, Travel and Research Funding, and Teaching

Beyond tuition remission, Ph.D. students receive the following financial support from the Graduate School.

· A stipend for their first two years. During this period, students do not teach.

· Financial support via guaranteed teaching in the third and fourth year . During this period, students are hired as teaching fellows; the normal workload for a teaching fellow is two sections a term.

· A dissertation completion fellowship. This includes a full stipend for one academic year.

In addition, various university fellowships (for example: Term Time and Merit Fellowships, Fellowships at the Safra Center) are available on a competitive basis.

The Department also grants each Philosophy graduate student one academic term of stipend support through Philosophy Department Fellowships and also a total of $5500 in fellowships for professional development. For details see: Funding | Department of Philosophy (harvard.edu)

Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

Once the topical exam is passed, the examining committee (which must consist of at least two faculty members of the Philosophy Department) normally becomes the dissertation advisory committee.  One member of the committee is the dissertation’s primary advisor (aka, the dissertation director).  It is expected that a student will have a committee of at least three members within a few months of the defense; the committee must have three members at the time of the defense.  It is possible, with the approval of the primary advisor and the DGS, to add a faculty member from another institution.  Normally a dissertation committee has no more than four members; larger committees must be approved by primary advisor and the DGS.

The primary advisor has primary responsibility for supervision for the dissertation.  The norm is that the student and the dissertation committee set out in advance how often students will meet with and receive feedback from advisors.  The expectation is that the committee and the student will meet as a body once a term to discuss progress on the dissertation.

At least three months before a final defense of the dissertation can be scheduled, the candidate must submit a draft of the dissertation or at least a substantial part of it to the committee.  Until this is done, a defense of the dissertation cannot be scheduled.  Assuming the committee approves scheduling a defense, the candidate completes a draft and circulates it to the committee. While it is a matter for the committee and the candidate to decide, the expectation is that the complete draft of the dissertation which will be defended will be circulated to the committee at least three weeks before the date of the defense . 

Dissertation defenses are public, and may be attended both by department members and other interested parties.  They are normally two hours in length, and normally begin with a brief summary by the candidate of what the candidate has accomplished in the dissertation, followed by a conversation between the candidate and the committee.  The purpose of this conversation is not so much to test the range and detail of the candidate’s knowledge as to judge the candidate’s skill in presenting and discussing matters considered in the dissertation as well as the candidate’s ability to meet friendly but searching criticism.

PhD in Classical Philosophy

The departments of the Classics and Philosophy collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Classical Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is philosophy are expected to take the Proseminar for graduate students in the classics, as well as attend seminars or other courses in classics relevant to their interests. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in the Classical Philosophy program may be permitted to count an appropriate course in ancient philosophy toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology and one (in addition to the one already required) toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Classical Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the classical languages (Greek or Latin) before they are admitted. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. If they have not previously studied the second language, they will be required to reach the level of one year of college coursework. This can be done either by taking courses or by passing a language examination. In addition, candidates will be expected to have acquired a reading knowledge of German sufficient for reading scholarly literature and to pass a departmental examination on a suitably chosen text. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in philosophy.

PhD in Indian Philosophy

The departments of Philosophy and South Asian Studies collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Indian Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is Philosophy are expected to take advanced language courses in South Asian studies and pass AM qualifying examinations. Candidates whose major field is South Asian studies are expected to fulfill the requirements of students in Philosophy, including distribution and logic requirements. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in Indian Philosophy may be permitted to count appropriate course in advanced Sanskrit or Tibetan toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics or epistemology and one toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language Requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Indian Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the relevant classical languages (Sanskrit or Tibetan) before they are admitted to the program. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. In addition, candidates will be expected to satisfy the specific language requirements of their home department. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in Philosophy.

For more information please see the PhD in Indian Philosophy section .

JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law

A coordinated JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law is available. Students wishing to obtain the coordinated degrees must be admitted separately to both programs. Students admitted for the coordinated degrees must begin either with the first full year of law school or the first two years of philosophy; after that they may alternate terms as they choose. The program in Law may be completed in five terms. The requirements for philosophy are the same as for regular philosophy graduate students. For more information please see the JD/PhD Coordinated Program section .

The Master of Arts (AM) in Philosophy

The Department does not admit students for degrees other than the PhD. Students who have been admitted for the PhD and who have completed all course requirements for the degree may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

Harvard PhD students from programs (such as African and African-American Studies) which require PhD students to take courses required for an AM in another program are not required to take the first year colloquium required of Philosophy PhDs. (Students from these programs who wish to the take the colloquium must consult with the DGS.) Students from these programs who have completed 10 philosophy courses which satisfy the course requirements for a PhD and who have satisfied the distribution requirements for the PhD may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

A student who is pursuing an ad hoc degree administered in part by the Philosophy Department may petition to receive a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. To receive this degree the student must have taken a total of 10 courses in Philosophy at the level of 100 or higher. At least two of these courses must satisfy the graduate distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology, two must satisfy the practical philosophy distribution requirement, two the history distribution requirement, and one must be a logic course. All must be passed with a grade of B or better. Students may receive this degree only when the Department has voted to support their petition.

Secondary Field in Philosophy

Much work in philosophy speaks directly to one or more disciplines which have Harvard PhD programs --literature, physics, statistics, science, mathematics, linguistics, and economics, to name a few. A secondary field in Philosophy gives students from other disciplines an opportunity to step back and look at the big picture in their discipline, putting students from discipline X in a position to do "philosophy of X" as part of doing X, thereby helping them both to understand their field more deeply and to open a path to developing it in innovative ways.

Graduate students may apply to the Philosophy Department to do a secondary field after their first term as a graduate student at Harvard. Secondary field students normally begin the secondary field in the second or third semester at Harvard, normally taking one or two courses a semester until they have completed the secondary field requirements.

Applicants should contact the Philosophy DGS before applying to do a secondary field in Philosophy. Applications must include: a brief statement explaining what the applicant hopes to achieve with the secondary field, including a brief summary of the applicant's background in philosophy; a copy of the undergraduate transcript (this can be a copy sent from the student's home department at Harvard) and a brief letter from a Harvard faculty member of the student's home department discussing how a secondary field in philosophy would contribute to the student's work in the home department.

To complete a secondary field in philosophy, a student completes four courses in philosophy at the 100 level or higher with a grade of B+ or better. One course must be in the area of one of the Department's PhD distribution requirements: moral and political philosophy; metaphysics and epistemology; logic; history of philosophy. A second course must be in another of these areas. At least one course must be a graduate seminar. In principle, an independent study with a member of the Department may be used to complete the secondary field. A capstone project is not required. Courses are counted towards satisfying the secondary field requirements only when approved to do so by the Philosophy DGS.

A student completing a secondary field in philosophy is assigned an advisor from the Philosophy Department, normally the DGS.

Doctor of Philosophy

The PhD programs advance scientific discovery by training and supporting students doing in-depth research that solves the world’s biggest public health challenges. At the forefront of efforts to benefit the health of people worldwide, the School offers students the opportunity to join in shaping new ideas in public health and implementing them effectively. PhD students benefit from collaborations across public health disciplines and a broad range of academic fields through connections with other Harvard faculties.

