Agree the Career Exploration platform is fairly useless, though for what it’s worth, my son — not a classics major— found two summer internships and his first post graduation job through the Career Center.
If I had a horse in this race (which I don’t) I’d go with the information from the Classics department.
The outcome data is near useless - not saying the career department is.
Many have value - if the students take advantage. I’d assume Williams has more value than most - given the amount of organizations that would venture to its students.
These are the schools taht should be bragging 
I’m not sure the info is inconsistent - what the department has shown is more qualitative (without specific names) and the career center is quantitative - although at a light level.
Honestly, if I was a prospective customer (i.e. student), a dashboard like this would leave me head scratching about the overall school.
There are certain “sales” tools that all schools should get right - admissions presentations/tours and having easy to synthesize career data. Nearly have the students are full-pay - so that’d be a red flag to me (obviously not to those choosing to attend).
We know a couple of classics majors from a couple of the colleges mentioned. I asked…and none reported their career outcomes to the undergrad school…and none are in the classics field. They are doctors, lawyers, and IBs. They all reported their career outcomes to their professional/grad schools…because those were the programs that related to their careers.
But their degrees in classics weren’t meaningless. @blossom can explain better than I can…but these students were excellent thinkers, were well read, had outstanding grades, and developed strong relationships with professors and fellow students.
This is not the norm. Not all kids report but many do - and a higher amount at elite schools.
This is how colleges capture the data including grad schools attended - which is another selling point to prospective students - and moreso their parents.
This is not Southern Connecticut State - where less might submit, more might commute and in their outcomes won’t be as strong.
This is an Ivy equivalent school where people are heavily invested. All these kids get surveyed repeatedly. And many respond.
Some give lists - where our kids go to grad school - others tie to major.
Example of overall list - partial:
Graduate schools most frequently attended by Bowdoin alumni include - and like me, they didn’t spellcheck (oy):
Example of grad school attended by major - two screenshots from Cornell, by major and schools attended. They also show salary, job location, and industry.
Not to get off track - the point is simply - if they don’t show data - ask. You are spending time and money. For Classics, Cornell also has no data. I can’t name 5 people who majored in Classics. I doubt many can.
Cornell pics - partial example from different major that has data - which are the schools for this major. As noted - Classics and I checked English, Anthro and East Asian Studies, all of which had not enough data (for jobs, grad school).
Other schools - like Holy Cross below - say a lot without saying much. It’s why I’d simply ask the questions - that’s me. No doubt the career center or department can give major outcomes with specificity if asked. In fact, some note they add response data from public sources - which I assume to mean LinkedIn.
This is not about who reports or doesn’t. Some, like Williams, showed major data. From other posters, Amherst seems to have very few grads and the OP may (or may not) want to investigate. It’s up to them.
This is a major consumer purchase. You don’t buy a car without learning all about it. Or a tv or appliance. At least I don’t.
It’s like SCU. If I was a prospective engineer, I’d ask or investigate why such a low # say they are ready for life after college (50%). Doesn’t mean it’s not a good school - but it’s data they post (which is helpful to some I’m sure) and deserves questioning given the future investment.
No more need to keep going in circles. No doubt OP has gotten the point. If they want to ask questions, they will. And if they don’t, they won’t.
Based on your daughter’s interests, she may benefit from emphasizing colleges with an available track in archaeology. Some colleges otherwise strong in classics may not offer this subfield. As a generality, colleges with an anthropology department distinct from that of sociology will be more likely to offer an archaeology track.
Or, if not a track (because some small colleges will not have tracks in their Classics departments), enough professors and courses, and enough flexibility in the major, that you can make your own concentration. So this is why it might be helpful to look at lists of courses frequently taught, and professors in tenure-track/tenured positions – to make sure it will be possible to create the kind of Classics major you want.
You will not win an argument with “many respond”. I have never told my undergraduate college where I’ve worked. So chalk up another “failed to launch” Classics major.
You are trying to impute useful information out of minimal data. I’m not sure whether your beef is with Williams or with the Classics, but to suggest that the only way to determine the quality of an academic program is some self-reported survey data is really pushing reality.
I’ve seen the career services operations at about 80 different colleges/universities during my recruiting career. You will be surprised to know that there is zero correlation between the success of “launching their grads” and the quality of their dashboard. Zero. There are TERRIBLE career services operations with very sophisticated technology and a lot of bells and whistles, and there are fantastic operations with barebones tech, an outdated platform, clunky website, etc.
