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Anyone interested in Egyptology?

Hey! I'm thinking of applying for Egyptology for uni, any tips and advice? Or is anyone else interested...?
Original post by emrex03
Hey! I'm thinking of applying for Egyptology for uni, any tips and advice? Or is anyone else interested...?


Hello there! I graduated from Liverpool with a BA in Egyptology, and now study at Cambridge. I can answer pretty much any question on it, so fire away! Always great to see a wannabe Egyptology student. Where are you interested in applying?

My main tip is more of an insight, really - depending on where you study, it's a much more language-heavy course than some people realise. At Liverpool, for example, half of the course was language based, i.e. hieroglyphs and Coptic. Oxford is also very language heavy. Cambridge, which is an Archaeology course, is less so, but you can still take lots of hieroglyphs, and I think Swansea is about half language as well, depending on what languages you pick.

Some of my friends carried on studying Egyptology, and others got jobs after graduating. Their jobs range from excellent to not very good - and that's not me being snobbish, they'll say that themselves. If you want a job in Egyptology, you probably need to study it at postgraduate level - at least an MA, if not a PhD. But, if you 'just' do the BA, you can do plenty of jobs. I have friends in politics, marketing, teaching etc, so it doesn't really rule much out.

For introductory books, I'd recommend How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, by Collier and Manley, and also Ian Shaw's History of Ancient Egypt, which is a bit dry, but very comprehensive. For a more 'fun' overview, try listening to Dominic Perry's History of Egypt podcast. If you want any more recommendations, or some on specific areas, I can help, too.

Overall, it's a fantastic degree, which is actually very interdisciplinary. I don't feel as though it's limited me at all. But, I'd definitely say you need to go into it knowing what to expect, as so many people think it's basically just archaeology of Egypt - which it's not, unless you do that specific course at UCL.

@oh.ME.DEA is the only other person I've seen interested on here recently (for Classics and Egyptology).
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 2
Avatar for emrex03
emrex03
OP
12
Thank you so much!

I'm very interested in Oxford because it is specifically Egyptology and Liverpool, but I'm continuing to look into Swansea just because there are so few places in the UK that actually do it...
I took an online course for 6 weeks in Coursera by Penn State University which I really enjoyed and really helped gain more insight as to what type of things I may be looking at at uni.
I'm definitely more of a language-based person so that's great to hear that there is lots on languages.

Ok...so questions:
1) What kind of skills are unis looking for to apply for the course?
2) How much is archaeology and anthropology based compared with the language side?
Wow that sounds interesting.


Is Egyptology about Ancient Egypt???
I wish I was rich enough to study such an unemployable subject
Reply 5
Avatar for emrex03
emrex03
OP
12
Original post by Adam283972
Wow that sounds interesting.


Is Egyptology about Ancient Egypt???

Yep basically
Original post by Adam283972
Wow that sounds interesting.


Is Egyptology about Ancient Egypt???


It is indeed! A BA in Egyptology would cover archaeology, history, religion, material culture, and texts (hieroglyphs and also those in translation, like a literature class), all about ancient Egypt. You can also do more practical archaeology, too, depending on what classes you pick, or even languages such as Akkadian, or classical languages.

Original post by Adam283972
I wish I was rich enough to study such an unemployable subject


It's not unemployable at all. You learn all of the same skills as someone with a history degree, for example, and more. If you want to do it, you should.
Original post by Edminzodo
It is indeed! A BA in Egyptology would cover archaeology, history, religion, material culture, and texts (hieroglyphs and also those in translation, like a literature class), all about ancient Egypt. You can also do more practical archaeology, too, depending on what classes you pick, or even languages such as Akkadian, or classical languages.



It's not unemployable at all. You learn all of the same skills as someone with a history degree, for example, and more. If you want to do it, you should.

No trust me I am too poor to study such a degree haha . I am currently in my second year in university doing English Lit to be an English teacher
Original post by emrex03
Thank you so much!

I'm very interested in Oxford because it is specifically Egyptology and Liverpool, but I'm continuing to look into Swansea just because there are so few places in the UK that actually do it...
I took an online course for 6 weeks in Coursera by Penn State University which I really enjoyed and really helped gain more insight as to what type of things I may be looking at at uni.
I'm definitely more of a language-based person so that's great to hear that there is lots on languages.

Ok...so questions:
1) What kind of skills are unis looking for to apply for the course?
2) How much is archaeology and anthropology based compared with the language side?


No worries. I had an interview at Oxford (but got rejected, lol), so I can tell you a bit about that. The Egyptology community is also fairly small, and I know people who studied at Oxford (and are studying there now), so I can ask them a bit more if you need to know any specifics.

