hi! i'm a high-schooler who wants to pursue a career in classics and ancient history and you're a massive inspiration to me, I was wondering if you have any advice for an aspiring classicist
Hey! Iām glad to be an inspiration :3
So, the first thing I would suggest is to read, read, read. I know itās expensive to get a lot of books, but remember that public libraries (and check your high school library, too!) might have many of the books you might want to read before you head into a Classics program.
If you would prefer to have these things online so you can access a lot of different things, here are my favorite websites to refer to:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/
https://www.gutenberg.org/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/search.htm
The next thing to remember is that if youāre an undergraduate student, youāre not going to know everything in every class. Be open to exploring - take courses that have a focus on the ancient world, but donāt be afraid to stray into other courses (I took enough Medieval courses (history, literature, art history) that I was one course away from a minor). One of the things that I would recommend is searching for schools that have a program you think youāll enjoy and e-mail the professors! I e-mailed the director of the Classical Studies department at Villanova University back and forth for a long time before I applied to the graduate program and she was quite supportive and explained things well to me. This was a big reason I decided that I decided that Villanova was right for me. The professors and how they interact with potential students will tell you a lot about the faculty as well as the program. Look through the potential courses at the universities youāre interested in, and whether they have all the courses, you would be interested in, including courses for other aspects of the field.
Classics courses can be under Anthropology or Archaeology, Art History, English/Literature, Greek/Latin, Library Sciences, Law, Museum Studies, Theatre, etc. If youāre interested in exploring any of these areas of Classics, I would suggest exploring these courses if the university offers them as well. This would also help you hone in on what area of the field you might be most interested in pursuing - a lot of people who go into Classics either end up teaching or working in a museum, from my experience. However, those arenāt your only choices, and weāll get back to that more towards the end :3
If youāre not sure if youād like archaeology, if you can afford an archaeological field school, I would say try to participate in one when youāre an undergraduate student, or if you canāt, see if your local state parks have any need for archaeological volunteers. Thatās something that Iāve been investigating in Las Vegas (where I live); this isnāt Classics specifically, but much of the work will be similar so you can gauge whether you like digging enough to do it for a living. This past summer I did my first archaeological field school (three years after I completed my B.A. in History/Classics), so if you wait a little longer, thatās okay, too. But, I loved it, and I definitely want to dig again, so I think that itās important to find a way to pursue those opportunities when you can (I was lucky to get a full-time job a year before I went and was able to save up - I didnāt take any vacation time in the year and a half from when I was hired until after the field school). There are field school scholarships that you can apply to, like the Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship (https://www.archaeological.org/grants/708), that are for students pursuing their first field school, amongst other funding, so make sure you look everywhere and ask your university if they have a database for field school funding. A lot of your anthropology and archaeology professors will be helpful in asking about this. Your university might also have archaeology opportunities on campus as well; my alma mater, the University of Delaware, had an Archaeology Laboratory that I volunteered in for extra credit and continued to do so once my course was over because I enjoyed it so much. See whatās around and how you can help out!