All PhD students conduct research through a dissertation, in addition to other avenues of discovery. All PhD programs at Harvard University are administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and applications are processed through the GSAS online application system . Choose from one of four PhD programs offered collaboratively between Harvard Chan School and GSAS.

• Abbreviation : PhD
• Degree format : On campus  
• Time commitment : Full-time  
• Average program length : Varies between 4 to 7 years based on program

When applying to the PhD, applicants must choose one of the following specialized fields of study. Eligibility requirements vary by program and field of study.  

• Biological Sciences in Public Health
• Biostatistics
• Health Policy
• Environmental health
• Epidemiology
• Global health and population
• Social and behavioral sciences

Career outcomes vary based on field of study and research, but in general, PhD graduates will be prepared for a career in academia, health policy, government agencies, consulting, the pharmaceutical or biomedical industry, and generally improving lives through qualitative and quantitative research.

Admission information

Like all PhD (doctor of philosophy) programs at the School—and the University—the PhD in health policy is offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Applications are processed through the GSAS online application system located at gsas.harvard.edu/admissions/apply .

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• Academic Units
• Graduate Program
• Philology Reading List

PhD Reading List for Philologists Pre 2024

The following list of authors and works is intended as a guide for preparation for the comprehensive exams in Greek and Latin literature. Students may make substitutions to accommodate their own interests and previous reading, but the list provides an indication of the range of literature that all philologists should have worked through before taking the comprehensive exams. All substitutions must be approved in advance by the selected examiners.

The purpose of the comprehensive exams in Greek and Latin literature is to determine whether you control sufficient detail and breadth to be granted, upon satisfactory completion of a dissertation, a PhD in Philology. You will be asked to demonstrate knowledge such as other persons holding the PhD in Philology typically have, and you will be asked to synthesize and explain important literary and cultural concepts. For more information, you should consult the graduate advisor in Philology and Ancient History.

You will do some of the readings in the context of courses, but you are expected to complete the remainder of the readings independently starting from the very beginning of your graduate career. The summers, in particular, provide crucial blocks of time when you are expected to be working through the reading list either on your own or by forming a reading group.

Your preparation for the comprehensive exams should also include reading general handbooks on Greek and Latin literature, such as the  Cambridge History of Classical Literature  (2 vols.) and G.B. Conte,  Latin Literature  (1994). You should also acquaint yourself with secondary literature for each of the authors and works you read in consultation with faculty and your examiners. Throughout your readings, you should practice explicating these texts within their historical/cultural contexts and comparing them to other works written in the same or related literary genres.

It is expected that the readings will be prepared from the standard OCT or Teubner texts as available and that you use suitable commentaries as needed. Please consult with your professors if you have questions about selecting an edition or commentary.

I. Greek Readings in the original.

A. archaic period.

Homer:  Iliad  1, 3, 6, 9, 16-24;  Odyssey  1, 5-12, 21-23;  Hymns , one of the following: 2-5

Hesiod:  Works and Days  1-382;  Theogony  1-885

Lyric poetry: Selections in Campbell, 1982 plus Stesichorus Fr. 222b Davies

Presocratics: Selections in Kirk, Raven, Schofield for Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles

Aeschylus:  Oresteia  and one other play

Pindar:  Ol . 1, 2;  Pyth . 1, 2, 4 and five other odes

B. Classical Period

Gorgias:  Helen

Antiphon:  First Tetralogy  and DK 87, B44

Sophocles:  Ajax ,  Oedipus Tyrannus ,  Antigone  and two other plays

Euripides:  Medea ,  Hippolytus ,  Bacchae  and two other plays

Herodotus: Book 1 and one other book

Aristophanes:  Acharnians ,  Clouds ,  Frogs  and one other play

Thucydides: Book 1.1-23; 7; and one other book

Plato:  Apology ;  Republic  6,7,10; Two additional major dialogues

Lysias: 12, and one other speech

Isocrates:  Panathenaicus  175-end

Demosthenes:  De Corona  168-end; Two additional speeches, one private and one public

Aristotle:  Poetics ;  Nicomachean Ethics  I or  Politics  I

Menander:  Dyscolus

C. Hellenistic Period

Theocritus: 1-7, 15, 22

Apollonius:  Argonautica  3

Callimachus:  Aetia  Fr. 1; One hymn

Lucian: One dialogue, e.g. 26, 27, 28, 29 in OCT vol. 2

Plutarch: One life

II. Additional Greek Works to be read either in translation or in the original

Homer: all. Homeric Hymns: all. Hesiod:  Works and Days ,  Theogony  (entire). Aeschylus: all. Sophocles: all. Herodotus: all. Euripides: all. Thucydides: all. Aristophanes: all.

Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Democritus: selections in Kirk, Raven, Schofield. Antiphon:  Tetralogies . Isaeus: 2, 5. Xenophon:  Hellenica  1-2,  Memorabilia . Andocides:  De mysteriis . Isocrates:  Panathenaicus  (entire),  On the Peace ,  On the Sophists . Plato:  Republic  (entire). Demosthenes:  Olynthiacs ,  Philippics . Aristotle:  Physics  1. Menander:  Epitrepontes ,  Samia . Theophrastus:  Characters . Plutarch:  Rise and Fall of Athens  (Penguin = 9 Greek lives) and  Life of Lycurgus .

III. Latin Readings

A. early latin.

Ennius: Skutsch,  Annales ; Jocelyn,  Tragedies . (Accius, Pacuvius etc. from Warmington.)

Plautus:  Amphitruo ,  Captivi , one other play

Terence: All prologues and at least one play

B. Republican Latin

Lucretius:  De rerum natura  I, III

Catullus:  Carmina omnia

Caesar:  Bellum civile  I and one other book of the  Commentarii 

Cicero:  Orationes: in Catilinam  1;  pro Caelio ;  Philippic  2; and one

other speech;  Epistulae : selection of D. R. Shackleton Bailey;  Rhetorica :  de Oratore  1,  Brutus  or  Orator; Philosophica : one short treatise or one book of a longer treatise

Sallust:  Catiline  or  Jugurtha ;  Historiae

Horace:  Sermones  I.1, 4, 9, 10; and at least three others;  Carmina ;  Epistulae  I,  Ars poetica

Livy:  Ab urbe condita  I, XXI, and at least one other book

Ovid:  Amores  I;  Metamorphoses  1, 8, 15;  Heroides : at least two letters; one further work (e.g.  Tristia  1,  Fasti  1,  Ars Amatoria )

Propertius: Books I; III.1,3; IV, at least three poems

Tibullus: Book I

Vergil:  Bucolics ,  Georgics ,  Aeneid

C. Silver Latin

Lucan:  Pharsalia  I or VII

Petronius: 26-78, "Cena Trimalchionis"; and 85-87, 111-112, "Milesian Tales"

Seneca: at least one tragedy and 30-40 Teubner pages of prose

Pliny, Younger:  Epistulae , at least 10

Suetonius: Two Vitae Caesarum

Tacitus:  Annales  I-VI;  Historiae ; one shorter work 

Apuleius:  Metamorphoses : one book

Juvenal:  Satirae  1, 3, 4, 7, 10

DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About the course

Both in Classical languages and literature, and in ancient history, the DPhil programme is a research degree intended to make it possible for the successful candidate to aspire to a career in research and teaching at university level anywhere in the world where the Classical subjects are studied.

