Careers for Classics Majors
Source: http://www.luc.edu/depts/classics/careers.html

"What kind of work can you do in if you major in Classics?"
Some of our best friends have jobs in...

Assorted former Classics students, or, the Road to Success

• Ben Bradlee, Joint Chairman of the International Advisory Board, Independent Media Group; author; formerly Executive Editor of the Washington Post
• William S. Cohen, author (fiction, non-fiction, and poetry); former U.S. Representative and Senator; Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration
• J. K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter (see link)
• Lynn Sherr, Correspondent for ABC News; author
• Ted Turner, Chairman of the Turner Foundation; founder of Cable News Network and Turner Network Television; owner of the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks
• Garry Wills, scholar of cultural history and author; professor of History at Northwestern University

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Thoughts of those who have been there, done that

• Address by Lynn Sherr of ABC News to the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, on where studying Ancient Greek has gotten her in the world.
• Euthyphro II: a dialogue that has Plato in the back of its mind, on the joys and relevance of majoring in ancient Greek rather than Business. By Dave Freddoso, Greek major at the University of Notre Dame.
• Life after Classics at Ole Miss: reflections on their major of some graduates from the University of Mississippi.
• The Classics Teachers' Page: intriguing successes of assorted students of the Classics.

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Resources

• Virtual Library of Loyola's Internship and Career Center includes many useful resources, including the index-page "What Can I do with This Major?" It includes instructions for downloading the Acrobat Reader, if you need it; then you can click on "Classics - Information" to get pdf file of a chart of careers open to Classics majors - compiled by the Career Planning staff of Career Services at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1996. The page makes several important points:
  • "Study in the Classics develops verbal and analytical skills useful in managerial and executive positions."
  • "Good preparation for graduate study in law and other highly analytical types of work."
  • "Develop excellent writing and research skills."
• Career Opportunities for Majors in Classics, presented by Career Services of Rutgers University, lists related occupations, types of employers, and some jobs obtained by Rutgers Classics graduates.
• After Skidmore: Jobs in Classics attractively outlines fields of work where training in Classics is especially relevant, and success-stories of Skidmore graduates in very many of them.
• Career Exploration Center at the University of Texas at Austin includes links to a survey of "direct", "less direct", and "indirect" career paths on which a degree in Classical Studies can set you - each with many exciting possibilities.
• On the subject of Careers, the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, remarks, "What employers appreciate is that Classics provides mental training in a whole range of different disciplines, and produces graduates of exceptional intellectual flexibility. In our world of rapid social and technological change, it is the capacity to react to new and unforeseen developments with flexibility which employers value most, and it is widely recognized that Classics and related subjects produce just the kind of graduate they are looking for, with an unparalleled capacity to adapt to new circumstances and learn new skills." Some things really never do go out of date!

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Can't get enough Classical Studies?
Resources for careerists and the generally interested

• American Philological Association: the umbrella professional organization for American classicists.
• American Classical League: professional and non-professional association of persons committed to preserving and advancing awareness of the classical tradition of Greece and Rome. This organization is especially useful for people who want to work in the undersupplied field of high-school Latin teachers.
• Classical Association of the Middle West and South: an organization of university, college, secondary and elementary teachers of Latin, Greek and all other studies which focus on the world of classical antiquity. The biggest regional organization of Classicists, it's virtually national. This organization too is very important for high-school Latin teachers.
• American Association of Ancient Historians: professional organization for college and university professors of ancient history.
• Archaeological Institute of America: the oldest and largest archaeological association in North America, for both professionals and interested non-specialists, including New World as well as Classical archaeology.

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