It costs VERY little to hire a couple of consultants with a student intern or two to create a fancy looking “we capture all the data” site. It costs a LOT more to hire the people who work with actual students, alums, do proactive and high quality outreach to employers, etc. So a fancy dashboard tells you nothing.
If the same Career Services person is in charge of fellowship applications (Marshall, Truman, Rhodes, Fulbright) AND med school/allied health grad programs, AND banking, energy and consumer products-- it won’t matter how comprehensive the surveys are or how fancy the technology is. Your kid will likely not be well served.
The best career operation in the country? West Point. 100% employment of its grads in their desired field with complete transparency as to their career track for the next five years. Everyone else pales in comparison!
I’ll revise this to say that anthropological archaeology includes the study of ancient societies, rather than focuses on it. Nonetheless, biological anthropology, with a scope of inquiry of millions of years, often bypasses the study of ancient societies.
But you will win an argument - if a school shows 60% participation - then you have data from 60% - partial or full. They don’t publish for their health. It’s a sales tool because many prospective students do care.
You have the data you have. Does it have shortcomings ? Absolutely. Do they have 100% participation. Not close.
Is the data false ?
No.
You and I may use it differently.
And not everyone has the same goals - ie a high paying job.
But to completely dismiss it is unfair.
Is it sad Bowdoin didn’t catch a typo - yep. Bad look on them IMHO.
Is Williams wrong to post their Classics majors industries ? Why - someone who wants to study Classics might want to know.
The post was not to promote or highlight career data.
Let’s go back to OP.
The point is to see where Classics majors end up, from Amherst if I’m not mistaken but will need to loook back. You may not care but many do.
I simply made the suggestion that OP might look to available outcomes. That’s all I said.
Some report. Others don’t or don’t have the #s. Amherst doesn’t have data. That’s not inconsistent with the # of grads per @AustenNut data.
All I said was - since the #s are few and since they give no info - I’d ask.
Doesn’t seem an unwise thing to do to me when you are spending nearly $400k
But to each their own.
You always have an interesting perspective on careers, academics, etc. But to continue to hammer the same point-- given that you admit you know nothing about the field- is a bit comical.
I participate in a lot of threads. I don’t post on the threads for kids asking for help with speech therapy, OT, culinary, landscape architecture, ballet, conservatory level music, and a bunch of others. I have never hired anyone in these fields, and I don’t know enough about the pedagogy and curriculum to be helpful to a student who wants to learn more.
It is hard to understand a field if- by your own admission- you don’t know a single person who studied that discipline. And to keep implying that there is some sinister plot by Classics departments to keep important and relevant information from prospective students- “Doesn’t seem an unwise thing to do to me when you are spending nearly $400K”-- you’ve made your point, now move on.
There has not been a single Classics major in the US since about 1950 who understands that the likelihood of them ending up as a Classicist is low. There has not been a single Classics major in 25 years who understands that in order to teach HS Latin or Greek, a current teacher needs to retire, i.e. not a growing field.
The best CEO I ever worked for was a Renaissance Studies major. (He switched out of Classics sophomore year). Company was about 12 billion in revenue at the time- was more than 30 billion when he retired, with hundreds of thousands of employees around the world. I doubt he thought that he’d be spending his career immersed in Florentine frescos but somehow he made a life for himself anyway.
You’re missing the point.
Let’s move on
Op got the point b4 people started hammering me.
If you see no data or info on Classic grads, ask where the students end up.
That’s it.
All are over complicating a very simple point.
Do you buy expensive things without investigating ?
And I’m not hammering home. I’m responding to people that keep hammering me.
It could have stopped long ago.the incessant attacking is really unnecessary. I’ve showed data. Others have showed opinion. It’s fine - we each think what we think.
OP has long decided I’m sure.
Here is some more “data”
I attended a highly regarded LAC (similar to those OP is considering) and majored in a similarly “non commercial” area like Classics.
I never reported my “career outcomes” to the school as I was very time constrained based on my career and wasn’t inclined to do so. I have been a CEO of multi billion dollar in annual revenue companies for more than a decade.
My “useless” academic interests were never a hinderance and if you looked at my schools career outcomes page you wouldn’t see my professional experience captured.
