<p>Did everyone start taking Greek or Latin since high school? Am I at a disadvantage because I only know English and Spanish? Spanish is my first language if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Nope. I didn't take Greek or Latin in high school; I took German. I didn't decide to major in Classics until my sophomore year of college.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people take Latin in High School (not Greek so much), but that's no disadvantage because those people place out of Latin 101. The students in your Latin classes will be at your level.</p>
<p>In 6th grade, when we get to choose a language, I asked my brother if JHS had Latin, and he laughed and asked me, "Why would they teach a language no one speaks?"</p>
<p>When I did the JHU CAA/CTY program, I wanted Latin, but my CR wasn't high enough. I had to wind up taking engineering and Pharmocology/Toxicology.</p>
<p>Over the summer, I took Intro. to Roman Culture @ JHU, and I loved it. It seriously got me thinking about majoring in Classics. </p>
<p>I'm now a prospective linguistics major graduating high school with 6 years of Spanish, 3 years of American Sign Language, 2 years of Japanese, 2 semesters of French, and Korean since birth. I wonder if it would've been different if I had been able to take Latin.</p>
<p>My school has Latin, but I didn't find out about it until sophmore year and by then I was already in Spanish 3... I felt it'd be a waste of credits to switch languages. =/</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
but a lot of people in varied careers are classics majors. there's toni morrison and jk rowling representing the writers, and ted turner representing the bazillionaires.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Didn't Turner major in economics since his dad was upset when he heard he wanted to pursue classics?</p>
<p>I take both and not sure if Greek really > Latin. Definitely harder than Latin, but most Greek authors vastly > Latin authors.</p>
<p>No, I'd have to disagree with that. I'd have Vergil's babies any day.</p>
<p>I always side with Latin. I still think Greek was invented to destroy souls, but it is an incredibly interesting language, has a wide range of diverse authors (male and female), and looks better on a page than Latin does. But who can deny that the orderliness and austerity of Latin isn't something to love? Vergil is totally my baby daddy too. I got interested in Classics because of the Aeneid.</p>
<p>That probably didn't help much. It seems to be more of a matter of personal disposition than intrinsic quality of the language that makes one Classicist decide to be a Hellenist or Latinist. </p>
<p>Not taking Latin/Greek in high school isn't a disadvantage at all. In fact, most departments welcome anyone interested. The only problem, at least at my university, is that you might have to take summer courses to fill degree requirements/bulk up if you're interested in doing it on the graduate level. And if you're interested in doing it on the graduate level, I would highly recommended looking at doing both languages if you can (especially to minimize the number of languages you'll need to learn after undergrad).</p>
<p>Speaking of schools though...I'm really interested on the subject of top Classics programs out there (considering transferring). What are some of the great programs out there at more university-esque schools (as opposed to LACs)?</p>
<p>A surprising number of the best programs (my metric of best being based mostly on dept websites, number of upper level courses offered, and the faculty productivity index) actually are at small LACs. Bryn Mawr and Holy Cross especially stand out, though both more in philology than history. Aside from that, just look at the bios of professors in the classics dept of any well-known school. A very large number went to Cambridge or Oxford for PhDs or second BAs; the next largest number is usually Harvard, then Yale, then Chicago. Occasionally Columbia makes an appearance too.</p>
<p>Subrideo, are you a classics major in undergrad now? If you don't mind my asking, did you come into the major with a lot of languages, or without them? I will have 6 years of Latin and 4 of Attic on entering univ and I'm kind of worried about running out of classes.</p>
<p>I am a junior in high school. I recently fell in love with the classics major (I've loved ancient civilizations my whole life and only now realized that I could actually do something with that passion lol) but my school doesn't offer latin and neither do any of the local colleges, so I am self-studying. Does anybody have any tips on what I should do? I have the cambridge latin textbook and workbook plus another workbook type thing that teachs latin. Thanks!!</p>
<p>I think I'm going to concentrate in Classics.
I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to fit it in with my majors, but since Latin counts as my language requirement, I think it'll work!
