<p>All four have superb classics departments. I would choose based on fit, unless you’re interested in classical archaeology, in which case Penn would certainly be the best option. (Cornell would be a distant second, with Chicago and Columbia far behind either.) Cornell is the best of the bunch for Indo-European linguistics, if that’s your cup of tea. </p>
<p>If you decide to branch out into other ancient languages, Chicago has by far the best offerings. Penn and Cornell are more limited but still quite good. Columbia’s offerings are extremely sparse.</p>
<p>If you’re not a fan of core requirements, Chicago and Columbia are probably not the best choices.</p>