I’ve been reconsidering my college major choices, and I may want to double major/joint major in CS and in something along the lines of Classics/English/Linguistics. The one I choose partially depends on where I get accepted (applying to Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and SJSU).
I’ve had plenty of school experience in English/writing (I got a 5 on the AP Lang test), so that’s good. But I’ve never studied Greek or Latin… unless reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter counts? If only.
But anyways, is it basically impossible to get into a Classics major without previous experience studying the Classics languages, or can someone who has only recently decided to focus on it get in? Especially in Stanford, where getting in by itself is competitive.
Yes, you can start the study of Greek or Latin from the beginning. Often, however, Classics departments will not count the beginning language course toward the requirements for the major. Some schools offer intensive courses in beginning Greek or Latin, so you can catch up more quickly. Usually, you also have the option of majoring in Greek, Latin, or Greek + Latin. Majoring in just one of the languages does not really reduce the number of credits required for the major, but it could be easier for someone who is late to the field to do a classics major (though often the single language tracks are used by students who want to combine study of a classical language with another field, e.g., Greek + religion, Latin + Medieval Studies or Art History). Most classics departments also offer a track in classical civilization, which either does not require study of Greek or Latin, or which require only study of one of these languages through the intermediate level… (At Stanford, the equivalent track is Ancient History.) Not all of the courses required for a classics major involve the use of the original languages. Instead, courses in ancient history, ancient art and archaeology, etc. offered by the classics department and frequently courses in other departments might be accepted toward the major requirements. Keep in mind that you usually apply for admission to a university, not a specific major, so not having studied Greek or Latin before will not be an impediment. (At some universities where you do apply to certain programs or where a program is capped, classics is not likely to be such a program.)
At Stanford, there is a pilot program of joint majors in computer science + one of 10 humanities fields, including classics. This makes sense since students often have strong interests in more than one field, but I suspect Stanford is also trying to shore up the number of humanities majors and possibly, strike a better balance between the “techies” and “fuzzies”.
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