I'm really hoping to do my Study Abroad in Rome.
it's exciting to find other Classics people here!</p>
<p>I thought I was the only one interested in this major because it didn't seem common. I want to concentrate on Greek, though.</p>
<p>Philoglossia- I am a Classics undergrad right now (first year though, but I was able to jump right into the major). I came in with three years of Latin only, all through an online course which was...kind of...not great. My school (and surrounding schools) don't offer Latin, and I doubt they'd know what Greek was if it hit them in the face. But wow! That's pretty impressive! I wish I went to schools like yours, haha! Are you planning on doing Classics at the grad level? I had to take a placement test for Latin, but my uni didn't have one for Greek (so that would be a case where you check with the department). My uni is a little short on the Greek courses (plenty of Latin though). There are "Directed Readings" options as well as really cool composition classes too. If possible, I would see if you could check the course listings for the schools you're interested in to see how much they have/how open they are to independent work.</p>
<p>Thanks for the school advice, :). And believe me...If England had been a viable option, I would have been there in a heartbeat, but I could not find ANY funding at all for American students wanting to study out-of-country, and my parents aren't the wealthiest (nor British citizens). I was heart-set on it...but the parents...you know, ;). I'm really hoping to get there for grad, which is why I'm trying to get the best I can out of my undergrad department.</p>
<p>Enough of my English fantasies though. </p>
<p>The thing with my uni is...I'm having a very hard time adjusting to the college town life and the relative homogeneity of where I'm going right now, which is why ideally I'd like to. I really wanted a very diverse/cultural atmosphere from college and, well, proximity to a viable museum. I would dearly love to go to Harvard or Brown, not for the name recognition, but for the quality of education and proximity to city life/museums/diversity, etc. Also, I was pretty impressed that Brown's Classics department includes Sanskrit too. I just have this lasting stigma about whether or not I could get in and whether or not I have the right reasons for wanting to transfer. </p>
<p>I'm going to stop complaining though :)! Thanks for everything again. Also- about the languages. If you're planning on doing grad [especially], the more language experience the better. German and French/Italian seem to be pretty much necessary (eventually) in the post-baccalaureate Classics world.</p>
<p>Sounds like the situation I was in, haha! I would really recommend Wheelock's. I also found some really cool verb practice books at the local Borders which were pretty fun (hehe) to do while sitting at a doctor's office bored or something. Good luck!</p>
<p>izzybella:</p>
<p>I too suggest Wheelock if you are really motivated. There are some online based groups that work through it:</p>
<p>Latin</a> & Greek Study Groups</p>
<p>There are 3 student oriented books, The main book, a workbook, and a book of graded supplemental stories. There is also an intermediate level reader. In the past you could also order the teacher's guide from the publisher so you'd have all the answers. </p>
<p>subrideo: </p>
<p>You CAN get into those high end programs! Nail your languages, and as you have indicated get some German. Definitely take comp. if you can. Try to take classes that culminate in a good sized paper so you have good writing samples to choose from. Be sure to keep up by reading the major journals and watch for opportunities to develop your own research interests. And start talking to your professors NOW about shaping your undergrad experiences for grad school down the road.</p>
<p>Finally -</p>
<p>For what its worth, I'm just finishing up a Classics major at Penn and hopefully continuing to grad school next year - there are a number of other people here on CC in very highly ranked undergrad programs, so don't hesitate to ask questions about daily life in the Greek and Latin trenches.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for posting that link! I found a group that's only about a chapter ahead of my latin class, so it should be really helpful!!</p>
<p>What are some careers you guys are looking into?</p>
<p>I'm actually looking at second careers - after 33 years, programming has gotten a bit "old". </p>
<p>At first, I was looking seriously at secondary teaching; the plan was to get the BA in Classics and then pick the state we would retire in and get the appropriate MEd there. The demand for Latin teachers is enormous so that seemed to be a reasonable plan.</p>
<p>Then I found out I'm much better at this stuff than I originally believed and professors started asking where I planned to go to grad school. So I looked into it, found out that schools pay you to attend (at least PhD programs do) and since the financial aspects looked good...</p>
<p>So anyway, even though the job market for humanities professors is terrible I'm aiming for "college professor". But I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to teach at a good HS as long as I have time to continue my research interests.</p>
<p>In general Classics, with its emphasis on languages and close analysis of texts, is good preparation for pretty much any job that has those characteristics. Law is obvious, and the "3 letter agencies" LOVE Classics majors since we have already proved our language abilities.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What are some careers you guys are looking into?
[/quote]
Museum work or university teaching...pretty much my options if I want to do fieldwork. CRM work wouldn't be bad, I guess.</p>