For those focused on either data or first hand experience I hope this helps.
Humanities career paths don’t necessarily look the same as engineering, etc. It may take longer for humanities grads to find their path after college. So “outcomes” as reported by the college aren’t necessarily as useful. However, that doesn’t mean humanities grads have a poor long term career outlook. The path is just different.
Edited the link below with gift link, thanks @AustenNut!
biological anthropology, with a scope inquiry of millions of years, often bypasses the stages of ancient societies.
Point well taken . . . But I think this may change.
Gobekli Tepe is probably the most revolutionary discovery of the past 60 years. It has only been closely studied in the past 30 years and the results are standing most of the assumptions about early civilizations on their heads. They left no written records, so alternate investigation tools will be needed. New discoveries are being made in the Amazon, revealing cities in what was previously thought to be an impenetrable jungle. Again, no written records. Underwater archaeology may become a field in the next 50 years.
I think that this student is wise to look beyond standard archaeology.
Just my 2 cents. 
It’s also a bit inconsistent when some rely on one off anecdotes to generalize broad success opportunities from lesser regarded academic schools, yet demand hard data to validate success opportunities from top ranked schools.
Here’s a gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/business/liberal-arts-stem-salaries.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YE8.mZYt.W_XLxa5EP8xw&smid=url-share
put me in the camp to not assume outcomes based on humanities majors (like Classics) - from the classics majors who graduated with me over 30 years ago at Amherst, 3 went to law school, one went to med school (me), and i am not sure where the other 2-3 ended up. Thus, the career trajectories for each person was different although the major was the same. also, when i applied to Amherst, i was a Economics intended major with the intention of going pre-law - but that obviously changed. i didn’t take my first classics course (Intro to Greek Language) until sophomore year. What did being a Classics major teach me? i had to write (many) papers doing lots of research (without the internet - yikes!) on ancient texts and learn how to contextually understand historical documents, discern biases and limitations, and draw conclusions based on my analysis of this historical evidence. Fast forward to today where i work in pharmaceutical R&D thoughtfully collecting data/evidence from clinical trial research, discerning biases and limitations of said research, analyzing said data and drawing conclusions. Critical-thinking is necessary in almost every discipline from science and psychology to history and literature. If your liberal arts education develops this critical-thinking muscle, you will be prepared for almost any career pathway. I imagine specialized undergraduate education like Business/Finance have more accurate outcomes data because the objective is a bit clearer what kind of career such majors are going for (employment, MBA programs, etc.). Maybe that’s also the goal of engineering majors (although i once read somewhere that <20% engineering majors or actually doing “engineering work” 5 years after graduation). Regardless, almost all these schools being mentioned have a selection bias towards accepting individuals who will have successful “outcomes” whichever school name is on their diploma.
Anecdote of one, but my S24 is settling into premed (at least for now), and this means he is probably switching from a primary major of Bio to a primary major of Classics.
To some this may sound odd, but in context it makes total sense. He really likes Classics. He is very good at it (at least so far). The major does not require that many credits. It does not require him to take classes that he isn’t particularly interested in taking, might be a ton of work, and still might jeopardize his grades. And the people who actually know about medical school admissions have all told him this is not a problem, in fact if anything it is a mild positive.
I have zero clue how, if at all, this will ever get reported as a statistics. But I agree this is a very normal sort of thinking for a Classics major. Of course some want to go to grad school for Classics, and some want to teach Latin or Greek. But many just think it is a really good major for them and consistent with their other educational and career plans.
Not unusual at all. Dr. Anthony Fauci was a Classics major at Holy Cross before going to med school. My kid at HC currently has many class mates that are Classics, English, foreign language majors planning on applying to med and law school.
There is a great deal of overlap between the two, particularly since archaeologists have long privileged the excavation of tombs and the study of human remains. Any reputable dig in the Mediterranean has a bioarchaeologist (faunal and human skeletal analysis) as well as an archaeobotanist (botanical analysis) on staff.
Yes, humanities students at universities often get the best of both worlds - an array of professors doing cutting-edge research and the tiny classes associated with LACs.
Additionally, a number of Ivies and other major research universities offer ancient studies offerings well beyond any LAC; for example, Columbia’s faculty includes Marc Van de Mieroop and Zainab Bahrani (Mesopotamian history and art history) and Ellen Morris (Egyptology).
