Paying for the Party-- How College Maintains Inequality

[ucbalumnus]

@frazzled2thecore

I took a look at the web page for the Classics department at IU. They seem to be marketing this major as excellent preparation for a career in law, medicine, business, the arts, high school teaching, or even computer consulting, and mention that many of their graduates have earned fellowships to continue their study.

The web page for the classics department at Northwestern is even more emphatic that its graduates receive excellent preparation for a variety of lucrative career paths, and also mentioned that classics majors achieve some of the highest scores of any major on the GRE. I have to admit that this gave me pause.

Classics does not seem to be a common major, nor does it seem to be one which attracts party animals looking for an easy major. So there may be a significant self-selection effect going on here where it is mostly stronger students with strong interest in the subject matter choosing that major, rather than weaker students taking it as a “default major”.