<p>Does anyone know where I can get some sort of ranking on the Classics departments at LACs and universities?</p>
<p>Seems hard to peg down, and DS is very committed to Classsics, so I don't want him to find a great school that he loves, that looks fine for Classics (because how do you judge when everything seems word-of-mouth?), only to find that the school he loves doesn't have the depth and breadth that he needs to sustain 4 years.</p>
<p>How do we REALLY know if a department is strong.....it seems when you ask about ANY department at ANY school, the answer is "great department, great major!"</p>
<p>Here’s a fairly complete list of Classics departments at LACs and universities:</p>
<p>[Classics</a> Departments](<a href=“http://www.tlg.uci.edu/index/departments.html]Classics”>Electronic Resources for Classicists)</p>
<p>Here’s a ranking of university programs:</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Classics](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area2.html]NRC”>NRC Rankings in Classics)</p>
<p>Here’s some fairly detailed data about several departments. It’d be more of interest to a prospective graduate student but may still be of use, as it discusses the strengths of each department.</p>
<p>[The</a> Classical Journal](<a href=“Golden Tiger Casino | $1500 Bonus | United States 2022”>http://classicaljournal.org/study_classics%20surveys.php)</p>
<p>Now, what to look for? That varies depending on one’s interests, but I’d look for the following things:
[ul][<em>]Introductory and intermediate Greek offered every year (first four semesters)
[</em>]Introductory and intermediate Latin offered every year (first four semesters)
[<em>]At least 2 advanced Greek and 2 advanced Latin courses available every semester (fifth semester and up)
[</em>]At least 3 archaeology/civilization/lit in translation courses available every semester
[li]At least five full-time tenured faculty members (ignore visiting, emeritus, and adjunct professors)[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Bonus points if the department:
[ul][<em>]Has a chapter of Eta Sigma Phi
[</em>]Sponsors an excavation
[<em>]Has ties with the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies and/or College Year in Athens
[</em>]Sponsors its own summer programs[/ul]</p>
<p>When checking course offerings, consult the registrar’s website to see actual course listings. Do NOT trust the undergraduate bulletin, as only a fraction of the courses listed will be offered in any given semester or year.</p>
<p>Holy Cross probably has the best Classics department for a LAC.</p>
<p>For public universities Berkley, Michigan, and UNC-Chapel Hill are phenomenal, and rank higher than many private universities.</p>
<p>Private Universities: Any Ivy or Duke</p>
<p>@warblers: How recent are the NRC rankings? I thought they hadn’t done any since the 90s.</p>
<p>
I linked to the old rankings, which are currently the only ones available. The NRC is actually in the process of compiling a new set, which began in 2006, but like others I’m increasingly growing skeptical that they’ll ever see the light of day.</p>
<p>I would make minor changes to the list (Texas up a couple spots, Harvard and Princeton down a couple, NYU and Penn up multiple spots), but by and large it’s still reasonably accurate.</p>
<p>Woo-Hoo! Classics week on CC!</p>
<p>One quick comment on warblersrule86’s excellent comments. </p>
<p>You’ll really only find that many offerings in a large(ish) university. If you’re looking at (S)LACs you’ll see the first two (elementary/intermediate languages) from a good department, but typically only a single upper level course in each language. Heck, even at Penn we typically only got one upper level undergrad course per language (though they do have a second course number “in reserve” if demand warrants).</p>
<p>Two other thing to look for: Greek & Latin Prose Composition being open to undergrads, and an Honors Thesis sequence.</p>
<p>And my alma mater: [School</a> of Arts & Sciences - University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.classics.upenn.edu/]School”>http://www.classics.upenn.edu/)</p>
<p>Finally, don’t automatically discount your state flagship university - many have large departments and superb faculty even if their overall academic reputations may be “average”.</p>