I’m vouching for my cousin here, who is in the process of looking to transfer from his current university. We somehow came upon the topic, and he mentioned that he is very interested in majoring in Classical languages, perhaps a double major with Philosophy. Browsing online and trying to find Universities that are highly esteemed for their Classics program (besides say, Oxford) has proved fruitless.
I figured this would probably be a really good place to inquire. Anybody have any comments/suggestions?
Imperial may be one of the top UK colleges (it’s part of London University), but it does not offer classics.
The best ones for classics are:
Oxford and Cambridge (goes without saying really)
King’s College London
Birmingham
University College London
St Andrews
Warwick
Nottingham
Manchester
Royal Holloway
(there are more offering classics of course, but these are definitely in the top 10)
I would also suggest universities in continental Europe, like France or Switzerland. Both countries still have Latin options in high school (and quite a number of Swiss students graduate with Greek and/or Latin from High school), so there is much more of a classical “culture”.
As an added advantage, tuition costs are virtually nil (US$600 per year in Switzerland, less in France), even for foreign students (category to which I belong).
Plus you get to learn French!
The University of Texas-Austin, University of Ohio-Cincinnati, and the University of California-Berkeley & LA are also good schools for studying the classics in the US. Of course there’s Harvard…
He was running the JACT Greek Summer school this year. And one of the guys I got to know quite well on the course was friends with him. So I got to speak to him a couple of times
Personally I think it would be awesome to study at a European University, but I’m not sure how much my cousin would be up for it. Most of the Ivy Leagues in the states have decent Latin/Greek programs, but then again, they’re Ivy Leagues.
Just as a side note, I’m curious to hear if anybody here has majored in Classical studies at either the undergrad or graduate level of college. I’ve heard of students who have majored in Latin at the undergrad level, and then went on into Medical studies or something along that route.
Well, like Lupus minimus said quite a few in central Europe graduate from high school with Greek and Latin and I’ll be one of them. Seven and a half years of Latin at school and four and half years of Greek when I finish (and I only have half a year of school to go). I think most people studying Classics in Europe already know a lot when they start studying at university and the universities count on students already knowing the language. I don’t really think that’s the case in the UK though, where Latin and ancient Greek are often only taught in private schools. Central Europe is still full of Latin schools though, but then your cousin would have to learn French, German or Italian (if he hasn’t already) on top of studying classics. I take it he’s learned English and would prefer the US for that reason. Italy would be a great experience though, because then you are really there, if you know what I mean. If he studied in Rome he could take his books and sit on the old Forum Romanum and study there… nearly everywhere in central Europe he’ll find something to remind him of ancient Rome, an amphitheatre here, a bath-house there…
Imperial may be one of the top UK colleges (it’s part of London University), but it does not offer classics.
How did you come about that?
- so Heidelberg might be an option or Munich. Sorry, can’t help at all with US universities.
