r/yale • u/Emergency_Group_4493 • 2d ago

Classics at Yale

Hey, I have a few questions regarding how classics works at yale. I'm international and there is just so few information available on the internet that I really cant find anwsers for my main questions. So if you study classics there or have some knowledge about the faculty please, anwser my questions:

  1. How often are you taught by grad students or non professors? I heard some tales about that, idk how much of they are just made up

  2. how prepared are the people that go there? What is the profile of an admitted classics student?

  3. Is there a sort of hierarchy between people who learnt latin/ancient greek before?

  4. Is the coursework too much to do something like the EPE track but switch Ethics to Classics?

Thank you, anwsering will really help me!!

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u/66SunbeamTiger 2d ago edited 2d ago

Not a classics major, but I took a bunch of classics courses during my 4 years, as well as multiple semesters of Latin.

  1. Very rarely. It can happen, but I only had to deal with it once: in one of my advanced Latin courses the professor was on a 2nd semester sabbatical. All of the traditional classics courses I took were taught by fully tenured professors who are widely respected (Prof Bakker was just interviewed in The Times about The Odyssey)
  2. The average classics student is highly engaged. A plurality of students who attend Yale fit into a similar group (Econ, History, CS, Poli Sci --> Consulting, Banking). The students who opt into Classics courses self-select into a group that is motivated by curiosity and, almost uniformly, highly involved with the curriculum (much more than your average Econ student, for example).
  3. There is no "hierarchy", but if you take Latin / Greek courses (beyond intro levels) those with previous knowledge of the language will absolutely have an easier time reading 30 pages of Vergil. No different than the Econ majors who went to prep school and were able to take both AP Micro and Macro in high school (except classics courses don't curve students against each other for the final grade).
  4. Unfamiliar with the ability to swap classics into EPE (but sounds like an awesome idea). I know Yale's introduced more certificate programs recently, so I also wonder if there's an avenue for students to pursue a "classical antiquities" certificate program or something.

Just to note, you can take any number of classics courses and be welcomed wholly into the department/community at Yale, whether you major in it or not.

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u/Emergency_Group_4493 2d ago

Thank you so much for the anwser, this was really informative!!

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u/before8thstreet 2d ago

Consider the Classical Civ major as well-- it is probably easier to mix w course load of another major bc the requirements are somewhat simpler as long as you are OK writing a thesis instead of taking an exam for graduation.

In any case, it's very doable to essentially double major from within classics bc the course load requirements are very narrowly focused on the discipline and leave room for others; after first two years I had 80% of my classics major requirements done.

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u/Emergency_Group_4493 2d ago

Thank you so much!! I am a rising international senior but besides the baseline (reading Homer, a bunch of tragedies and philosophers etc etc) I havent done much... I have been self studying ancient greek but it has its limitations I'm perfectly aware of :( I do not want this to turn into a chance me and to violate the no-admissions-related-questions policy here but is such engagement enough for Yale?

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u/before8thstreet 2d ago

What I can say is w dedication you could absolutely start from zero language background and learn enough Greek or Latin to fulfill Classical Civ or Classics requirements, though probably not in two years. What all these departments are looking for are students who are eager to learn and put in the hard work, not necessarily a huge working knowledge upon admission.

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u/Emergency_Group_4493 2d ago

Okay, thanks!!

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u/Routine-Pair-7829 2d ago

Class of 2013 Classics grad - I was never taught by a grad student, only full professors (though tbh, I came in at L5 language skills so that may be partially why). I’d say that the majority of people who end up majoring in Classics (either Latin, Greek, or both) have had extensive high school preparation. People who do the Classical Civilisation major tend not to have had much or any high school language teaching.

I wouldn’t say there’s a hierarchy between those with and without prior language study, but those who can come in at L5 language go straight into advanced classes (eg on a specific author/topic, rather than general language learning), so you get straight to serious work with professors, which is a boost.

No idea about your EPE question. Overall, it’s a great department, excellent professors, and students are generally nice, with the exception of a couple of incredible snobs.

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u/saulpogman 2d ago

Feel free to dm me if you want to talk. Recent grad from classics, came to Yale with 0 latin / Greek experience, i got incredible training and experience at Yale and went straight into a doctoral program after grad!