I know this is an old thread, but it was so helpful to read. My oldest is also interested in majoring in the classics. We don’t know anyone else who has studied or plans to study this so I don’t feel like I have a ton of information.
Thoughts of Loyola MD’s classics program? She loved the school. That & Holy Cross are her favorites at this point. Her ideal is definitely a small liberal arts college and she’s very interested in a Jesuit school specifically.
Concerned about cost, I’d like her to look at some public schools as well. Any thoughts on Pitt or Maryland 's classics program? We are very familiar with each overall college but don’t know much about classics at each.
If you are concerned about cost and I don’t know what state you are from, but depending on residency - at least Pitt or UMD from an OOS perspective are pricey. I suppose it depends on budget.
You might look at smaller schools (since the two she likes are smaller ) that will also be far more budget friendly. Christopher Newport or U of Mary Washington, which had a lot of publicity a few years ago.
I don’t know anything about the schools she likes. Sorry.
But you can likely ask to speak with a student in each of the departments to get a sense of size, offerings (in reality vs catalog). I get the sense as it’s a major with little population that many school’s offerings might be slim. Talking to a student at each would be a great way to learn about the realities.
S24 is looking at SLACs and is interested in classics (although possibly a science field as well). Holy Cross definitely stands out as a very strong program, and they offer a couple of full tuition classics scholarships as well. Bryn Mawr also has very strong classics offerings, and has a graduate program in classics. Amherst College has the strongest program among the NESCACs. Public universities are trickier - I think budgets for less popular/practical fields have been cut at many of them. Berkeley and Michigan have particularly strong graduate programs in classics, so I imagine that their undergraduate offerings would be good as well. Unfortunately, they are also high cost schools for OOS students. Mary Washington is a good suggestion, and William and Mary may be an option as well.
The classics community at Amherst appears to be fairly small, with three reported graduating “first majors” in general classics or Greek in a recent year: College Navigator - Amherst College. Nonetheless, Amherst, probably deservedly, appears in this site, along with fellow NESCACs Hamilton and Tufts:
It’s why I think it’s important to speak with kids and look at not the catalog but actual course offerings. Is there enough breadth? Frequency? Most these schools, at least third party, show few grads.
Also if Holy Cross and Loyola are too expensive, assuming no need - Amherst is off the charts.
We don’t yet know the state of residence, actual budget, and if the student will qualify for need - which may be different at an Amherst vs other schools. But we also don’t know the student’s admissibility to a top school.
But given OPs initial note, the student likes smaller and parent wants budget friendly which depending on state of residence and budget UMD or PITT may or may not be.
It’s worth noting that this is not uncommon for humanities departments, which tend to be relatively small even at large universities.
A small number of majors can but certainly need not indicate a weak department. For example, Chicago reports that only 11 of its ~7500 undergrads are majoring in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (aka Middle Eastern studies). Nonetheless, it is by far the best university in the western hemisphere for the study of preclassical ancient history (e.g. Egyptology), if indeed not the best in the world.
I do agree with this. In particular, a student without a background in Greek or Latin should check to see whether introductory and intermediate Greek and Latin are offered every year.
Having to wait a year or two to start a language is not ideal, especially for anyone with a possible interest in graduate studies in classics. (PhD programs typically expect 4 years of one language and 3 of the other, plus a reading knowledge of French and German.)
By inference from IPEDS information, this figure may be closer to 24 when students who have yet to declare a major are included: College Navigator - University of Chicago.
Thanks. Looking at the numbers of graduates is a good idea.
We are in-state for UMd. It’s far bigger than what she thinks she wants, but we have told her to apply. The in-state tuition is within our budget. Pitt is pricier, but the EFC was much more reasonable than Holy Cross (Loyola was reasonable as well.)
We are not likely to get need based financial aid. She’s a strong academic student but Holy Cross does not sound like they give much merit. These small, liberal arts colleges she sees herself at are definitely expensive!
I will have her look into William & Mary, & Mary Washington. Thanks!
Pitt won’t be affordable unless the student has a hook or is a star. Mary Washington low 40s with merit depending on stats. CNU likely even less and has classics.
LACs with classics that give strong merit include Beloit, Depauw, Kalamazoo, Wheaton and more but again - having it and ‘having it’ may be two different things.
Since you are in Md, visit St John’s in Annapolis. It is all classics. If your daughter is interested, it’s worth attending a one week summer session to see what she thinks of the school’s approach.
Along similar lines, take a look at UNC Asheville, which offers not only a general major in Classics but also a Latin track with teaching certification.
The program at UNCA is not up to par with the largest and best Classics departments in the South like UNC Chapel Hill and UT Austin, but it’s fairly solid for a school of its size. UNCA itself is a socially laidback but academically rigorous college and relatively affordable for out-of-state students.
St. John’s focuses on “the classics,” which has some overlap with but is not the same as Classics (i.e. the study of Greco-Roman antiquity). A few differences:
The majority of texts in the SJC curriculum were in composed in the post-classical era; Greek and Roman texts are covered only in the freshman year and part of the sophomore year.
SJC offers instruction in Greek but not Latin.
The Great Books approach does not incorporate non-literary approaches to the ancient world (art and archaeology, epigraphy, papyrology, etc.).
Pitt has a quite strong Classic Department, which I think also benefits from interacting with other strong departments like History and (particularly) Philosophy.
I think both Bryn Mawr and Haverford benefit from being in the BiCo with each other, and then possibly the Quaker Consortium with Penn.
Carleton and St Olaf are also worth looking at, both independently and because you can cross-register.
Finally, I agree Kalamazoo is an interesting possibility. They really lean into the interdisciplinary aspects of Classics and also study abroad and other such experiences (a real strength of theirs in general).
Of these, Bryn Mawr, St Olaf, and Kalamazoo offer merit programs.
Kalamazoo offers a ton of merit aid, I think it starts at $30k and goes up to $42k/yr. Has Western Michigan nearby.
Also a fairly quick train ride into Chicago if student wants to check out the Oriental Institute at UChicago easily (I think the train ride is like 2 1/2hrs).
Could you please clarify what your son actually wants to study. There seem to be two different kinds of “classics” that are being mentioned in these responses. Which is your son’s interest…and maybe why…
And the town of Kalamazoo is actually a really cool, decent-sized college town, not least thanks to Western Michigan. Kalamazoo’s campus is also quite nice. It all depends what you are really looking for in a college experience, but I tend to think a lot of people looking for a really great small college experience, including lots of support for interdisciplinary studies and outside-the-college experiences, but at a price that can be pretty competitive if you have good numbers, should take a good look at Kalamazoo.
Oh, I wanted to mention one of the coolest programs I know of is the William & Mary/St Andrews joint degree program. You spend two years at each place and get a joint degrees. One of the just six allowed majors is Classical Studies, and St Andrews has a great Classics department.