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I agree with this. The difference between the Classics programs will be obvious after cursory research. Oxford’s program is more comprehensive, more in-depth, and has more to offer. Penn’s Classics program is good, but Oxford has the largest and one of the oldest Classics departments in the world. Penn does not have faculty that can compete with John Boardman, Robin Fox, Barry Cunliffe, or Martin West – people who wrote the major secondary sources that you would use in courses nearly anywhere in the world. While I would certainly not denigrate other programs (including my own) by saying that Oxford is Classics, as misnomer said, in many ways it’s the epitome of a Classical education. This manifests itself even outside the classroom; for example, Oxford regularly puts on Greek plays. Schools like Penn do this too, of course, with one difference – Oxford does it in Greek.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s not at all fair to compare. Oxford requires Classics applicants to have A-level knowledge of either Greek or Latin, and Classics normally takes up most (if not all) of a student’s coursework. At Penn it would be much easier to major in Classics even coming in clueless about Greek and Latin, and Classics courses would only make up about a third of one’s total coursework, so naturally it’s not usual to go into as much depth.</p>