1) Okay, to be honest, it's not *massively* competitive, unless you're at Oxbridge. I have heard of people getting rejected, but most people who show a passion for ancient history, archaeology, and ancient languages (and of course, meet the grade requirements) are accepted. In my personal statement, I wrote about some work experience I arranged for myself in an archive, my EPQ on the 19th Dynasty of Egypt, and a hieroglyphs course I did for fun in the summer of Y12, so you could definitely talk about your PSU course. I would definitely recommend trying hieroglyphs before you start the course, however, as this is what most people struggle with, as opposed to history and archaeology.

2) I can answer this question specifically for Liverpool. In Y1, you do 25% hieroglyphs (classical Middle Egyptian), 25% history and archaeology (an introductory class), 25% culture (one class on material culture and the other on written culture in translation), and the final 25% is a free choice of a minor subject (but 90% of people do archaeology, some people do ancient history or anthropology but that's rarer). In second year, you do half language and half history/culture. On the language side, you continue with Middle Egyptian, and also do Late Egyptian (later hieroglyphs) and Coptic. On the culture side, you do religion, a module on death, an archaeology module based off your practical fieldwork in the summer (which is arranged for you and everyone has to do), as well as a module on temples. In third year, you can choose to do more language or more archaeology, but you do have to take Old Egyptian either way, which is early hieroglyphs. You also do a dissertation. If you do the archaeology pathway, you do social history, foreign relations, settlement archaeology, and a class called 'Past, Present, and Future', which is a topical issues class. If you do language, you'll do advanced Late Egyptian, advanced hieroglyphic texts, and also a historical grammar and linguistic module. You also write a 10,000 word dissertation. So, as you can see, it's roughly 50/50, although I will add that Liverpool offers joint degrees, e.g. BA Egyptology and Archaeology, or BA Egyptology and Ancient History, where you can do just the history side or just the language side (after first year), and complement it with another subject. This option seems to be becoming lot more popular in recent years. I know that Oxford has a roughly 67/33 split as far as I am aware, and it's arranged quite differently. You can pick either an extra language or archaeology. I think Swansea makes you do some complementary modules in classical stuff or archaeology, too, and Cambridge makes you at least do introductory archaeology, as far as I am aware.

If you have any questions about any modules in particular, let me know!
Original post by Adam283972
No trust me I am too poor to study such a degree haha . I am currently in my second year in university doing English Lit to be an English teacher


Most people I know who studied it aren't rich. And most have decent jobs now. But I get what you mean. Good luck with your course - I wanted to do English a long time ago, but changed my mind.
Original post by Edminzodo
Hello there! I graduated from Liverpool with a BA in Egyptology, and now study at Cambridge. I can answer pretty much any question on it, so fire away! Always great to see a wannabe Egyptology student. Where are you interested in applying?

My main tip is more of an insight, really - depending on where you study, it's a much more language-heavy course than some people realise. At Liverpool, for example, half of the course was language based, i.e. hieroglyphs and Coptic. Oxford is also very language heavy. Cambridge, which is an Archaeology course, is less so, but you can still take lots of hieroglyphs, and I think Swansea is about half language as well, depending on what languages you pick.

Some of my friends carried on studying Egyptology, and others got jobs after graduating. Their jobs range from excellent to not very good - and that's not me being snobbish, they'll say that themselves. If you want a job in Egyptology, you probably need to study it at postgraduate level - at least an MA, if not a PhD. But, if you 'just' do the BA, you can do plenty of jobs. I have friends in politics, marketing, teaching etc, so it doesn't really rule much out.

For introductory books, I'd recommend How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, by Collier and Manley, and also Ian Shaw's History of Ancient Egypt, which is a bit dry, but very comprehensive. For a more 'fun' overview, try listening to Dominic Perry's History of Egypt podcast. If you want any more recommendations, or some on specific areas, I can help, too.

Overall, it's a fantastic degree, which is actually very interdisciplinary. I don't feel as though it's limited me at all. But, I'd definitely say you need to go into it knowing what to expect, as so many people think it's basically just archaeology of Egypt - which it's not, unless you do that specific course at UCL.

@oh.ME.DEA is the only other person I've seen interested on here recently (for Classics and Egyptology).


Hi. Thanks for the mention here! Hi @emrex03. Like Edminzodo said I'm interested in applying for Classics with Egyptology. We seem to be a pretty small unit so it's awesome to see someone else hoping to apply for egyptology! :smile:

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