<p>This fall I’ll be attending FAU as a computer science student, but all my life I’ve wanted to do something with history, particularly Roman history. I found an amazing classic’s degree program at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy that offers experience and internships at archeological sites all across Rome, which would be a dream come true job for me if I could end up in that sector. I was also looking at the American University in Rome’s masters program in Sustainable Cultural Heritage and thought I’d go right into that program after graduating from John Cabot. Does anyone think this would be a good choice? Move to Rome to study Roman history/archaeology and hope to find a career within that field? Or at least one at as a curator at a Museum in Rome, is there a place that has job listings for this sort of career field? Or would this all be a huge waste of money/time pursuing what may be a fruitless dream. I don’t see myself as a computer science student, computers interest me which is why I chose the major, but I have zero passion for math and programming, while living and working in Ancient Rome would be amazing… </p>
<p>What should I do?!</p>
<p>You need a PhD to get a prime job in classics (academic research, university teaching, curating, etc.), and that takes about 5-7 years to complete. It’s becoming VERY common for people to do at least one MA before a PhD, and doing two MAs is not uncommon, so total time after getting your BA can be 10+ years. </p>
<p>Depending on what your interests are, there’s other ways to work in the field. Conservation is perhaps the most flexible and in demand degree (art history + chemistry double major is the most popular prep at the undergraduate level), but excavations also hire geographers, soil specialists, botanists, zoologists and biological anthropologists, photographers, architects, and other specialists. Master’s programs in Museum Studies and various aspects of cultural heritage are becoming increasingly popular…but many of these programs are too new for anyone to predict how adequately they prepare students for the job market. </p>
<p>Classics is a very language-intensive career field. Most successful applicants to PhD programs in classics have had 3-4 years (or more) of both Greek and Latin. A reading knowledge of German and French and a strong background in classical history, art/archaeology, and culture is also expected. </p>
<p>The job prospects in classics are pretty abysmal. It’s an incredibly competitive field, and most of the best PhD programs admit about 3-5 students out of 100-150 applicants. Life doesn’t get easier for classicists after admission, and only a fraction of graduating PhDs actually get classics-related jobs. Many very accomplished graduates from top PhD programs fizzle out and pursue careers in other fields. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to dissuade you, and it’s a very interesting subject. Be aware what you would be getting yourself into, however, and be sure to consider alternate paths to get to where you’d like to go. A business degree, for example, could allow you to live/work in Rome and pursue classics as a side interest. </p>
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<p>DD will be studying the classics as well this fall…they always say that students should study what they are passionate about. </p>
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<p>A high school chum majored in classics. She’s now working as a librarian. </p>
<p>I know someone who majored in Classics at St Andrews. Did summer dig work. Got an MA. Is working as a nanny. But thinking of getting the PhD.</p>
<p>Spouse & I love studying ancient Greece/ Rome & have visited the great and the obscure archeological sites & museums all over the world in our leisure time. We always pick cruise itineraries that permit us to reach the hard-to-get-to sites. Our book shelves are full of history books. Spouse has amassed quite a collection of classical artifacts & ancient coins over the years, visiting shows & auctions in europe. We can afford it. My classics major friend, however, cannot.</p>
<p>Point is: you don’t need to be a starving academic to pursue your intellectual passion. </p>
<p>Caution on digging the classics hole even deeper w a PhD:
<a href=“http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/joshuarothman/2014/06/fixing-the-phd.html”>http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/joshuarothman/2014/06/fixing-the-phd.html</a></p>
<p>Huge waste of time? Depends on perspective. I don’t think so. One gains quite a bit of knowledge when studying just about any discipline in depth. Poor grad students living on ramen in the student ghetto has been the stereo type for many years now. Though the odds may have worsened in terms of getting jobs directly in this field, particularly in academia, it 's not a huge difference . The odds were never good.</p>
<p>The thing that really scares me these days, however, is that there are a lot of students taking out huge grad school loans for studies in field where there is little chance of finding any well paying job. As I said, living poor as a grad student, and even living poor doing what one loves is one thing, owing six figures for it is a whole other. </p>
<p>The number of stipends has been reduced significantly and I am deeply bothered by the number of kids blithely taking on those guaranteed loans that schools are now just integrating into their stipend and tuition remission formulas for their grad students. Some of these students already have undergraduate loans with interest cranking away after graduation. Though one can forestall payments, the interest still is increasing. And many are taking out yet more loans. To do so as a med student or MBA candidate is one thing. At one time, law also had a good payback, but to take out huge loans to be a Classics PHD. ummmmmm, not recommended. I draw the line there. It’s not that it’s just a bad investment, but it can be a recipe for financial disaster for a lifetime., and a high probability of it.</p>
<p>GMTplus7 put it very nicely. Have a job that allows you to take advantage of the thing you love. Computer science is such a job. And while you are studying at FAU, you can do a couple things. Enroll in the certificate program in the classical studies. You can look into spending a semester abroad at the American University in Rome. </p>
<p>Doing two MAs may not be uncommon, but I feel like students who do two MAs do them because they weren’t sure what they needed to do or they like studying. You certainly do not need to two MAs before pursuing a PhD. However, the average time to degree in the humanities is easily 8-10 years these days, and it is pretty common for people to get one MA before doing the PhD, so it can be a very long haul. And yes, academia these days is extremely competitive especially in the humanities.</p>
<p>I like warblersrule’s suggestions for other ways to work in the field.</p>
<p>That said, though, your major doesn’t decide what you do so much as your experiences do. If you majored in classics but interned at a consulting firm in your junior and senior summers, you could become a management consultant. If you majored in classics but learned how to program and developed an app, you could begin a start-up or get hired by a firm that needs software engineers. If you majored in classics and then got an MLS, you could be a librarian, too.</p>
<p>I think you can find a middle ground - you don’t need to major in computer science and read classics books on Saturdays to get your fix, but you also don’t need to pursue a PhD in classics in order to satisfy your craving. I think you can major in classics while also pursuing pragmatic internship experiences, working part-time jobs, and networking. You can also pick up useful skills - perhaps keep a minor in CS and learn to program?</p>
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