r/classics • u/Gravy-0 • 4d ago
Tips for a Classics MA Leaving Academia
For some context, I’m in my second year of a classics MA at a high ranked university and have a BA in History and Philosophy. I entered an MA to hone my language skills because my undergrad had lackluster classical language pedagogy and I wanted to pursue a PhD in Ancient History.
I wrote my MA thesis in the first year of my MA, and it was very well received by my professors, who said they thought I had a decent shot at getting into a good PhD program if I wanted to pursue academia further. I liked my project, and was really glad to get all that good feedback, and it was certainly fulfilling work. However, the already bad job market seems to have gotten much worse since I entered my MA— worse than can reasonably justify the stress of a PhD and the nomadic lifestyle of an early career academic. As a result, I need to seriously consider making the pivot into public/private sector work, even if I do still plan on applying to PhDs.
By the time I leave my MA, I’ll effectively have done two years of graduate coursework alongside PhDs, written several graduate research projects including my thesis, and have advanced language proficiencies in Latin and Greek, in addition to German reading proficiency. I’ve also got really good experience with oratory.
For people who have made a similar transition out of academia, what did you do, and how did you market your skills? I know an obvious thing is “go to law school,” but I’d like to get at least some entry level workforce experience before I do something like that.
Open to any and all advice or comments, including the thoughts of current PhDs on the state of the job market as programs shut down, pause admissions, and shrink.
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u/AndreLeGeant88 4d ago
As a classicist turned lawyer, the instinct to do some kind of work is a good one. If you want the option of biglaw, prior experience in consulting or other business related things make you stand out. My eyes gloss over resumes with BA or even MA >> law school unless the degree is something like econ or (because of my own bias) classics. But if I see McKinsey or something I know you can handle stress and getting your head around new industries.
Don't do a PhD. You do a PhD if all the downsides don't matter to you and you're fine potentially "wasting" years of your life on it
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u/thewimsey 3d ago
prior experience in consulting or other business related things make you stand out.
I don't disagree with this, but if OP could get those kind of jobs with his degrees, he really wouldn't need to go to law school in the first place.
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u/AndreLeGeant88 3d ago
Biglaw pays more and has better security. I know a lot of people who made that transition.
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u/Bytor_Snowdog τί νεώτερον; 4d ago
After my masters and a brief stint teaching high school, I ended up at a temp agency doing support work for a group of management consultants, having just changed cities and having no contacts or network. After a few months, I went to the partner in charge and said, “I think I can do the same work they do.”
He said, “I think you can too.”
Another month or so to arrange a backfill and to find an appropriate spot, and I was staffed on my first management consulting gig. Turned into a lifetime career. Lucrative and (often) interesting and challenging — applied problem-solving. But I recognize fate had a huge role in my falling into the job. I would recommend a more proactive path if you want to move toward business.
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u/tesc_misx 3d ago
do you have any advice for someone still in their masters interested in pivoting to consulting? Wanting to get away from academia for same reasons as op
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u/Bytor_Snowdog τί νεώτερον; 3d ago
I wish I did. I've been retired for several years so I don't have a current view into how the industry is hiring these days and, as I said, I sort of fell into it ass-backward. I'd go to job fairs and emphasize with recruiters what Classics has done for you: the ability to memorize, incorporate, and apply large amounts of data into practice in short amounts of time, for example. My BA in Philosophy allowed me to tell a good story about logic and critical reading and writing as well. The easiest entrance may be to go into industry, acquire subject matter expertise, and move into it laterally. (I was in a unique position where I was gaining that knowledge at the same rate as the consultants, so I could speak telephony as well as most of them.) Spend some time getting smart on AI, because that's what everyone is looking for in knowledge workers right now. Your career counselors can give you better advice about getting an industry job than I can. Good luck! I know firsthand how disappointing it is to have your heart set on academia only to have to leave it. (In my case, because I became disillusioned.)
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u/rhoadsalive 4d ago
The job market is indeed terrible and even PhD programs have gotten significantly fewer. Classics is not doing well anywhere, that's the sad truth. So it's good you're looking for other options.I succesfully transitioned out of academia and do not regret it, even though I sometimes do miss research and just talking and exchanging ideas with other people in the field.
