What is it like being a Classics major?
What are common misconceptions about CLA majors?
What kind of internships and international experiences have majors had?
How will Classics majors save the world?
Why would anyone want to date a Classics major?
Classics is the interdisciplinary study of all things related to the cultures of Greece and Rome from roughly the beginning of the first millennium B.C. to 476 A.D. Subspecialties include Greek and Latin linguistics (the study of language) and philology (the study of literature); Greek and Roman history, art and archaeology; and numismatics (the study of coins), papyrology, epigraphy and paleography (the study of writing, including inscriptions, graffiti, and dipinti). While the term "classics" originally pertained only to ancient Greece and Rome, today many classicists also study other aspects of the ancient Mediterranean world, including the cultures of Babylon, Persia and Egypt, as well as Mycenaean and Minoan (Bronze Age) Greece.
A prerequisite for Classics is usually either LAT (Latin) 108 or CLG (Ancient Greek) 108, but the department can often be flexible about this depending upon your situation. For instance, a hard-working student who has taken 101-102 or 103 in either language is unlikely to be turned away. Moreover, the Classics department as a whole strongly encourages and welcomes the interest of potential majors. Be sure to stop by the Open House in the fall in order to meet the faculty and several upperclassmen.
For an undergraduate degree in Classics at Princeton, eight courses are required. Of these, five must be language courses at the 200-level or above, at least one of which much be at the 300-level. Of the remaining three, one must be a history survey course. The department offers both Greek and Latin through the graduate level, focusing on topics such as comedy, tragedy, history or particular authors. Most Classics majors choose to take several courses in each language, something the department strongly recommends, but this is not a strict requirement.
Classical Studies: in an effort to promote the study of Classics, Classical Studies has been added as a separate track within the department. The requirements are less stringent in terms of language in order to allow each student to customize a plan of study, parts of which may extend outside of Classics. For example, a student who wishes to concentrate on the Roman Empire might also take a course on Han China in order to compare the two cultures. Another might want to study ancient politics, taking courses both in Greek and in Roman history as well as offerings from the politics department. Classical Studies majors are still required to become proficient (that is, take up through 108) either in Ancient Greek or in Latin, but to progress beyond that is optional. Classical Studies is particularly appropriate for students who for whatever reason cannot satisfy the language requirement of the Classics track but also for those wishing to customize a plan of study based in Classics that places less emphasis on literature in the original language.
And now, a little side commentary to tack onto the boiler-plate description of the two different kinds of majors in the department. The Classical Studies major, although heavily promoted by the faculty, has been rather unfairly stigmatized by a lot of Classics majors themselves in the past few years, the thinking being that "real" classics students ought to study both Greek and Latin to the level traditionally required of undergraduates. There are of course certain merits to acquiring an exact knowledge of Greek and Latin, and that kind of philological training is one of the things that people most often associate with Classics as a discipline. But at the same time, Classical Studies has the potential to give you a deeper appreciation for what you're studying; a lot of Classics courses focus very closely on a short texts, and the Classical Studies rules don't tie you down to that kind of course work. The bottom line is that the Classics Department can accommodate many more kinds than just the traditional philologists; the program is amazingly flexible, and faculty is open to almost any reasonable proposal for a plan of study. Classical Studies is definitely worth serious consideration.
Classics majors examine western culture at its origins and read some of the most important texts in world literature, an attainment that is important in itself. Since work in classics tends to focus on close readings of small portions of text — in classics, one word, or even a part of one word, can be crucial — we Classics majors usually come out with particularly good textual analysis skills and a sharp eye for detail, even compared to other humanities students. And of course, mastering Latin and Greek (and sometimes French, German, and/or Italian, the languages of classical scholarship, as well) is definitely an achievement.
What is it like being a Classics major?