The DPhil takes the form of the composition of a substantial dissertation, of up to 100,000 words, based on new research on a subject of your choice.  

The best dissertations are published, many in the Oxford University Press series of Classical monographs which exists for this purpose. 

The vision of the DPhil as a necessary stage of an academic career, following on from master's-level education and preparing for postdoctoral work and beyond, is reflected in five other ways:

• Doctoral students are required to set the topics of their individual specialisation in a larger understanding of developments in the field across the world.
• They are encouraged to pursue a diversity of scholarly interests while working on their doctoral dissertation, so as to start building a larger portfolio of specialities. They may produce articles or review books in areas somewhat different from that of their dissertation, and towards the end of their doctoral work may begin to contemplate a postdoctoral project.
• The Classics Faculty assists doctoral students in continuing to develop necessary research skills, and acquiring or improving knowledge of relevant ancient and modern languages. Competence in Latin and/or Greek is an admission requirement.
• Doctoral students can be trained and given experience (with mentoring) in undergraduate teaching of several different kinds, eg class, lecture, tutorial.
• There are other structures, within the Classics Faculty, the Humanities Division and the wider University, to help with career-development and with academic placement.

Finally, it is fully recognised that some students will choose not to pursue a professional career in Classics, and the structures mentioned in the points above are tailored to their needs too. The experience of the Classics DPhil programmes is intended to be personally fulfilling and intellectually enriching in itself, and the cognitive skills required are highly transferable to other walks of life.

Examples of recent DPhil thesis titles

• A Corpus Study of Formulaic Variation and Linguistic Productivity in Early Greek Epic (Supervisor: Professor P Probert)
• Lexical Innovation and Latin Philosophical Vocabulary: From Seneca to Boethius (Supervisor: Professor T Reinhardt)
• Catullus: Lyric Poet, Lyricist (Supervisors: Dr G Trimble and Professor L Tunbridge)
• Petrarch’s Letters to Classical Authors (Supervisors: Professor S Harrison and Professor M McLaughlin)
• Gottfried Hermann’s Laboratory: Meaning and Methods in Early Nineteenth-Century Scholarship (Supervisor: Professor C. Güthenke)
• The Multipartite Muse: Sectioned Composition in Hellenistic Long Poems (Supervisor: Professor G Hutchinson)
• Epicurus’ Human Beings – Beyond Person and Self (Supervisor: Professor T Reinhardt)
• The Reception of Homer in Modern Science Fiction Literature (Supervisor: Dr L Pitcher)
• Rulers in Greek Tragedy (Supervisor: Dr S Scullion)
• The Searched-for Thing: A Literary Approach to Four Early Alchemical Texts (Supervisors: Professor M Edwards and Professor G Hutchinson)

The faculty welcomes applications for part-time study on the DPhil. Part-time students are fully integrated into the research culture of the Classics Faculty and afforded all the same opportunities and support as full-time students.

As a part-time student you will be required to attend supervision meetings, seminars and other obligations in Oxford for a minimum of one day per week during Weeks 0 to 9 of each term, for a total of 30 days each year. Attendance outside of term time will be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor. There will be limited flexibility in the dates and pattern of attendance.

This course would normally be conducted in person unless in exceptional circumstances. 

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Classics and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Where the project demands it, a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Classics. Co-supervision is sometimes found a good arrangement for particular thesis subjects.

You will be appointed a supervisor or supervisors with relevant expertise, who will support you throughout your doctoral work, beginning with the formulation of the topic and ending with the final examination. You will typically have at least two meetings a term with your supervisor, although more frequent meetings can be arranged as needed.

In most cases, you will initially be enrolled as a Probationary Research Student (PRS). You will normally apply to transfer status from PRS to full DPhil student in your third term. Transfer of status is assessed by two examiners on the basis of a sample of written work, a statement of your proposed research and a viva.

You will normally apply for confirmation of your DPhil status at the end of your second year. This is assessed by two examiners on the basis of a sample of written work, a detailed thesis plan and a viva. You will also be required to provide evidence of reading proficiency in German and one other language of scholarship (normally either French or Italian) in order to pass confirmation of status; the faculty organises dedicated classes on these languages.

If you are a part-time student, you will have twice as long to apply for both transfer and confirmation.

The degree is awarded on the basis of a thesis of up to 100,000 words based on original research; you are required to discuss the thesis at a viva with two examiners, normally one internal, one external.

Graduate destinations

When details on graduate destinations were last collected, the faculty found that an unusually high percentage of their successful DPhil students (56%) were in university teaching or research posts five years after finishing their doctorates. Others go into a variety of occupations, including teaching, publishing, administration, business and other professions.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a master's degree with scores at the same level as first-class or high upper second-class honours in a relevant subject;  and
• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in Classics or a similar course of academic study with substantial course components in the area of Classics.

If you apply whilst studying for a master's degree, these scores may be required as a condition of any offer made.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.7 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

• Degree-level competence in at least one ancient language is a requirement for admission.
• Publications are not normally expected at this stage, but you should mention any publications that you have produced.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews may be arranged for some doctoral applicants as part of the admissions process. Interviews can take place in person or via telephone or Skype if travel to Oxford would be inconvenient for the candidate.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Initiatives to improve access to graduate study

This course is taking part in a continuing pilot programme to improve the selection procedure for graduate applications, in order to ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly.

For this course, socio-economic data (where it has been provided in the application form) will be used to contextualise applications at the different stages of the selection process.  Further information about how we use your socio-economic data  can be found in our page about initiatives to improve access to graduate study.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

Oxford has academic resources which are among the most extensive in the world for classical languages and literature. The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies offers various facilities for graduate students including many workstations, computing, printing and scanning facilities, a common room and a reading room. Seminar talks by visiting speakers and many other academic activities take place in the centre. It is also the base for the various  research projects based in the faculty . 

The faculty is fortunate in having two world-class research libraries close at hand, the Bodleian and the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library. The Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library is an open-shelf lending library indispensable to anyone studying ancient history, archaeology and art; it is also extremely useful for those studying literature or philology. 

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework exercise, the faculty presented the largest number of academics in UK Classics (91). 52% of the submission was rated 4* (world-leading) and 32% 3* (internationally excellent), giving the faculty by far the highest quantity of 4* or 3* research in UK Classics.

The academic study of ancient Greek and Roman civilisation - thought, society, language, culture, literature, history, art - spans nearly two millennia (c. 1200 BC to AD 600), and is tightly interwoven with most branches of humanities.

Oxford administers classical studies in two broad segments, ancient history and classical archaeology in one, and Greek and Latin languages and literature in the other. But academically it is the crossovers and synergies between the cultures of the Greek and Roman worlds which form the core of the interests of the Classics Faculty, which also specialises in all the disciplines needed to comprehend these two worlds in their wider context in time and space: the study of language, inscriptions and papyri, of texts preserved in the medieval scribal continuum, of literary form, of material culture and field archaeology, the histories of landscape and of cognition, word and image, scholarship and performance, production, consumption and power, the reception of antiquity in subsequent periods. The crossovers and synergies also situate core Greek and Roman literature and culture in a wider world reaching from Mycenaean palaces to Egypt, Bactria or India.