In the same vein, if youāre interested in museum work, look to see if you can volunteer over the summer, or once youāre a university student, see if you can enroll in an internship for credit. Sometimes your university galleries and museums might have a program, so look into that, too! I did a Curatorial Apprenticeship Program at the University of Delaware and was able to conduct an Independent Study for credit through the museum program (now the University of Delaware has a Museum Studies minor). Iāve always known that my end goal was to be a curator, but thereās plenty of other aspects of museums you can explore: education, administration, museum libraries, and a lot of other departments, depending on the size of the institution. If youāre in the U.S., you can check my museum post to see if your state has ancient art (https://theancientgeekoroman.tumblr.com/post/179105816745/master-list-of-museums-with-greek-roman), and if youāre in another country, donāt worry, Iām working on master lists for other countries, too. Ā Ā Ā
Many courses may be taught in translation (especially if youāre taking it as an English Literature or Foreign Language in Translation course), so see if you can find the best or most highly recommended translations by professors. See what the book lists are for the courses at the universities youāre looking at and try to find your favorite translation. I just bought the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey, which I have a feeling will be my favorite translation. This is The Iliad translation I have (http://www.librarything.com/work/3426497/book/161094444), The Aeneid (http://www.librarything.com/work/11862/book/161072440), Metamorphoses (http://www.librarything.com/work/3439/book/161072432), and The Love Songs of Sappho (http://www.librarything.com/work/237534/book/161093187). All of these were assigned textbooks for my Biblical and Classical Literature and Mythology courses at the University of Delaware between 2007-2015 (those links take you to my LibraryThing, which will tell you most of the books that I own or I have on my wishlist, if you want to check them out; I havenāt finished organizing their categories yet, though, so itās a WIP). Ā Ā
If you havenāt been exposed to Ancient Greek or Latin at the high school level and university will be the first time you encounter these languages (as was true for me), you donāt necessarily have to know anything by the first day of class. However, if you would like a head start, here are some lessons on Ancient Greek in YouTube format (http://www.openculture.com/2016/08/learn-ancient-greek-in-64-free-lessons-from-brandeis-harvard.html) and in text format (https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/grkol). Latin, unsurprisingly, has a lot more resources for free online learning (I even bought a Udemy course to review my Latin): The University of Texas at Austin: https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/latol, http://learn101.org/latin.php, and this list is good to consult: https://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/latinapps.htm. I havenāt used all of these myself, so explore and see which ones would be best for you and works best for how you learn.
If you decide to continue with Classics into the graduate level, keep in mind that youāll need German AND French or Italian. I took both French and Italian as an undergraduate and I can read French pretty well because I took it for four years in high school and studied abroad in Caen for five weeks as an undergraduate. Italian I can kind of read alright, but I know no German, which I need to work on. So, if you have a language requirement and your Latin or Greek does not count, keep those languages in mind. (Sometimes you have to take a certain amount of Latin or Ancient Greek for it to count, and your program may not require as many ancient language courses for your major as the language requirement for the university, etc. I only needed to take Ancient Greek or Latin, but I decided I wanted to do both.)
Classics is an extremely interdisciplinary field, so you have a lot of options, both as an undergraduate and a graduate student. You donāt necessarily need to go straight into graduate school, either. You can teach at the high school level, you can go into archaeology fieldwork or museum work, or do a variety of other things. Itās up to you. I took a year off, got a different Master of Arts degree before I applied to my M.A. in Classical Studies. Itās different for everyone. Iāll be 30 when I get my M.A. in Classical Studies, so take your time and explore things that call to you. Donāt rush things and have fun!
Of course, Iām sure you want to know āWhat can I do with a Classics degree?ā Luckily, many places have already made lists like this! Here they are:
https://www.angelo.edu/services/career/majors/classics.php
https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/careers/subjects/classics/
https://classicalstudies.org/education/careers-for-classicists/an-undergraduate-degree-in-the-classics
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/careersandemployability/subjectfactsheets/subjectfacsheets/2016ese030_Classics_st1.pdf
http://loveofhistory.com/what-jobs-can-you-get-with-an-ancient-history-and-classics-degree/
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/classics
And I made a post with different places that post Classics positions as well, for when youāre ready to look for those (I check them regularly to see the requirements people want for these positions to either match up or if I need further training or credentials): https://theancientgeekoroman.tumblr.com/post/178955792555/since-im-still-in-my-ma-program-for-classical Ā Ā
Research your potential schools
Explore aspects of the field
Additionally, I found this list of people that have Classics degrees :3
https://rogueclassicism.com/folks-you-didnt-know-maybe-had-classics-degrees/
I hope you found this helpful and I apologize for the length, but feel free to drop me a line whenever you like if you need more advice or would like me to expand on any of my experiences!
P.S. Folklore FiancĆ© wanted to make sure I didnāt overwhelm you and wanted to encourage you to make sure you take your time and take breaks when studying. Donāt overwhelm yourself with your research; take your time to explore different areas and donāt tackle too many things at once. *takes off parent hat*