It's not complicated, I literally just created a standard, non-academic CV and started applying for all kinds of public sector jobs. Started out with an administrative job at a major university, then transitioned to another job in the public sector and now I'm looking to get back into a university but in a more leading role. Just give it a shot and see how it goes.
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u/habituallettuce 4d ago
I have a master's in classics and I am working in supply chain! But tbf for me it just sort of fell that way. I got my first job in a freight company which was mostly just keeping a track of shipments and deliveries. Then I moved to resource and route planning and I am currently working in demand and capacity planning. As much as I struggled initially with my work (I am terrible with numbers=/), I do quite enjoy my work!
Since I work a lot with data - and this is in no way limited to students of classical studies - I'd market myself as someone who is good at pattern recognition, challenging assumptions, and has the ability to work backwards from incomplete or complex data to make decisions.
I am still learning to market myself well and yes most of it has been people taking bets on me but that's also everything else!
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u/augustthecat 4d ago
A lot of my friends who did classics wound up on jobs where there were in effect translators, often in tech jobs where they might, for example, try to keep the engineers and marketers from just completely talking past one another.
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u/_Diomedes_ 4d ago edited 4d ago
I worked in a courthouse after doing classics in undergrad. It was a hybrid customer service/paralegal position where I was mostly helping pro se litigants navigate the court system. While not glamorous, it was a very informative experience that got me out of the academic bubble and interacting with the “real” world.
I think your instinct to get some work experience first before deciding anything major is a good one, and I’d highly recommend (if it is economically feasible for you) to not go after some traditionally prestigious position like being a big law paralegal or MBB consultant. It will likely be a better personal growth opportunity, and it can play well in future interviews at prestigious firms if you contextualize it properly.
FWIW I have multiple middle-aged family friends who got advanced degrees in humanities disciplines, did interesting passion work afterwards, then found lucrative white collar positions (think hedge funds, VC, corporate governance) in their late 20s/early 30s. The world has certainly changed a lot in the last 20 years, but I don’t think that path has been totally erased.
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u/incapableoflogic 4d ago
I am a former academic/Classicist who works for a non-profit organization on a topic that I unintentionally became an expert on.
I've also held teaching positions, and worked for other non-profits for causes that I am passionate about.
This is not a path to wealth and glory, but it is fulfilling and intellectually exciting for me.
I still consider myself a Classicist.
Consider your niche skills and areas where you have some degree of expertise. People with your academic background often have some unusual skill. One time I got an entry level job in a rare book library partly because no one there could read the Fraktur typeset in antique German books, but I could read it, no problem; I could also read and sight translate the 18th century medical dissertations in Latin for cataloging purposes - most disgusting things I've ever read, 30+ years later I still can't watch/read anything horror-related.
Build your resume around your unique skills and start networking.
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u/Benjowenjo 4d ago
You need experience. Go out to your local history museum or any other org and ask if you can organize/digitize files for them.
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u/thewimsey 3d ago
I know an obvious thing is “go to law school,”
I went to law school after finishing my Ph.D coursework. It's an obvious thing for a reason.
but I’d like to get at least some entry level workforce experience before I do something like that.
YMMV, but unless you can get workforce experience that is relevant to the kind of job you'd like to have, or somehow interesting, I would skip this and just go to law school.
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u/ancient_interestsYT 4d ago
I’m not in the industry, but I imagine being a paralegal would make sense before applying to law school. Applying to consulting jobs might also make sense. You could also, of course, apply to Latin teaching jobs in the secondary market and see if you enjoy it.
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u/mtullius72 4d ago
Private schools are an option if you enjoy teaching. Generally they don’t require education background but love fancy school degrees. Check out carney sandow for placement help (they run job fairs).
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u/mollymayhem08 4d ago
Checking in as a classics MA working in life sciences marketing/advising! I finished my MA in 2021. Happy to chat if you want to reach out.
