A major in classics is about as old-school as majors come after, maybe, Latin. We can’t say that we hear from a lot of high school students who are dreaming of a degree in classics. We wish more would, though. While there aren’t many obvious jobs outside of education and academia that come from a degree in classics, a degree steeped in the humanities is actually a bit of a superpower these days.
For years, STEM has been the word on nearly every college student’s lips. Even if they aren’t interested in studying a STEM subject, they would be asking if that’s a mistake or if there is something STEM-y they should add in the mix. Then AI and machine-learning dropped in on the conversation and things got a bit more complicated. Emerging technologies are exciting and cool, but also potentially disrupting to the world of coding, web development, and many of the well-paying entry level jobs that college grads were relying on for the past decade and a half or so.
What AI can’t do, though, is actually think. It only knows what it’s been fed — and you know what it is being fed? Classics.
Students who major in the Classics can apply what they learn to a range of fields, but standing out from the crowd of applicants isn’t easy. There aren’t as many obvious activities to take part in as for there are for students pursuing, say, engineering. In this post, we’ll make the path clear for high school sophomores aspiring to major in classics. We’ll break down what you should be doing, how to pick what’s best for you, and the why of it all. And, if you want more, let us know. We help strong students chart successful futures.
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When you are in high school, there is so much that you can do. But not everything is worth your time — and not only for college application reasons. We don’t believe in doing activities solely with the hope of them improving your college application results. Instead, it’s all about finding and pursuing the activities that empower you to deepen into your passions, build your expertise, and also strengthen your personal narrative once college application time comes around.
Below, we’ll break down the big ‘buckets’ of activity types that you could consider joining or doubling down on as a sophomore, and dig into what may be best for you as an aspiring classics major looking to improve your chances of getting into a highly-selective college in a few years.
CLUBS & TEAMS
Let’s start closest to ‘home,’ or, rather, the classroom. School-affiliated clubs and teams are often the most accessible programs available to high school students. This is especially the case when you are likely not able to drive yourself around yet. We advise our humanities-minded students, especially those interested in the classics, to join the team of the school literary journal — or start one if your school does not have a literary journal. This will require, at minimum, recruiting a faculty advisor and some friends, and you should expect to dedicate a few hours a week, at minimum, to creating a bi-annual or annual publication featuring prose and poetry by your peers.
Next, you should consider joining Quiz Bowl. Most Quiz Bowl teams allow students to specialize in the areas that interest you most, but we also advise our students to push themselves outside of their comfort zone by studying and pursuing subjects that you may start off shaky on. Like with a literary journal, you may need to be the one to start a Quiz Bowl team at your school. Luckily, also like a literary journal, Quiz Bowl is something that is fairly easy to rally teachers and classmates around if you make it fun.
INTERNSHIPS
The next area students interested in the classics need to focus on pulls you outside of school: internships. When you’re interested in STEM or business, internships are pretty self-explanatory. You get a job at a company that does what you want to do. When your brain is with the ancient Greeks, it’s a little harder. You can’t just jet off to the Parthenon and ask for a summer gig, after all. So, what’s a sophomore to do? First, you need to be realistic. You’re young, and you don’t have much experience yet. But you also have a lot to give. You are passionate, focused, and can be counted on to see things through. Let’s show that to people and access some opportunities!
The place we like to look first is the local library. You may not have spent a lot of time there, or it could be your second home. Either way, you’ll be getting to know it a whole lot better in the coming year. Interning at your local library is an amazing way to build community, relationships, and knowledge. It will give you access to the kind of stuff that you can’t pick up off the shelves, and to the kinds of people (librarians, especially) that you may have never gotten to know as a peer. Getting to know your librarians also opens doors to potential future opportunities. Intellectuals know intellectuals, and getting to know your librarians could lead to other internship and volunteering opportunities with local academics.
SCHOLARSHIP
Parallel to building relationships at the local library or through work with local academics, we encourage our students who are interested in the classics to pursue independent academic work that goes beyond what is readily accessible at school. A great side effect of the turn towards digital learning is the accessibility of opportunities to push yourself, and this includes online courses in classical literature, history, and languages, like Latin and Greek.
We advise sophomores to pursue courses online or in-person at a local community college that are accredited and, if possible, be added to your transcript. Talk to your administration at school about this in advance, of course, to ensure that anything you are paying for will pay off fully. And if you are thinking of a course but aren’t sure if it’s the right one, send us an email. We’re experts at helping high school students navigate a fulfilling extracurricular strategy that pays off.
SUMMER PROGRAMS
There are so many academic summer programs that it can be hard to sort through them all. Many people assume that the sheer volume of programs available is evidence that they aren’t a good investment. While some programs truly aren’t worth your time (think: expensive, unspecialized, unaccredited, and uninspiring), many are amazing opportunities that can unlock new areas of interest and deepen existing ones.
We advise our sophomores to consider a summer program with a few important caveats. First, it should be specialized in classics, and include lectures or smaller group classes taught by professors. Next, it shouldn’t be marketed as equivalent to a summer camp. If you want to go to camp, go. Have fun! But an academic summer program is not a camp, it should be a learning-first experience that prioritizes education above, say, bonfires.
If you are a high school sophomore passionate about the classics, don’t sit on your academic laurels waiting on a college to notice how great you are. Instead, take this time early in your high school career to make an impact that will amplify your future applications. There are so many opportunities to explore, discover, and learn, and we’d love to help guide you along your way.
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