Best prestigious schools for Classics major?

<p>I am just starting to investigate the college market, and am wondering what the CC community's ideas are. </p>

<p>I am hoping to double major in Classics and either psychology or political science. </p>

<p>I will have completed 4 years of high school latin by Sophomore year, and will have completed two more years of independent study latin when I graduate. </p>

<p>I am specifically interested in schools that offer good scholarships and financial aid for those intending to study classics. I keep hearing about these offers, but am curious as to what schools in particular are establishing such incentives. I have heard of Princeton's program from a very helpful CC user. Do others know specifics on this program? What are some other high ranking schools with Classic program incentives? (I'm aiming for Ivies and/or Top LACs) </p>

<p>Thank you all very much!</p>

<p>College of the Holy Cross offers three merit scholarships—two Rev. Henry Bean, S.J., Scholarships (annually) and the Rev. William Fitzgerald, S.J., Scholarship (every four years)—to incoming students with distinguished academic records who major in the Classics at Holy Cross. Recipients of these scholarships are granted full tuition, independent of need.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot! I'll look into this program.</p>

<p>Possibly St. Johns (MD).</p>

<p>Okay, thank you.</p>

<p>Harvard and UC Berkeley have excellent departments, among many others. Also (if you are a girl) look at Bryn Mawr and at Oberlin, if you are interested in an LAC with strong classics departments.</p>

<p>A lot of Ivies have top-10 classics departments. Columbia gets bonus points for requiring all of their undergrads to get a grounding in the Classics as part of their Core (UChicago has a similar curriculum)</p>

<p>St. Johns College, Shimer College, Deep Springs</p>

<p>All are very VERY unique colleges but have very good curriculum in the Classics</p>

<p>^ I think the OP was referring to "Classics" as in Latin and Ancient Greek language, literature, culture, and history---not "the classics" as in St. Johns' Great Books curriculum. St. Johns is very strong in the latter but not strong in the former.</p>

<p>I'd be wary about most LACs for Classics. We looked into this last year when D1 was gung-ho on Classics (she still has some interest, but her overall academic interests have broadened a bit). Many LACs have some very good people on their Classics faculties, but their Classics faculties tend to be quite small, often only 3 or 4 people who need to teach the introductory language courses as well as more advanced courses for which there is very limited demand. As a consequence, very few LACs can offer the breadth and depth of curriculum that someone coming in with, say four or more years of Latin and several years of Greek would be looking for. There are a few exceptions. If you're female, Bryn Mawr is outstanding; Wellesley is quite strong, and Barnard is fairly strong but also allows you to take as many courses as you want at Columbia. If you're male, Haverford is OK and lets you take as many classes as you want at Bryn Mawr, a short 5-min. shuttle away. Holy Cross is also excellent but overall not quite as strong a school as these (and my D had no interest in a Catholic school).</p>

<p>Most of the Ivies are terrific, especially Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, and Columbia, but Cornell and Penn are quite strong as well. Among non-Ivies, UC Berkeley, Michigan, and Chicago are perennially ranked in the top 10 in Classics. And I wouldn't be scared off by the size of a Berkeley or a Michigan in a field like Classics. They tend to have relatively few undergrad philosophy majors, which means in your major you'll be taking small classes with some of the top faculty in the field, and their Classics faculties are enormous, with broad-ranging intellectual interests and bodies of expertise.</p>

<p>bclintonk-you had so so much useful information. Thank you VERY much. Right now, I'm looking towards a bunch of LAC's for target and safeties, but am really hoping to gain admission to an Ivy, because of their strong Classics. </p>

<p>Thanks to everyone, you are all so helpful.</p>

<p>It is true that LAC's have small Classics faculties, but at least at Oberlin, it is a strong faculty and a popular major -- with as many students in the major as some Universities, and many students supplement their study with study abroad for a semester or a year. There may be other similar LAC exceptions.
You may be surprised how few students study classics even at larger schools -- at Harvard there were only 30 "concentrators" in 2007.</p>

<p>Thanks for the information mamenyu. I will be adding Oberlin to my "look at" list. =]</p>

<p>The Department of Classics at Holy Cross has ten full time faculty members, which makes it the largest Classics program at a liberal arts college.</p>

<p>college3231, to give you a little more information about classics at Oberlin... I'm in my first year there studying classical archaeology, and the program is wonderful. The professors are nice, knowledgeable, and very accessible, and the sense of community in the department is great. I was pleasantly surprised at how many opportunities there are - in addition to offerings within the classics program, there are courses on classical philosophy and religion in those departments, and we also have a classical archaeologist in the art history department who teaches a number of courses about ancient art and architecture. We're also part of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, and we run a dig in Italy every summer with students from Oberlin and Oxford - so students are really encouraged to go abroad and do hands-on research. (Our psychology and politics programs are also very strong.)</p>

<p>One thing you may want to be aware of is that since we don't have a graduate program, we only offer eight semesters of Latin - so if you're coming in with six years already under your belt, you will be running out of Latin courses very quickly. It is, however, pretty easy to arrange a private reading if you want to continue studying Latin at a more advanced level; or, having satisfied that requirement, you could use the extra room in your schedule to work on another language or another major. It would be a good idea to contact one of the Latin professors and find out what your options would be.</p>

<p>Regarding financial aid and incentives, AFAIK we don't have any scholarships or incentives for students entering specific majors. Oberlin does give very good merit aid, though. My stats were similar to yours and I got $7,000/yr (probably would have been higher if I hadn't applied ED).</p>

<p>Thanks very much quaere, lots of helpful information. =]</p>

<p>I'd consider Stanford also. I don't know how much time he spends with undergrads, but Victor Davis Hanson is on the faculty. He's my favorite blogger and if it were me - not my son - I'd love to spend four years hanging around with people like him discussing classics. Here's a link to his blog if anyone is interested:</p>

<p>Works</a> and Days</p>

<p>or:</p>

<p>Victor</a> Davis Hanson's Private Papers</p>

<p>I also have a mancrush on VDH, but I think he spends more time at CSU Fresno and on his farm...</p>

<p>Bowdoin has a small but strong classics department. I would say that it is on the stronger side of the departments along with english, and art history, and those similar departments. they also have archeology</p>

<p>If you have a choice, don't consider any school that has fewer than five classics professors (full, associate, assistant) - don't count lecturers. With your level of preparation, you are going to need access to lots of upper-level electives, and many if not most wonderful small schools (including top LACs), with excellent classics faculty, won't be able to offer them.</p>

<p>Brown
Bryn Mawr (or Haverford)
Chicago
Columbia (or Barnard)
Cornell
Duke
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Michigan
Penn
Princeton
Stanford
UNC Chapel Hill
Yale</p>

<p>

I'm pretty sure he doesn't spend much (if any) time interacting with undergrads, but Stanford has several other faculty members at least as good (Josiah Ober, Ian Hodder, etc.).</p>

<p>Entirely off topic, but I highly recommend Mary Beard's blog as well. Very quirky and entertaining. :D She's the Sather professor at Berkeley this year -- wish I were there!</p>