Classics Undergraduate Information Pages
Prospective Students Current Students Graduating Students Outreach Projects Latin Placement Service Undergraduate Information Home Page Classics Home Page Liberal Arts Home Page  UT-Austin Home Page	Prospective Students Why Study Classics? Why Study Classics at UT? Majors available through the Classics Department Affiliated Programs Information on Applying to UT as a Freshman Information on Applying to UT as a Transfer Student Information on Applying to UT as a Summer Transient Student. (This is the application for non-UT students who would like to participate in the Summer Intensive Greek Program.) Financial Aid Home Page College of Liberal Arts Scholarship Information Classics Department Scholarships Information Making the Most of Your Time in Classics Back to Top Why Study Classics? Classics is a broad-based area of study encompassing the languages and cultures of Greece and Rome from pre-history to late antiquity. The study of these vibrant and vital societies has long been recognized as contributing to the understanding of ourselves as human beings. Recently there has been a renewed recognition of the skills such study develops. A recent survey of business recruitment officers found that "studying the classics developed intellectual rigor, communications skills, analytical skills, the ability to handle complex information, and, above all, a breadth of view which few other disciplines can provide." Solid training in Classics --requiring not only mastery of difficult information and critical judgment but also a profound appreciation for precision in expression -- is becoming increasingly attractive to professional and business schools, and there is currently a large demand for Latin teachers in Texas. Other students, even science majors, have minored, majored, or double majored in Classics simply because they liked the subject. All majors find that knowledge of ancient languages helps their performance on such exams as the GRE and MCAT. Popular careers for Classics majors to pursue are law, medicine, publishing, business and real estate. The answer, then, to the question, "What can you do with a Classics major?" is simple: "Anything and better." Moreover, the major requirements for Classics, Latin, and Greek are deliberately structured to allow students a great deal of freedom to take courses in other areas. Hence we have many double majors in, for example, Classics-Computer Science, Classics-English, Classics-Pre-Med, and Classics-Government. Back to Top Why Study Classics at UT? With twenty-five faculty members and about thirty-five teaching assistants and assistant instructors, UT is the largest Classics department in the country, and one of the best--for both graduates and undergraduates. Within the last decade faculty members have written books on aspects of Greek and Roman culture ranging from medicine to magic, ethics to rhetoric and law, archaeology to literature; these works have been concerned with every period from prehistoric to Classical to Hellenistic Greece and from pre-Roman Etruscans to the Roman Republic and Empire. It has been standard policy for the last twenty years that even the most senior and productive researchers in the Department teach undergraduate classes every year. This policy (hailed in a recent New York Times article as a new trend in some universities) means that the 'stars' of our Department are just as likely to be an integral part of your education in Classics as the junior faculty. Both junior and senior faculty members are active researchers, so professors are constantly bringing fresh perspectives to their courses. Moreover, a quarter of our faculty have received awards for their teaching. Al though thousands of students take classes in the Department every semester, the number of majors is small enough -- currently about 125 -- that we can give them individual attention other departments cannot. Majoring in Classics at UT, therefore, gives you the best of both worlds: the resources of a large research institution (libraries, visiting lecturers, theaters, sports, etc.) and the personal involvement with faculty usually found in small liberal arts colleges. Back to Top
	Last Updated 01 August 2003 by the Undergraduate Coordinator. To report problems  please contact the Undergraduate Coordinator.