<p>Hey all, I am currently an undergrad student majoring in Classics. I am interested in going into a career in government/politics after my undergrad. I was first led to this by considering a career in the foreign service, and I admit I am still really looking into this. This may seem a strange concern, even after learning Latin and Greek, I am not sure I would be able to master speaking a contemporary language. Is this a normal anxiety? More importantly, I was wondering what kind of other jobs might be available for someone interested in politics, and should I be considering law school to open up more opportunities? Any info you could give me would be awesome....</p>
<p>anyone at all?</p>
<p>There's a wide array of government jobs. </p>
<p>If you are most interested in being right in the political process, you will want to get experience on a congressional staff while in college (although that is not required). See if you can work as an intern over the summer or during a DC semester. If you can't go to DC, then intern in a local congressional office or for a state or local office-holder. Other internships/jobs that would help you get a congressional staff position are ones where you work for an interest group.</p>
<p>If you want to go in the foreign service, I would think that your classical training would be great preparation for modern languages. However, the State Dept also looks for people who know about international politics and history as well as culture. Keep in mind that if you do this sort of work, you will be expected to support whatever administration is in power -- at least in public.</p>
<p>JP, I thought I found my twin for a second because I'm also a classics major thinking about Foreign service/law school asking the same questions you are.... weird. Most of the Classics people I know think they're going to get a PhD or teach high school Latin.</p>
<p>And there was a guy named JP in my Greek class last semester, too. Even weirder....</p>
<p>But I've also experienced some of the same doubts you have. I've heard, though, that classical languages <em>can</em> help you learn some of the Indo-European languages required for a job in the state dept. Latin especially can give you a boost for Romance languages, and I've heard that the Cyrillic alphabet is based, at least in part, off of Greek.</p>
<p>I've also read that classics majors, on average, do quite well on the LSAT.</p>
<p>I think that you will have an easier time learning Romance languages after studying Latin. What you're going to need is fluency. Doing a Fulbright scholarship or joining the Peace Corps would be an excellent way to really learn Spanish, French, etc. plus they would be a great extracurricular to put on the law school app. And yes, I think Classics is an excellent segue into law school, but just be 100% that you want to go to law school because you want to do law. You can always specialize in some kind of international law. I know that US News says the best places for that include Georgetown and Columbia, among other big names I can't remember. Who knows? You might be able to work as a lawyer at a US embassy. I personally think that would be fascinating work.</p>
<p>But if you're set on doing the traditional foreign service route, I think you would need to travel in some capacity and then go to grad school in order to develop the depth of knowledge required to pass the foreign service exam. Here's a link to a ranking of the top ten schools for a policy career in International Relations (master's degree): </p>
<p>Classics is a wonderful major, but reading Vergil and Herodotus is a world away from knowing political economy and 20th century Latin American history. There's a good reason that Oxbridge created the PPE (politics, economics, and philosophy) degree program in 1920--- because the powers that be knew that a classical education, prestigious and intellectually rigorous though it may be, just wasn't adequate preparation for a career in the diplomatic service. Times changed, the world got infinitely more complex, and the days of the gentleman Greek scholars going to work for the Foreign Office were over. It's the same thing here. You need specialization. Good luck!</p>
<p>If there's a diplomat in residence at your school, talk to him. There are also internships abroad offered by the State Department (I believe housing is covered for international positions).</p>