The Art, Archaeology and Ancient World library, Bodleian libraries and the Ashmolean Museum are world-class resources for these studies. We have an unusually large and wide-ranging body of scholars and graduates; a packed and varied programme of seminars, and abundant informal interaction, make this an exciting and stimulating community in which to study Classics.

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The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the faculty's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Full-time study.

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Part-time study

Information about course fees.

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Continuation charges

Following the period of fee liability , you may also be required to pay a University continuation charge and a college continuation charge. The University and college continuation charges are shown on the Continuation charges page.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees (or, after fee liability ends, continuation charges) and living costs. However, please note that, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Please note that you are required to attend in Oxford for a minimum of 30 days each year, and you may incur additional travel and accommodation expenses for this. Also, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur further additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

If you are studying part-time your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you must still ensure that you will have sufficient funding to meet these costs for the duration of your course.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students for full-time study on this course:

• Balliol College
• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Christ Church
• Corpus Christi College
• Exeter College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Jesus College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Lincoln College
• Magdalen College
• Merton College
• New College
• Oriel College
• The Queen's College
• Regent's Park College
• St Anne's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• Somerville College
• Trinity College
• University College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College
• Wycliffe Hall

The following colleges accept students for part-time study on this course:

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Readmission for current Oxford graduate taught students

If you're currently studying for an Oxford graduate taught course and apply to this course with no break in your studies, you may be eligible to apply to this course as a readmission applicant. The application fee will be waived for an eligible application of this type. Check whether you're eligible to apply for readmission .

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.

However, if you have any questions about the course content, teaching, assessment or any other aspect of the course, you are welcome to get in touch via the contact details on this page. You are also free to approach potential supervisors and explain why you want to come and work in their particular field of study. Please keep in mind that prospective supervisors are not in a position to make decisions about admission. They can offer brief thoughts on research proposals, but extensive comment should not be expected. Supervisors are allocated by the Graduate Studies Committee; efforts are made to meet graduates’ wishes where possible.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Proposed field and title of research project

Under the 'Field and title of research project' please enter your proposed field or area of research if this is known. If the department has advertised a specific research project that you would like to be considered for, please enter the project title here instead.

You should not use this field to type out a full research proposal. You will be able to upload your research supporting materials separately if they are required (as described below).

Proposed supervisor

If known, under 'Proposed supervisor name' enter the name of the academic(s) who you would like to supervise your research. Otherwise, leave this field blank.

Referees Three overall, all of which should be academic

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

All references are expected to be academic; if you believe there is good reason for you to include one professional reference, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies before you apply.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement, and motivation.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Research proposal: A maximum of 1,200 words

The research proposal should describe the proposed thesis topic in some detail, explain why it is important and worthwhile, situate it within the existing research in the area in question and provide a basic account of methodology as well as a provisional timetable.

The proposal should be written in English. The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

This will be assessed for:

• your reasons for applying
• the coherence of the proposal
• the originality of any thesis project proposed
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• the ability to present a reasoned case in English
• commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
• preliminary knowledge of research techniques.

Written work: Two essays, a maximum of  2,000 words each

Academic essays or other writing samples from your most recent qualification, written in English, are required. Extracts of the requisite length from longer work are also permissible provided that these are clearly indicated (highlight extracts in yellow). Where necessary, a cover note may be attached to place an extract in a larger context. Two extracts from one longer piece are acceptable, though two separate pieces are more illuminating.

Work should be submitted in English; submissions in other languages may be permissible after consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, but at least one sample of written work should be in English and translated into or written in English by you.

The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

• understanding of problems in the area
• relevant use of primary evidence
• ability to construct and defend an argument
• powers of analysis and powers of expression

Surveys of published scholarship are less informative to assessors, although a judicious summary of a complex problem may be helpful.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply - Full time Apply - Part time

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

† Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24) *Three-year average (applications for entry in 2020-21 to 2022-23)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the  Faculty of Classics

• Course page on the faculty's website
• Funding information from the faculty
• Academic and research staff
• Faculty research
• Humanities Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 288269

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Other courses to consider

You may also wish to consider applying to other courses that are similar or related to this course:

View related courses

Visa eligibility for part-time study

We are unable to sponsor student visas for part-time study on this course. Part-time students may be able to attend on a visitor visa for short blocks of time only (and leave after each visit) and will need to remain based outside the UK.

Graduate Work in the Classics

Those seeking to teach the Classics in colleges and universities face a job market that has fluctuated over the years with a fair amount of unpredictability. As a result, competition is heavy for available jobs. The following table, based on information provided by the APA/AIA Placement Service will illustrate this fact:

It should also be noted that a disturbing trend has emerged in recent years. Previously most candidates holding a PhD were hired as assistant professors, ideally on a "tenure-track." In such positions, if performance in publication, teaching, and service were adequate, tenure would be awarded after a certain number of years, normally seven.

There is currently an increasing tendency to hire persons with recent PhDs as instructors or adjunct faculty. One-year positions are common as replacements for faculty members on sabbatical. Other positions can be part-time. The financial remuneration for such jobs is low, and fringe benefits (e.g., retirement, health insurance) are often not provided. The Modern Language Association (MLA) studies this trend through its Committee on Contingent Labor in the Profession. Their most recent report ( http://www.mla.org/pdf/ clip_stmt_final_may11.pdf ) gives an overview of practices that are of concern. A search of the MLA web page, using the terms "part time," "adjunct," and "instructor," will reveal documents treating this phenomenon as it affects teachers of English and modern foreign languages. Another resource is the Coalition on the Academic Workforce ( www.academicworkforce.org ). Note that such positions are not necessarily dead ends. Institutions frequently fill tenure-track jobs with candidates who have demonstrated their talents in one-year positions.

The Road Ahead

The APA has published a guide called "Guide to Graduate Programs in the United States and Canada," available through www.apaclassics.org , under the "Education" tab. Read this if you are interested in graduate study in the Classics. The PhD commonly takes a minimum of five and more often six or more years of graduate work. The MA and MAT normally take two years. Each of these is a major commitment of your time, resources, and energies. Full fellowships are sometimes available, of course, but increasingly graduate students can expect to be teaching assistants for much of their graduate career. Some will assist their faculty in research and grading, but typically today's graduate student will go far beyond "assisting" and actually teach for many of his or her graduate years. This commitment of time to the classroom has a tendency to lengthen the time it takes to obtain a degree, but it also provides job candidates with tangible proof of their teaching experience. It is not uncommon for PhD candidates to incur student loans when financial aid is lacking or partial.

These facts make it clear that choosing a career at the advanced level in the Classics demands a strong commitment. The obstacles and difficulties are many, but are not insurmountable. Students entering graduate school in the Classics should be realistic. Not all who enter a program will finish it and not all who obtain the degree will obtain a permanent academic post. Yet many other options exist, the training is widely recognized and valued, and great satisfaction results from obtaining the highest degree in your discipline and from being able to immerse yourself for a period of time in the pursuit of knowledge in a field of your own choosing. Also, nonacademic employment possibilities for Classics PhDs are discussed below.

