What might be a fit? (Classics programs)

College Search & Selection
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Hi all!

I’m a current junior at a very rigorous high school in NE. My stats are as follows:

3.8 GPA (very high for my school)
2290 SAT
740 us history SAT 2, planning on taking literature and Latin tests in the fall
Solid extracurriculars (head of a club for 3 years, captain of varsity sports team, etc)
Lots of Classics classwork (Latin and ancient Greek, taught self to near fluency to Italian, classical art history)
Self-studied 5 APs (5 on all)

I’m very, very interested in Classics, so that’s a major factor. I have a lot of the coursework and EC’s to back up this interest. So far I think smaller liberal arts colleges won’t work for me, as I’ve visited Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, etc and none have worked at all. Smaller to medium sized universities have seemed to be the best fit. An “alternative intellectual” vibe is preferred, as I’m not really preppy at all and am really into punk rock, so I guess I’m pretty “alternative.” UChicago and Brown have been by far my favorite visits so far.

A preprofessional vibe is not really what I’m looking for, and big sports/party scene are a pretty big minus. I would prefer something on the colder side that’s not completely in the middle of nowhere, though an accessible rural location is just fine. I will not need any financial aid. A decent linguistics department would be appreciated as well.

I have plenty of reaches, so any thoughts on matches or safeties would be appreciated. This is really a rough list, keep in mind.

My list as it stands:

Brown
Yale
UChicago
Georgetown
Penn
UMichigan
Johns Hopkins
Harvard
Wustl
Cornell
UC Berkeley
UW Madison
UWashington

I’m also applying to UK schools like Oxford and St. Andrews.

Thoughts? Thanks!

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This year the Latin subject test was only administered in December and June so you should check the College Board calendar. University of Rochester?

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Oops! I miswrote. I have a 740 US History and 800 Latin, will be taking Lit and Math 2 in the fall. Sorry, I wrote this while doing about 20 other things.

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You may wish to consider some Canadian schools like UToronto, UBC Vancouver, and Queens should be considered.

Other schools to consider include Indiana University, Minnesota, and CU Boulder. While IU has a large sports scene I doubt you’ll find it difficult to escape the large party scene of the school.

Personally I would be surprised if you got rejected from Michigan, UWashington, or UToronto, all of which have outstanding classics departments.

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You pretty much have a good number of the top Classics schools on your list already. For safeties, what about Ohio State, and Indiana. What about Toronto?

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Would not recommend JHU for Classics. The department is both small (like a LAC) and not undergraduate focused (like a research U.). Worst of both worlds.

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Holy Cross in Massachusetts

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You might add Durham to your UK list. It is very highly ranked for classics, and is a collegiate college (like Oxford & Cambridge). With your marks, you are very likely to get unconditional offers from them (& St As). You probably know this, but if you go to the UK, you will do all classics all the time- and if that’s what you are looking for, Oxford could be a very happy place for you>

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@par72 is correct. Holy Cross has an outstanding classics department. Probably the best of any liberal arts college in America. Of course, Holy Cross is Catholic (Jesuit) and Catholic schools are probably more likely to be committed to the classics than is any other type of college. So, Georgetown is probably a good choice.

Others to look at:
Northwestern
Fordham
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (if memory serves, UNC has the most classics professors in the country)
University of Michigan (maybe it’s UM which has the most profs, I dunno)
Ohio State (plus the “not to be confused with” Ohio University-Athens)
Boston University (has a “Classics House” residential program)
http://www.bu.edu/classics/undergraduate/classics-house/
U.Kentucky – okay, stop laughing, it has an excellent program and also holds “conversational Latin” seminars each summer.
http://mcl.as.uky.edu/conversational-latin-seminar-2015-english
http://mcl.as.uky.edu/conventiculum-latinum-lexingtoniense-2015-latine

:expressionless:

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Most Catholic colleges, especially Jesuit ones, have strong Classics departments as part of traditional curricula. You might like Fordham-Lincoln Center as an urban match/near-safety. You would be within walking distance of the Met, have great foreign study opportunities, and a very good faculty. People associate Fordham-LC with performing arts, but they have a full liberal arts program.

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Grinnell, Carleton and Swarthmore all have linguistics programs, so perhaps you should add those to your search. All three have the vibe you seek.

As i am the parent of a Grinnellian, I will speak to that experience. It has a Linguistics concentration and a group of passionate students. The Classics department not only has some fabulous professors (one of them is one of the highest rated in the country on ratemyprofessor.com – not that this means anything, but prior to that coming out, my son said that she was the best teacher he’d ever had!), but they have a sight reading evening at professor’s homes every other week. Speaking from direct personal experience, i can tell you that the opportunity to work with professors on projects and not only as student-teacher but as colleagues is amazing.

