UPenn or Oxford for Classics?

[Archaeologist]

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Do you really want to give up the breadth and happiness of an Ivy-model undergraduate experience for the marginal leg-up on grad school admissions Oxford may give you? After all, top Classics students from U.S. colleges get into great grad programs, too. If you go to Penn, and work as hard and focus as much as you would at Oxford, and cultivate relationships with the faculty, you will probably wind up in the same (or equivalent) grad program that you would have been in coming from Oxford.

I somewhat disagree with this. The number of admitted students at most Classics programs is 3-5, and there can be upwards of 60 or 70 applicants – the vast majority of whom are extremely qualified. Tiny differences in undergraduate education can make or break an applicant.</p>

<p>If you want a second opinion, ask WilliamC. He did his undergrad at Penn, had a very high GPA and GRE, had several years of Greek and Latin, presented research at a major conference, and had great LORs from well-known experts. He completely struck out in PhD admissions.</p>

<p>I would recommend Oxford without reservation if you’re serious about Classics. I disagree that it lacks the social life of American universities. The offerings are different, to be sure, but not less. Most Oxford colleges have very active societies that organize a good many activities, and there are numerous university-wide organizations. I agree that it will not possible to take random courses as at Penn, but Oxford does offer joint honours, which functions somewhat like a double major (Classics & Oriental Studies is a popular combination).</p>

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Oxford in general would be a huge, huge plus at U.S. grad schools. There is a lingering crush on Oxbridge throughout the upper reaches of U.S. academia.

Unfortunately, yes. We had an Oxford student attend one of the recruitment weekends at an Ivy this year, and she got more attention than the other two applicants combined (one from Penn, one from Duke).</p>