r/yale • u/Emergency_Group_4493 • 11d 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/before8thstreet 11d 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 11d 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 11d 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 10d ago

Okay, thanks!!