A year or two ago, the college paid for the class to attend the Linguistics Society convention (or something like that) in Minneapolis. Because it was during winter break, they didn’t pay for transportation to get there, but anyone who could get to campus traveled for free, but everything else was paid for (room, food, conference). The fact that my son flew across country to spend part of his vacation soaking in this event – along with a number of other students – will tell you something about the kids who go to Grinnell, and the passion they exhibit!

Grinnell also has the Mentored Advanced Project: http://www.grinnell.edu/academics/research/maps

Yes, a university will offer a far bigger course selection – but if you take a look at how you will fill up your eight semesters, then I think you will find that the offerings of a liberal arts college will keep you quite busy.

For Linguistics, Grinnell does only have one professor with a Linguistics Ph.D., but again, the course offerings both by that professor and the others who do language-related courses will give you quite an array of learning options.

You may find, too, that you want to study other languages when you get to college, so, again, even if you can’t take some of the courses that a university will offer that an LAC does not, you will keep your mind and your language skills fully activated. At Grinnell, i know that the language departments have a number of wonderful opportunities for students and professors to get together outside of class, which i would think is one of the more appealing aspects of attending an LAC.

Grinnell is considered by many to be “out in the middle of nowhere,” but life at an LAC is campus-centric anyway, with a ton of stuff to do. It is only two blocks from the town of Grinnell, so it is not set isolated in a bunch of cornfields as some think it is! It is a wonderful opportunity to experience another part of the country (and the surrounding country is beautiful, btw). Grinnell also has a high percentage of international students, which for someone interested in languages should be a plus for you!

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Cornell has a good classics and a good linguistics department, and I know someone double majoring in both and she really loves it. It also fits your cold with an accessible rural location criteria.

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@SDonCC, I’m sure Grinell (and Swat and Carleton) have great programs in linguistics, but if Middlebury ( essentially the best language program in the country with Linguistics through Monterey) wasn’t a good fit, I find it unlikely that these three other options would be any better.

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Brown and Cornell are probably really good fits off of your list, but of course, are reaches for anyone. You have the stats but the statistics of making it in are always slim.

Look into Williams, Wesleyan, and Davidson.

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I agree with @SDonCC that writing off small liberal arts Classics departments is shortsighted. There are some amazing Classics professors at smaller schools like Grinnell, and Bard, where my S got a degree in Classics. Yes, the offerings are more limited than at a large university, but not necessarily any less engaging, in depth, stimulating or challenging. My S was a top Classics student before arriving at Bard and had an exceptional experience. It sounds like Grinnell would have been a good fit, as well. He has now taken PhD seminars, along with visiting students from Oxford, while at Yale for grad school, and has been thoroughly prepared.

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@TheDidactic why do people believe it’s any easier to get accepted at Williams, Wesleyan, or Davidson than Brown or Cornell? Besides, the OP already stated his distaste for schools like Williams.

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Yeah, the OP says that s/he doesn’t want small LACs.

Some matches/reaches in colder places, with classics majors, and without big sports traditions are Brandeis, Tufts, University of Pittsburgh (debatable about the party culture, though), Fordham, Loyola Chicago, Case Western, Boston U, SUNY Binghamton, and Hofstra.

Some other places that are colder and have classics majors, but do have big sports and/or party reputations are Villanova, Minnesota, Purdue, Syracuse, and UConn.

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Oh didn’t see that, I just saw OP mention Bowdoin. Never said it was easier but Ivies have slimmer admissions percentages (even if it’s not by a huge margin) Maybe also think about Syracuse,

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Thanks for the responses everyone! I wasn’t expecting so many responses so soon! I’m a she for the record :slight_smile:

@NROTCgrad @par72 I’ve looked at Holy Cross and am pretty familiar with it as a close relative goes there. My impression is that it’s very “preppy” with a pretty big lax bro vibe. Correct me if I’m wrong, however.

@SpiritManager I don’t know so much that I’m “writing off” LAC Classics programs so much that I don’t think the LAC size/culture is a fit for me. So far, I have not felt that any of the elite small LACs I have visited would meet my needs. I didn’t love the smaller facilities, fewer dorms, percieved fewer opportunities, etc. I haven’t loved the extreme rural location of most of the LACs I’ve visited so far either. I fully appreciate that Classics is very good at LACs, but other aspects of them have turned me off so far. That’s not the rule, however, just the trend I’ve seen after visits at Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, Wellesley, and Williams.

Does anyone have any more info about Classics at Cornell? I couldn’t find a lot on the website, and my GC is (understandably) not so knowledgeable about the relative strengths of Classics departments.

Also to clarify, I’m more interested in literature, philology, etc. than archeology.

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As you screen schools, suggest look at the registrar’s list of classes actually offered over the last four semesters (NOT the course catalog) to see how many classics courses were actually given, and how frequently . Check that intro latin or greek are actually offered every year, since one needs four years for grad school ,. Above tip is courtesy @warblersrule, who found that at an LAC mentioned above this was not the case. Also see if other ancient languages are offered, if that may be of interest.

Speaking of @warbelersrule, his links on this thread may be of interest:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18290837#Comment_18290837