(Thanks for tagging me, @Corinthian!) @Srpstvo, I’m a junior at Hillsdale and absolutely love it. Though I haven’t taken any classes in the classics department, I have a couple friends who are Latin majors and know many, many students who have taken Latin or Greek.
The classics department at Hillsdale is quite strong, especially for a school our size (approx. 1400 undergraduates). The classics faculty has some of the most dynamic professors in the school. In fact, quite a few Latin, Greek, and classics majors enter Hillsdale having never taken any Latin/Greek in high school but fall in love with the languages in their intro classes. The department graduates ~10 majors each year. Double majoring in Latin or Greek and some other discipline is doable, particularly if you test into a higher level your freshman year.
Hillsdale classics students have done extraordinarily well at national competitions. We consistently outperform much larger universities at the annual convention of Eta Sigma Phi, the national classics honorary. Historically, Hillsdale has done particularly well in Greek; this year, we swept first, second, and third places in Koine Greek, the first time any school had done so. We also placed high in Latin and Greek translation. Here are three articles published in the school newspaper over the last few years about the competitions and the department in general:
http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2016/04/hillsdale-crowned-with-laurels-at-eta-sigma-phi-classics-competition/
http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2015/04/hillsdale-classicists-win-awards-at-national-convention/
http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2012/03/students-win-classics-awards/
Another benefit of studying classics at Hillsdale is that the department is well-respected across campus. Because of Hillsdale’s emphasis on classical education, the core curriculum, and the Greco-Roman tradition, the classics department isn’t struggling to fill its classes or trying to justify its existence to the administration. When you say, “I’m a [Latin/Greek/classics] major,” the response is never raised eyebrows and “what are you going to do with that?” but “Wow! That’s a real challenge, good for you.”
In sum, Hillsdale classics is pretty darn good.
With regard to Hillsdale academics more broadly, I’ve found nearly all my classes to be interesting and rigorous. The academic atmosphere in general is friendly-intellectual. When you walk into the dining hall, you’ll see a student discussing their thesis on medieval epistemology with a history professor; you’ll overhear students arguing over von Mises’s theories; you’ll watch a group of sophomore men lower one of their number on ropes from a balcony into the dining hall to advertise an upcoming Simpson dorm Christmas party. (This is all describing an actual lunch I had in the dining hall last year.)
Hillsdale is pretty conservative politically and socially as far as colleges go (though it’s not as rigidly Republican as some CCers would have you believe). Religiously, most students are Christian. The Orthodox Fellowship isn’t huge, but strong and provides a good community for Orthodox students, including carpools to Sunday services, etc. They also have a weekly reading group to discuss works of church fathers. If you have any specific questions, PM me and I’ll pass on the email info for the president of the Fellowship.
I could say a LOT about Hillsdale admissions/financial aid, the core classes, academic rigor, dorm life, extracurriculars, etc. but I’ll leave it at this for now. I’m happy to answer any and all questions, whether about the classics department or Hillsdale in general, and if I don’t know the answer I’ll try to connect you with someone who does.
Hillsdale’s a really great place, and for the right students, I truly believe there’s no better community in the world.