Choosing a Field of Study

But what field should it be? As stated above, the Classics is a discipline that opens the doors onto many other specializations. Although it is not necessary (or even recommended) that you choose your ultimate specialization before beginning graduate work, you should be aware that there are a wide variety of subfields under the broad heading of "Classics" and if you have specific interests you will want to be sure the faculty at a particular PhD-granting institution can help you develop these interests. One way to group the subfields in the Classics is to follow Dr. Emily Vermeule in her 1995 APA Presidential address entitled " Archaeology and Philology: The Dirt and the Word ." Her title refers to a traditional way to view the field of the Classics, as consisting of those who primarily focus on the texts and those who primarily focus on the artifacts brought to us through archaeology. Of course, the two often overlap and some of the best work occurs when they do so. Here is a brief list of some of the more common subfields.

• The Word: Philology tends to emphasize texts and the authors who wrote them. Philologists study authors as diverse as epic poets and biographers, geographers and historians, lyric poets, philosophers, physicians, and orators. Studies can range from narrow treatments of individual words to all-encompassing discussions of literary theory and rhetoric. One can study authors who lived as early as Homer or as late as the end of the Roman Empire. Do not forget that Classics majors may go on to concentrate in Medieval Studies , while some concentrate in Comparative Literature . The study of how Classical themes and works of literature have affected later times ( Reception Studies ) is a growing field as well.
• The Dirt: Another entire aspect of antiquity concentrates upon its material remains and is equally wide in its focus. Archaeology is the main field devoted to material remains, but classical scholars regularly study coins ( Numismatics ) , inscribed objects from antiquity ( Epigraphy, Papyrology ) , and all aspects of ancient art .
• The Word and the Dirt: In many fields the word and the dirt overlap. Historians utilize a broad variety of tools to uncover what actually happened in the past. Ancient historians in our field cover the time period from Neolithic prehistory through late antiquity and span the entire geographical range of the ancient world. In their role as cultural historians, classicists study all aspects of ancient life, covering such diverse topics as slavery, women, childhood, economics, astronomy, gender, ancient science , and more.

The list just given is, of course, partial. PhDs in Classics are found in a wide array of college departments as mentioned elsewhere in this document. Anyone interested in the breadth of subjects studied by the field of the Classics should browse through L'Ann ée philologique , the annual bibliographical source for our discipline, ( http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/ ) available through many college libraries. One might also consult the programs of the annual joint meeting of the APA and the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) to get a sense of the areas scholars are currently working in. Programs may be accessed through the homepage of each organization ( www.apaclassics.org ; www.archaeological.org ). Not all PhDs for students with classics backgrounds are granted through Classics departments. Some graduate students may obtain advanced degrees from departments of Anthropology, Art History, Comparative Literature, or History.

Ideally, a student should attend graduate school at an institution that can serve his or her needs best. If the student knows what his or her sub-specialty will be, then the choices are narrowed a bit to institutions that possess faculty members who have expertise in that specialty. More commonly, however, an entering graduate student will have only a general idea of which eras or subfields interest him or her the most. A student may feel, for example, that Latin authors are more intriguing than are Greek authors. Or another may find that prose authors hold more fascination than do poets. Another might know clearly that archaeology has more allure than philology or may have a strong interest in history while another may feel that Bronze Age subjects are more intriguing than those from Hellenistic or Roman times. If you are unsure as to your field of specialty, attend a general, language-based PhD program to give you the foundation in the languages you need and then, as electives, pursue introductory courses in areas of interest. Remember that most college and university jobs for Classicists entail teaching the languages and possessing this skill will enhance your job potential.

Applying for Graduate Studies

Planning is all important here. As early as the beginning of your senior year, if not earlier, you should have:

• Discussed your plans with several Classics faculty members. (Starting to talk with faculty members as soon as you consider declaring a major will ensure that you get the advice you need as soon as possible.) Each has his or her own insights, which can help guide your choice of graduate program. Choose at least one, preferably more, to look over materials, such as the statement of purpose, many programs require.
• Prepared your curriculum vitae (academic resumé). Most colleges have an office that will help you do this. It is recommended that you consult with your professors and other academic advisors as well. An academic resumé is different from a job resumé. Be sure to list all academic accomplishments (e.g. awards, scholarships). See a sample .
• Taken the GRE exam. This test is often quite important for admission and awarding fellowships. Many courses are offered to help students prepare for the GRE.
• Arranged for three professors to write letters of recommendation for you.
• Selected a writing sample to accompany your graduate school application. This is commonly one of your best undergraduate papers. Be sure to have a faculty member help you polish it.
• Researched the graduate programs that seem most in line with your interests.

There are various things you can do before entering graduate school that will enhance not only your chances of admission, but your performance, once you are admitted.

• Become proficient in Latin and Greek. This lies at the heart of your future success. If your language skills are not as good as you, or your prospective graduate school, would like, consider attending one of the many intensive language institutes offered over the summer at various campuses throughout the country. You may also attend a post-baccalaureate Classics program as described above. A complete list of these is impossible and certainly will change over the lifetime of this guide. Use your faculty advisors, notices in classical journals, and the Internet to obtain particulars.
• Prepare yourself with a broad spectrum of undergraduate courses, exposing yourself to as many aspects of classical history and culture as possible.
• Take challenging courses. Graduate schools want to see that you can handle a heavy work load. If the opportunity is available, write an honors thesis or the equivalent at your institution.
• Acquire a reading knowledge of at least one modern language. The two most commonly required for graduate work are French and German. This will enable you to begin serious research as soon as you enter graduate school.
• If it is possible, visit Italy and/or Greece during your undergraduate years. There are several ways to do this. Many schools offer summer, semester, and year programs through their Academic Programs Abroad division or its equivalent. Students should also consider the excellent programs at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, The American Academy in Rome, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and College Year in Athens. Your faculty members will regularly receive announce­ments for such programs. There are many other study abroad opportunities as well. Be sure to talk to the Study Abroad office on your campus and your Classics faculty as well. Investigate any funding opportunities that may be available to help with your expenses.

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Biblical Studies PhD Program

Within Princeton Theological Seminary, the Biblical Studies Department regards its mission in the doctoral program as the preparation of biblical scholars and teachers in service to the church, whether as teachers in seminaries and divinity schools, colleges and major research universities, or as pastors of local congregations.

PhD Course of Study

In support of its programs, the department offers broad coverage in many of the areas and sub-disciplines in the field, with specific concentrations and offerings determined by the interests and expertise of the faculty. The driving force of the program both in Old Testament and New Testament clusters broadly around linguistic, historical, literary, and theological dimensions of textual and exegetical study.

The general aims of formal coursework are to develop familiarity with leading areas and methods of research and analysis in the study of the Old or New Testament, to acquire linguistic and historical competencies necessary to work expertly with primary sources, to prepare for the student’s Comprehensive Examinations, and to pursue specific interests relevant to the student’s scholarly development, especially in the area of the dissertation.

A typical course of study will include at its core requisite language study and a sequence of courses in biblical exegesis and theology, historical and comparative backgrounds, and reception history and consequences. In addition, a student will ordinarily take a number of electives, which allow them to shape their course of study according to personal interests. Interdisciplinary work or further specialist study can be taken from seminars offered by faculty in other departments at the Seminary or at affiliated institutions (e.g., Princeton University). Specific requirements for each of the subareas follow.

