Hi, I’m currently a senior and in the midst of my college search and was wondering which schools had the best undergrad classics programs. (I prefer middle-sized universities, so not really LAC or BIG state univ, but I do have exceptions) I’m under the impression that from the ivies, Harvard has the best classics program… is this true? But I really like Yale as a school so was wondering how Yale’s classics dept compared to Harvard’s and other ivies. Some other schools I’m looking at are Stanford, UC Berkeley, UNC, UT Austin, Cornell, Tufts, and Pitt. Any comment or advice would be really appreciated! Thanks!!
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Odd timing, as this is being discussed extensively in this thread:
No, but an undergraduate won’t notice much of a difference in strength.
It’s a very strong program. Yale has large collections of ancient art and papyri, which is nice.
All great options, though Tufts and Pitt are a notch or two below the others. UNC has the advantage of easy cross-registration with Duke, which is also a top 10 (arguably top 5) classics program.
Which state are you in? If you’re in California, UCLA is extremely strong option, and some of the other UCs (esp. UCSC) are also very good. SFSU is the best among the Cal States. If you’re in Pennsylvania, Penn State has the best program in the state after Penn. If you’re in another state, consider applying to your state flagship if it has a good classics program – which many of them do.
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@warblersrule Thanks so much! Does Duke have a stronger program than UNC or are they about the same? And I live in Pennsylvania, but not looking too much at Penn, just for personal reasons… Does Penn State have a better program than Pitt?
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They’re both top-notch programs. No program is strong in everything, so each department has its own strengths, but academic differences are negligible relative to the other differences between Duke and UNC. There is a lot of collaboration between the two universities, both in classes offered (some classes are even team-taught by Duke and UNC professors) and in excavations (they share a field school in Greece).
Yes. Penn State is also very good for related studies and the languages of the ancient Middle East (if you were interested in learning Hebrew or ancient Egyptian as well, for example).
That said, Pitt has a perfectly good classics program, and it may be a much better fit if you prefer urban colleges or dislike aspects of Penn State’s social and athletic scene. Temple is also a good option.
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Look at some LAC’s like Holy Cross.
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