The Classics Department is a kind of oasis at Princeton. The professors are among the best in their field -- Princeton is generally considered to have the U.S.'s best program -- but they are also exceptionally accessible and welcoming, even by Princeton norms. The level of intellectual seriousness, too, is very high: it's fairly common, for instance, to find juniors and even sophomores taking graduate seminars, and they do so with the department's full encouragement. At the same time, most Classics majors seem to be less "careerist" than some elements at Princeton. Since (might as well admit it up front) there are no practical reasons to study classics, we're all here because we want to be here, not because we think we'll get rich studying Greek lyric poetry. There's thus very little jockeying for position within the department, or grandstanding in precept (in fact, given our class sizes, there aren't really many precepts either). The department also tries to honor requests for specific kinds of courses to be offered the following term, which can be really helpful for independent work as well (e.g., research on Greek oratory can be complimented by a seminar on Demosthenes).
In terms of independent work, each student produces two independent papers and a thesis over the course of two years. A Junior Colloquium in the fall takes the form of weekly night sessions, each led by a different professor on a different area of Classics. During the course of the fall term, each junior chooses an adviser and produces a 10-15 page analytical paper on a piece of classical literature. The second term of junior year is spent writing a 20-25 page research paper on a topic of the student's choosing; there is no colloquium in the spring. Senior year is dedicated to work on a thesis, which should be at the least around 60 pages in length. The Junior Colloquium does not count as a class, but each independent paper counts as a course grade towards the GPA, and the thesis counts as two.
Most Classics majors would probably say as well that their independent-work experience was vastly superior to that of a lot of their friends in other departments. For one thing, the Classics Department is on the smaller side and has a faculty that is exceptionally willing—even by the standard of other small departments—to meet frequently with undergraduates and to respond quickly with comments on JP or thesis chapter drafts. The other advantage is that Classics is probably the most flexible department in the university: there's no required junior seminar that limits the subject you can pursue, and apart from the requirement that the fall JP involve a "close reading" of something, there are no restrictions on the topics and methodologies used in the independent work. For the JP's, at least, there are also no deadlines apart from the university-mandated dates for selecting an advisor and turning in the paper, and in any case you are free to pick any advisor you want without having to go through an application process. Basically, you really are free to pursue your interests in classics in a way that few other departments allow.
What are common misconceptions about Classics majors?
Classics majors do not just become professors or lawyers. Although a relatively high percentage do seem to go to law school or into academia, the department also has its share of graduates who take consulting and investment banking jobs in New York. There are even a fair number of pre-meds who major in classics. As in other humanities departments, there's little limitation on the kinds of jobs you can get afterwards.
What kind of internships and international experiences have majors had?
One of the best material advantages of being a Classics major is the generous funding for summer projects that the department doles out. Anecdotally, any member of the department with a reasonable proposal (including studying modern languages relevant to classics, such as German) can get sufficient funds. Current Classics majors have gotten money to study spoken Latin with a Carmelite in Rome, head to mainland Greece to look at temples, go to Delos for senior thesis research, etc. As far as term-time study abroad, recent majors who have spent semesters at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome (Il Centro), the Free University of Berlin, and Oxford; in general, however, the Classics Department seems to be more favorable towards summer projects than semesters abroad, perhaps because Princeton's faculty is so much better than that of almost every university overseas, Oxford and Cambridge excepted.
It is certainly also possible to go somewhere outside the Roman world; one recent graduate worked in a school in Sierra Leone one summer, and another did Princeton-in-Beijing and then returned to China the following summer for an internship. (There are certainly plenty of Classics majors who spend their summers in New York too.)
How will Classics majors save the world?
The vast majority of western history's great political figures, scientists, and artists started out studying the classics. If nothing else, you might learn something by going through the same texts that inspired everyone from Casanova to Clemenceau. Classics won't save lives, but it will certainly make them a lot richer.
Why would anyone want to date a Classics major?
We're still asking ourselves that question. No, but seriously, Classics majors as a bunch are a wonderfully engaging and genuine group of people. There's a lot to appreciate about someone who cares about great literature and art, who has the honesty to pursue his (or her) true passions without worrying about the money, and who is smart enough to learn a couple of tough foreign languages on the side, and guess what! -- that's a good way to describe a Princeton classicist.