The Course of Study for Old Testament Students

The program of study in Old Testament focuses on developing within students four core competencies: philology, history, exegesis, and hermeneutics. In order to achieve these competencies, the program of study in Old Testament features the following formal course requirements:

• Four exegesis seminars or courses, normally one per semester
• One seminar in biblical theology
• One seminar in literary approaches to Old Testament interpretation One course in the history, historiography, ancient Near Eastern background, or archaeology of the Old Testament
• Two Accelerated Hebrew Reading courses (OT5010 and OT5011—not sequential), one in year 1 and one in year 2
• Four semesters of the Old Testament Research Colloquium (see below)
• Other courses as needed to attain the total number of 16 courses in a two-year residency (topical seminars, independent study, courses at Princeton University or other nearby schools)
• As part of their first two years of residency, students shall attain and demonstrate competency (often through coursework) in Greek and Northwest Semitic (Aramaic, Ugaritic, Syriac, NW Semitic Epigraphy—see below under “Minor language competency”)

The Course of Study for New Testament Students

The program of study in New Testament features the following formal course requirements:

• One seminar in Greco-Roman environment
• One seminar in second temple Jewish environment
• Two exegesis seminars or courses
• Electives, which allow students to shape their course of study, such as interdisciplinary work, or further specialist study that can be taken from seminars offered by department faculty or from doctoral offerings by other Seminary and Princeton University faculty.
• In addition, students shall attain competency in Hebrew, Greek, and one other ancient language, chosen from Aramaic, Syriac, Latin, and Coptic. Depending on the subject matter of a student’s dissertation, other language may be required.

Old Testament and New Testament Research Colloquia

As a means to foster collegiality and to promote research, the department sponsors research colloquia in both Old Testament and New Testament. Six colloquia in each subarea occur over the course of the academic year. Participants include Seminary graduate students (required during residency) and faculty as well as interested visiting scholars and faculty from the local area. Papers are circulated in writing, usually two weeks in advance of the colloquium’s meeting. Each paper will be assigned two respondents. Faculty and students share responsibility for presenting papers and responses. Students in their first year are expected to give one response to a paper, while students in their second year will give one paper (often on a topic the student anticipates exploring in the dissertation).

Topic Statement

In consultation with pertinent faculty members, a student will compose a two-page statement describing the general topic of the dissertation. This statement is to be submitted to the chair of the student’s Residency Committee in time for consideration by the department in its February meeting of the student’s second year. These topic statements are provisional and heuristic, serving both to aid in the student’s preparation of a thesis proposal in the third year and to guide decisions about the content of the student’s Comprehensive Examinations (especially Book-and-Block, Review Essay).

Comprehensive Examinations (for Old Testament doctoral students)

Students may sit for Comprehensive Examinations upon successful completion of all residency requirements and the recommendation of their Residency Committee. There are a total of six Comprehensive Examinations, which normally are to be completed by the middle of the third year of graduate work. Some parts of these examinations are taken earlier (see below). The nature and form of the Comprehensive Examinations vary, but in each, the student’s knowledge and competence in a specified area of study is to be evaluated. The six exams are as follows:

• Hebrew for students in Old Testament — (i) by May of the first year, either pass an exam in Hebrew prose or satisfactorily complete the Accelerated Hebrew Reading course and (ii) in May of the second year, pass an exam in Hebrew poetry. The department’s subcommittee on language study oversees all fulfillment of these exams.
• Northwest Semitic Epigraphy or Ugaritic
• Aramaic or Syriac [Faculty responsibility for overseeing these exams falls to the department’s subcommittee on language study.]
• Old Testament Critical Issues Exam This comprehensive exam is normally to be taken early in the fall of the second year. A bibliography of important works will be given to incoming doctoral students with the expectation that they will begin reading through the bibliography during their first year and into the summer following the first year. The bibliography will include two sections: (a) classic and important current works of Old Testament scholarship (Pentateuch, Prophets, Writings, ancient Israelite religion), and (b) a reading of important ancient Near Eastern texts in translation related to the Old Testament. After the exam is graded by faculty examiners, the results will be discussed with the student and the student’s residence committee as part of the first-year review. The review normally occurs in the fall semester of the second year.
• Prophetic Literature
• Deuteronomistic History
• Wisdom Literature
• Lyric Poetry
• Apocalyptic Writings (including New Testament)
• Ezra/Nehemiah/Chronicles
• Exegetical Competency Exam This exam will ordinarily not cover material in a student’s area of specialization (as the Book-and-Block Exam is designed to). By the end of April of the student’s second year of residency, the department will assign faculty examiners who will notify the student of the book from which the exam passage is to be taken. Students are responsible for marshaling all necessary resources in advance of the examination, which will normally be set for the week immediately following the date of a student’s Book-and-Block exam in September, with joint oral to follow as soon thereafter as possible, though ordinarily no later than the end of September of the student’s third year. The exam is to be open-book, for which students are expected to use all the resources available to them to do advanced exegetical work. Students will be given one week to study a set passage (usually a difficult one); at the end of the week, students must be ready to discuss all aspects of the text including, as relevant, language, philology, textual criticism, literary issues, historical questions, theology, and a sufficiently persuasive close reading of the text using whatever method or combination of methods the student deems appropriate. The student is expected to demonstrate independence in exegesis, an ability to use all relevant languages, and knowledge of the primary and secondary literature. At the end of the week of study, students will turn in a copy of a seven-ten page essay (need not be polished) with an argument for their proposed close reading (including footnotes or endnotes), together with additional working notes on other exegetical aspects of the biblical text to the Office of Academic Affairs, PhD Studies. These will provide a partial basis for the ensuing oral examination.
• Review Essay This essay is to focus on the status of the question of a particular issue in the field, normally a topic central to a student’s anticipated dissertation project. The essay is to involve a thorough review and evaluation of the secondary literature on the topic in question and is to show promise toward publication, either as an independent essay or as a part of the dissertation (often the “history of scholarship” chapter). Ordinarily, the essay is to be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs, PhD Studies before the Christmas break of the third year in the program. Faculty evaluations will be in writing and notification of pass or failure will be given by the end of the following January. Successful completion of these Comprehensive Examinations entitles a student to move directly to the Dissertation Proposal and the Dissertation.

Comprehensive Examinations (for New Testament doctoral students)

Students may sit for Comprehensive Examinations upon successful completion of all residency requirements and the recommendation of their Residency Committee. A total of five Comprehensive Examinations (2 Language Competency requirements plus 3 Qualifying Examinations) are normally completed by the middle of the third year of matriculation. Occasionally some of these examinations, such as those in language competence, may be taken earlier. While the nature and form of the Comprehensive Examinations vary, each evaluates the student’s knowledge and competence in a specified area of study. The five examinations are as follows:

• Greek for students in New Testament — (i) in May of the first year, pass an exam in New Testament Greek; and (ii) in May of the second year, pass an exam in Septuagint Greek.
• For students in New Testament, there are two components: (i) proficiency in Hebrew, which may be demonstrated by passing a competency exam in May (of either the first or second year) or by completing an approved course in Old Testament or New Testament, that includes a substantial Hebrew component; and (ii) proficiency in one other language chosen from the following possibilities: Aramaic, Coptic, Latin, or Syriac. Proficiency may be demonstrated through examination or through satisfactory completion of coursework during the student’s first two years of residency.
• Second Temple Judaism and the Greco-Roman World;
• Jesus, the Gospels, and Acts;
• Paul and Earliest Christianity.

