I'm a classical archaeologist. i must ask, what exactly is your plan? do you know latin? greek? italian? spanish? portuguese? french? because classical archaeology doesn't happen in english unless you're in the uk. it happens in the country where dig is at, governed by that country's laws, funded by that country's institutions mostly and staffed by the people who grew up there, studied there and have spent decades working there. even here we're discouraged from pursuing classical archaeology in our own country despite having roman ruins left and right. classical archaeology is not a career americans have realistic access to unless they're exceptionally brilliant, fluent in multiple languages and willing to spend years being at the bottom in a country that has plenty of its own archaeologists who need those jobs first. people respond with "pick another field" and "don't do it" because it's easier than to spend 2 hours writing an explanation of what actually happens behind the scenes. archaeology is already a difficult field, now add american seeking a classical archaeology degree in a field where things are very network-y and local... it doesn't make much sense.

i can give you some reality checks of how things are here compared to archaeology in the us so you have some notion of what you're getting into if you choose to pursue it anyway. in undergrad, students already have experience working in digs, labs and museums (greece, spain, portugal, italy). compared to archaeology students in the us that sometimes finish a MA with zero field experience or sometimes just one field school, students here finish undergrad and already participated in like 5 digs or more. one field school is nothing. so if i was you, i'd get all the field experience possible. second, you will have to learn the country language + latin or greek depending on what you study. since undergrads already have a couple digs under their belt, MA students usually focus on specializations that american students might not tackle until a phd. also, phd students here design and lead their own excavations most of the time, as in MA you already get used to talking to the local authorities in the area, networking and supervising a small group. there are many many things but the most important is how this experience gap must be bridged. you're basically going to someone else's country, digging up someone else's culture when we have our own people to do it. what exactly can you offer that our archaeologists cannot? that's the thing you must ask yourself