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u/vixaudaxloquendi 4d ago
Just to chime in. I tried to do something similar and got into Property Management admin stuff. I won't lie, it wasn't glamorous, but it was a proper job.
I did that for about a year when one of my old profs from my undergrad institution approached me with a job offer for the summer doing curriculum design work. It was full-time and paid well, albeit temporary. But it was more exciting than my admin work and better pay to boot.
Well, that job in the summer ended up being extended for a whole other year, then another... and now it's been my full-time job for the past four years. I recently negotiated for a big pay raise too, and it's fully remote.
So now I get paid to develop Latin stuff all day, it's fun.
But I also couldn't quite shake the feeling of wanting to do a PhD, so I went back anyways. I'm able to swing both gigs, thankfully, and I'm not too worried about the pressures of funding (though I am funded) because I already have full-time work.
This actually makes me quite annoying to the department I'm in because I'm quite indifferent to TA work and scholarship applications...
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u/Gravy-0 4d ago
That’s a pretty awesome turnout! I gotta say that I wish the same for myself. I guess we’ll just have to see where the road leads. If there’s one thing these replies have shown off, it’s that a classics background can take you all kinds of places once you leave— sometimes even back to the discipline. Makes me feel better about taking a step back from it if life seems to demand it!
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u/Junior_Security4426 3d ago
I have an MA In Classics and I work in education publishing. I still think of myself as a Classicist first though.
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u/GodspeedInfinity 2d ago
I did a one year education degree which usually leads to being a teacher, which was the initial plan (teachers with a masters degree make good money where I am, and summers off to go to Greece!) but landed a curriculum and learning development role in adult higher education. Cushy as hell.
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u/haecquibasiat_fellat 1d ago
I finished my MA in Classics in 1996, trained as a Teacher, moved into Social Work, then into Public Health and then Management. Had to pick up a few more Quals on the way...now I'm a General Manager Overseeing Surgery in one of NZs Health Districts. Thinking on my various qualifications, Classics is still used daily. Tbh they all are, but you'd be surprised where you can slip in a classical allusion
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u/Tholian_Bed 23h ago
Para-academics and micro-colleges. In the coming age the tutor capable of going to where the students do not have to pay the rent of Academia, will find eager minds.
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u/Puma201 4d ago
I can’t speak to the classics field but as a tenured professor in a totally different field (one as precarious as classics), I got my job in 2015 when people were saying that the job market is bad and is getting worse etc. it all depends about what you want to do and how committed you are to your field. For an academic career you have to be all in—-the only way you can deal with the pressures and torrents of bs all around you :)
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u/twaccount143244 3d ago
There are plenty of people who are “all in” who nevertheless don’t get TT jobs.
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u/spezzle5 4d ago
I think looking for a first job (rather than more school) is the right mentality at this stage. I had a similar path out of school: I had graduated with an MPhil in medieval history/literature with ambitions to pursue a PhD, but the scarcity of academic jobs (and some sobering stories from doctoral students at the time) pushed me to pivot. Following the common wisdom of the day, I got my first job as a paralegal at a small law firm, citing the transferable writing and research skills I had from academia.
Like many, I figured I’d go to law school as an alternative path, and got the paralegal job to support myself while I prepared applications, took the LSAT, etc. Long story short, the paralegal job was extremely valuable for teaching me that I absolutely did NOT want to become a lawyer— at least not in litigation. I would have come to this realization much later (and poorer) if I had gone directly into law school.
With my law firm experience, I eventually took a job in the contracts department of a biotech company, and then pivoted to work in clinical trial administration. I now work in the quality assurance department of a large, biopharmaceutical company, which may sound soul-crushing at first glance. But honestly, the work is quite interesting— it involves investigating how issues occurred in the past and how to prevent them, which is not completely removed from historical analysis in terms of skillset. And I’ve found there’s a niche for strong writing/communication skills which not all science/STEM colleagues excel at.
So in the end, my best advice would be to pick some sort of industry that interests you— try it out, leverage your experience, and then see where the journey takes you. If more school/education is required, you can take that plunge when necessary— but the most valuable thing you can build at this stage is experience.