<p>I only have a vague idea of what I want to be when, and if, I grow up. I’m not really a math or science person, or interested in business. The only class I really enjoy is Latin, and I semi-enjoy history and English. </p>
<p>Could anyone inform me of schools with good classics/philosophy/international relations programs? Mainly classics. And what are some top tier schools that are more humanities-oriented?</p>
<p>GPA 4.54w
Rank: 2 or 3/220
SAT: 750M 800CR 800W (12 on essay)</p>
<p>University of Chicago, Columbia, and most LAC’s.</p>
<p>National Research Council program quality rankings:</p>
<p>Classics:
1 Harvard 4.79
2 Cal Berkeley 4.77
3 Michigan 4.54
4 Princeton 4.16
5 Yale 4.12
6 Brown 4.10
7 Chicago 4.00
8 Texas 3.92
9 UCLA 3.89
10 Columbia 3.86</p>
<p>Philosphy:
1 Princeton 4.93
2 Pittsburgh 4.73
3 Harvard 4.69
4 Cal Berkeley 4.66
5 UCLA 4.42
6 Stanford 4.20
7 Michigan 4.15
8 Cornell 4.11
9 MIT 4.01
10 Arizona 3.99</p>
<p>Another philosophy program ranking source, with more current data than the NRC ranking:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.htm[/url]”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.htm</a></p>
<p>1 New York University
2 Rutgers University, New Brunswick<br>
3 Princeton University
4 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor<br>
University of Pittsburgh<br>
6 Columbia University<br>
Harvard University<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
Stanford University<br>
University of California, Los Angeles </p>
<p>Interesting Berkeley appears to have fallen rather dramatically, but still solidly in top 20 (see full list at link).</p>
<p>If you’re after is the prestige of the institution, the top picks are Harvard and UC Berkeley. No other school can beat the two in prestige globally. good luck!</p>
<p>Most top universities and LACs have strong Classics programs. However, I’d recommend:</p>
<p>Beloit
Boston U
Bowdoin
Brown
Bryn Mawr
College of Wooster
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
George Washington
Hamilton
Harvard
Holy Cross
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
Michigan
Notre Dame
NYU
Penn State
Princeton
Stanford
Tufts
UC Berkeley
U Chicago
UCLA
U Missouri
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
UT Austin
Washington
Wesleyan
Yale</p>
<p>I’m a Classics major at Duke, which has an excellent program. You can take one class per semester at UNC, which is an awesome resource (I’ll be taking Near Eastern Archaeology there next semester). The Duke-UNC consortium in Classics is definitely something to check out. Duke sends several students to Rome for the ICCS program and to Greece for the College Year in Athens each year, and there are Duke-in-Rome and Duke-in-Greece summer programs every two years. There’s also the Athens FOCUS for freshmen, which is offered every other year. :)</p>
<p>JWT86, that’s really not the list your average undergraduate wants to use from the phil gourmet report to find a school to attend as an undergraduate. The following link is far more appropriate:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.htm[/url]”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.htm</a> </p>
<p>Berkeley has fallen in part because of some poor planning on its part and some other schools smart planning, essentially with regard to number of people on the faculty. Sadly, Alan Code will be leaving for Rutgers at the end of this year, a huge loss and another open spot to fill.</p>
<p>I have 2 degees in philosophy, and one in English, so I understand your situation. Another consideration might be, “Where can I study these things and discuss them with other students outside the classroom without being derided as an impractical dork?” Even though a school like MIT might have some great professors in these subjects, I don’t get the sense that you could easily get involved with discussions of philosophy and classics with your dorm-mates. Another concern is if the philosophy department specializes in one particular view of philosophy. If you choose a place that ignores Continental philosophy or isn’t much interested in the history of philosophy, it could be a dull 4 years.</p>
<p>Consider St. John’s college in both Annapolis and Santa Fe. Although they don’t offer IR, they have a very strong, although non-traditional, program in both classics and ancient philosophy. They accomplish this through a 4 year curriculum where they study the “Great Books.” In essence, you get a double major in both classics and ancient philosophy. To give you an idea of how they work, you study latin so that you can read the ancient work in the original language. They also have strong success in graduate school and professional school admissions.</p>
<p>wow thanks for all the responses.</p>
<p>I’m not really after prestige, I don’t really want to be a Classicist, just want to get a good education and good critical thinking skills and all that. The occupation that most appeals to me right now is lawyer, and classics would prepare me well for that, I think, plus I enjoy it anyways.</p>
<p>It seems that it’s mostly Ivy League schools and UC-Berkeley that have the best combination of classics and philosophy. What would be some good safety schools to look at, again, particularly for classics? </p>
<p>I know BU has a Classics and Philosophy major, but idk.</p>
<p>I agree that St. John’s is a great school, but their financial aid doesn’t seem that great and I don’t think they offer any merit scholarships. </p>
<p>And, more superficially, they don’t have cross country.</p>
<p>Most Catholic colleges are pretty big in both classics and philosophy (most even require 2 semesters of philosophy, which is quite rare these days). Check out Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, Holy Cross, Marquette, St. Louis University, and Fordham. Also, U of Toronto is huge in both classics and philosophy.</p>
<p>Actually NYU is very strong in both especially in Philosophy. Most people don’t realize that NYU is a powerhouse for Philosophy</p>
<p>Reed is great for both.</p>
<p>Tufts is very good in Classics, Philosophy, and IR. Look into it.</p>
<p>Just FYI: the Gourman Report ranks Tufts #1 in undergraduate IR.</p>
<p>And the Philosophical Gourmet Report says, “Among terminal MA programs, the top program in the U.S. (in terms of faculty quality) is clearly Tufts University.”
(Source: <a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/maprog.htm[/url]”>About the Editors – The Philosophical Gourmet Report) Yes, they’re talking about the MA program, but the nice thing about Tufts is that all the professors who teach in the MA programs teach undergrad as well.</p>
<p>For an LAC that emphasizes critical thought, and will DEFINITELY offer an environment for “geeky”/“nerdy”/“philosophical” conversations, add Carleton to the list. Mix it in with Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Davidson…</p>
<p>That Duke-UNC program[s] sounds fabulous!</p>
<p>how many people actually study Classics any more? my Latin class only has 7 people in it, and I know a lot of schools don’t offer Latin any more. Will college be similar? I mean, I’m all for personal attention but the more people that share my interests the better.</p>
<p>Reed would be a really good school for you</p>
<p>kthlnxc, I think it depends on where you go. The Classical Studies department here has about 30 majors/minors, which is relatively large. Philosophy has ~50 majors/minors. There’s also plenty of people who take classes in Classics without majoring in it.</p>
<p>My younger son’s former English teacher attended St. John’s in Annapolis and RAVES about it. Several of his kids have also gone, one leaving a highly-ranked university to transfer there. It sends lots of kids to top-notch grad schools, too. The wide-ranging, classics-based intellectual inquiry certainly seems to fit some kids quite well.</p>