The student will be provided with a bibliography for each of these three areas at the beginning of matriculation. These bibliographies are established by the New Testament faculty; occasionally they may be altered to take account of a student’s particular interests. A 3-hour examination is administered in each of these three areas of inquiry; normally one exam is given each week over a period of three weeks. The student’s oral defense of all three examinations is administered by the New Testament faculty within a week or two after their written completion.

Department of Philosophy

Classics and philosophy combined ph.d. program.

The Classics and Philosophy Program is a combined PhD program, offered by the Departments of Philosophy and of Classics at Yale, for students wishing to pursue graduate study in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Suitably qualified students may apply for entry to the program either through the Philosophy Department for the Philosophy Track, details of which are given below, or through the Classics Department for the Classics Track.

Applicants for the Philosophy track of the combined program must satisfy the general requirements for admission to the Philosophy graduate program, in addition to the requirements of the Philosophy track of the combined program.  Applicants for the Classics track of the combined program must satisfy the general requirements for admission to the Classics graduate program, in addition to the requirements of the Classics track of the combined program. Applicants to the combined program are strongly encouraged to submit a writing sample on a topic in ancient philosophy.  Applicants interested in the combined program should indicate this at the time of application; admission to the program cannot normally be considered after an offer of admission is made.

The Program is overseen by an Interdepartmental Committee consisting of: Professors David Charles, Verity Harte, and Brad Inwood, as well as the Director of Graduate Studies for Classics and the Director of Graduate Studies for Philosophy.

Requirements of the Philosophy Track of the Classics and Philosophy Program:

(I) Entry Language Requirements

It is recommended that applicants to the program possess a basic knowledge of Greek, up to the level of being able comfortably to read Plato’s Socratic dialogues and/or comparable abilities in Latin. While this level of proficiency is recommended, the minimum requirement for entry to the Philosophy Track is intermediate proficiency in at least one of Greek and Latin (where such proficiency standards could be met by attendance at an  intensive  summer school, such as the CUNY course, in which the course covers the ground typically covered by both a beginners and an intermediate course, in the summer prior to entry). Students who satisfy only the minimal level requirement in Greek and Latin must, in addition, have demonstrable proficiency in one of the Modern Languages: French, German or Italian. Such students should make clear in their applications their current level of language attainment and their plans to meet the minimum language requirement. On completion of the program, graduates will have proficiency in Greek and Latin and a reading knowledge of two of the following languages; French, German, or Italian. These will be established and assisted by diagnostic tests as follows:

A. Greek and Latin Proficiency Tests in Greek and/or Latin as follows:

Diagnostic sight translations in Greek and Latin will be given to assess the student’s progress in the Classical languages and to assist with placement into classes. These exams are offered at the beginning of the first and third semesters of registration. Diagnostics must be taken in at least one of Greek and Latin at the beginning of the first semester and repeated in the third. Diagnostics in the second language must be taken no later than the third semester. Depending on the student’s progress, additional diagnostic testing may be required in consultation with the program committee.

B. Modern Languages:

(i) Departmental language exam in German, French, or Italian by the beginning of the second year (early September). Native speakers are excused. Students have up to two attempts to pass. 

(ii) Departmental language exam in a second language of German, French, or Italian by the beginning of the third year (early September). Native speakers are excused. Students have up to two attempts to pass.

(iii) Students with sufficient language proficiency may take the tests in two languages in the first year.

(II) First-year seminar in Philosophy

(III) 14 Courses:

(i) At least 4 should be in ancient philosophy, including at least two involving original language work.

(ii) Of 10 remaining courses 5 should be in Classics, 5 in Philosophy.

(a) Of 5 in Philosophy, one should be in history of philosophy other than ancient philosophy, at least one should be in Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind and/or Philosophy of Language, and at least one should be in ethics and value theory. Students must satisfy the Logic requirement as per the general Philosophy PhD program.

The First Year Seminar, Philosophy 705, must be taken by all students in their first year.  This course counts towards the 5 courses to be taken in Philosophy but does not count toward any of the distribution groups.

(b) Of 5 in Classics, at least one course should involve original language work in Greek and at least one course should involve original language work in Latin. Courses beyond this should be chosen, in consultation with the program committee, so as best to prepare candidates for their qualifying examinations. It is expected that candidates will at least audit one course per year involving reading of a philosophical text in the original language, irrespective of courses taken.

In recognition of previous graduate-level work done at Yale or elsewhere, the Program Committee in consultation with the two Directors of Graduate Studies may recommend waiving a maximum of three courses of the requirement (including logic), not more than two of which may be counted against Philosophy graduate courses and not more than one of which may be counted against Classics graduate courses at Yale. Graduate students must take at least one class in two of the three categories listed in the Yale Philosophy department, not counting classes in ancient philosophy. Credit for course work done elsewhere does not reduce the tuition or residency requirement of the Graduate School. Whether a waiver is granted is ultimately be decided by the Graduate School.

(IV) Qualifying Exams and Papers

(i) Translation examinations in Greek and Latin, based on the  Philosophy Track Reading List , by the beginning of the 6th term in residence.

(ii) An oral examination in Greek and Latin based on the Philosophy Track Reading List, by the end of the 6th term in residence.

(iii) 2 qualifying papers, one of which must be in ancient philosophy and one of which must be on a philosophical topic other than ancient philosophy, by the end of the 5th term in residence.

(V) Dissertation Prospectus

A Dissertation Prospectus must be complete by the end of the 7th term in residence

(VI) Philosophy Department work-in-progress seminar

The Philosophy Department has a work-in-progress seminar once or twice a year where students present their work-in-progress (qualifying papers, chapters of the thesis, or other publications) and discuss other students’ work.  We strongly encourage those who are advanced to candidacy to take this seminar.

(VII)  Dissertation

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Philosophy - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The PhD program in philosophy consists of approximately 2 ½ years of coursework and 2 ½–3 ½ years of work on a dissertation, with five years of guaranteed funding and a sixth year of funding usually possible if needed. We are both a research and a teaching department. Teaching appointments are not only the principal means of supporting graduate students but are also the way that we train graduate students for a career of teaching as well as doing research in philosophy.

Applicants for admission to the Graduate School for work toward a doctoral degree in philosophy are expected to have had 18 or more credit hours in undergraduate courses in the subject.

Students in the doctoral program must satisfy a variety of requirements, including the completion of coursework. The department has a diversified faculty that can supervise the writing of doctoral dissertations on a wide range of topics. The department makes available teaching assistantships and then graduate part-time instructorships to its doctoral students, and assists with job placement.

Students wishing to pursue doctoral work in philosophy should note the  doctoral degree requirements  and consult the PhD program portion  and the Graduate Admissions portion of the Department of Philosophy website.

Requirements

• Coursework : Students must take a minimum of 45 hours of approved graduate study, in addition to the 30 hours of dissertation credit hours required by the Graduate School.
• Distribution requirements : 27 hours must be devoted to satisfying specific distribution requirements.
• Language and technical requirement : Students must satisfy any language and/or technical requirements that the department judges to be necessary given the area of the dissertation.
• Logic : Students must demonstrate proficiency in propositional and first-order logic
• Diagnostic paper : Students must submit a diagnostic paper, generally at the beginning of the third semester of graduate study.
• Qualifying papers : Students must submit a qualifying paper, generally at the beginning of the fifth semester of graduate study. Students may advance in the program only if the qualifying paper is judged acceptable by the examining committee and approved by the department.
• Prospectus and oral examination : After passing the qualifying paper, students must assemble a prospectus committee of five faculty members, including a Chair/Advisor and (typically) an outside member. Students must submit a written prospectus to this committee, who, after judging the prospectus acceptable, will conduct an oral exam on the prospectus and related topics.
• Dissertation and oral defense : Students must write a dissertation that is acceptable to the dissertation committee, and defend the dissertation in a public, oral defense at a time deemed appropriate by the committee.
• Students are expected to make reasonable progress toward the PhD, and will be evaluated by the department in this regard each spring.

For detailed requirements, consult the PhD section  of the department's website and especially the  Official PhD Requirements and Additional Program Information  (PDF).

Recommended Plan of Study

Ideally, PhD students in their first two years will take and complete three courses per semester, for a total of 12 courses (36 credit hours) by the end of the second year. The minimum number of courses PhD students can take to make good progress in the first two years of the program is five courses per year.

At the beginning of the third semester in the program, students turn in a diagnostic paper and will receive feedback from three faculty members.

At the beginning of the fifth semester in the program, students turn in the qualifying paper, which will be evaluated anonymously; this is a qualifying event that the student must pass in order to be considered for advancement to candidacy in the PhD program.

In the fifth semester, students continue to take courses in order to complete the required 45 credit hours (typically 15 courses). Ideally, students should have completed coursework by the end of their fifth semester and should then begin work on the prospectus.

Ideally, students will submit and defend their prospectus sometime in their sixth semester. Students are eligible to sign up for up to 10 dissertation hours before they pass their prospectus exam. The remainder of the required 30 dissertation hours are used in the fourth and fifth (and possibly sixth) years in the program while completing the dissertation.

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University of Fribourg

Department of English

English Philology

Philology, the study of medieval texts, is a distinct field of study at undergraduate and graduate levels within the English department. Graduate students in English Philology can benefit from the resources of Fribourg's interdisciplinary Medieval Institute as well as close collaboration with medievalists at other Swiss and English universities. The Professor of Philology at Fribourg is Elisabeth Dutton, who specialises in early English drama and medieval English devotional compilations and women's writing. She currently heads two major research projects on drama in different institutions: medieval Oxford colleges, and English and French medieval convents.

Professor who is eligible to supervise theses:

Prof. Elisabeth Dutton

Areas of specialisation :

• Early English drama
• Medieval English devotional compilations 
• Women's writing  

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PhD in Literary and Philological Cultures

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• Sciences of antiquity and Sciences of books and documents
• Italian Studies and Romance Philology

Curriculum 1: Sciences of antiquity and Sciences of books and documents

• Aegean Civilizations
• Greek language and literature
• Latin language and literature
• Classical and late antique philology
• Linguistics
• Digital Humanities
• Bibliography
• Paleography
• Classical heritage

Curriculum 2: Italian Studies and Romance Philology

• Italian literature
• Contemporary Italian literature
• Italian linguistics and philology
• Literary criticism
• Romance Philology
• Linguistics of Italian language

Nicola Grandi

Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica - FICLIT

Via Zamboni 32 Bologna (BO)

[email protected]

• AMS PhD thesis (in Italian) Published

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PhD in Philology

• English Language Minor Studies

Homepage / Doctoral (PHD) Studies / Doctoral degree (PhD) in Philology

Admission to doctoral studies in the field of Philology in 2021 will not be carried out.

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assistant professor at the Faculty of English Philology (1)

Job information, offer description.

assistant professor (member of the teaching staff - 300 teaching hours per academic year)

Requirements

Only those who meet the requirements set out in Article 113 and 118 of the Act on Higher Education and Science, dated 20 July, 2018 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 1668),  and the following eligibility criteria  may enter the competition.

Key requirements:

• holding a doctoral degree in the field of English Philology
• a minimum of 5 years of teaching experience in the field of English philology at a higher education institution
• active participation in scientific conferences
• good knowledge of remote education platforms (Teams and Moodle preferred)
• readiness to start work at State University of Applied Sciences (PANS in Włocławek) as the candidate's primary employer as specified in Art. 120, section 2 of Higher Education and Science Act
• readiness to work on weekdays and at weekends
•  speaking fluent Polish

Additional skills an advantage:

•  A good knowledge of either linguistics of the English language or literaturę of English-speaking countries.

Documents required:

• application form to enter the competition addressed to the Rector of State University of Applied Sciences in Włocławek;
• Curriculum Vitae;
• certified copies of documents conferring an academic degree or title (starting with the M.A. diploma and onwards);
• list of publications (including the name of publishing house, year of publication and number of pages;
• documents regarding practical achievements, if required;
• declaration under Art. 113 and 118 of Act on Higher Education and Science;
• declaration that State University of Applied Sciences in Włocławek will be the candidate's primary employer – once the competition is resolved in candidate's favour;
• declaration of consent to the processing of personal data contained in the competition entry for the purpose of conducting the recruitment process;
• a statement of consent to employment terms specified by the institution;
• lecturer evaluation results from the current/previous place of employment if such an evaluation procedure took place within the last 4 calendar years. If a lecturer did not undergo such an evaluation procedure it is required to enclose a written statement of such a fact.
• xeroxcopies of other documents certifying education, qualifications and professional experience of the candidate.
• a statement declaring one`s fluent command of Polish- applies to non-Polish citizens only. 

Additional Information

Additional information:

The said documents are to be sent via post to:

Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych we Włocławku

ul. 3 Maja 17

87-800 Włocławek

or submitted in person to the Human Resources Department at 17 3 Maja Street, room 31.

Alternatively, they may be sent via epuap: https://epuap.gov.pl/wps/portal/strefa-klienta/katalog-spraw/profil-urzedu/pwsz_we_wloclawku  

Documents submitted in any other way will be disregarded.

Documents are to be submitted by June 13.2024, 3 pm.

Submissions past this deadline will be disregarded.

Documents are to be submitted in a closed envelope that reads:  

„Konkurs na stanowisko Adiunkta nr 1 w Zakładzie Filologii Angielskiej Państwowej Akademii Nauk Stosowanych we Włocławku” (Konkurs Nr 1).

The competition will be decided by August 1 st 2024.The employment period is due to start beginning from 1st October 2024,  in full time capacity for a fixed time period based on an employment agreement, for 300 teaching hours per academic year. Employment conditions are non-negotiable. State University of Applied Sciences in Włocławek reserves the right to cancel the competition without designating the winning candidate. Failure to inform a candidate on the result of the competition is to be understood as failure to win the competition. Winning the competition is not to be understood as a guarantee of employment. State University of Applied Sciences in Włocławek does not provide accommodation.

Declaration forms are available on www. pans.wloclawek.pl (bookmark BIP)

N.B. The content of declaration forms must not be altered.

Work Location(s)

Where to apply.