Classics at Oxford University
Thinking of applying to Oxford to study Classics? This guide will give you an overview of the course, information about life as a Classics Undergraduate, and lots of advice on how to secure a place!
If you’re looking for admissions support in your application, whether it’s help with your UCAS, preparing for the CAT, or interview preparation, don’t hesitate to get in touch - Renewed Learning have expert Classics tutors from Oxford University who can guide you.
Classics at oxford university Entrance Requirements:
A Level: AAA
IB: 39 with 666 at HL.
You also need to take the Classics Admissions Test and send in two pieces of written work. Successful candidates will need to excel across all aspects of their application!
What is the Classics Admissions Test (CAT):
The CAT is composed of three separate sections, each anhour long. – the Latin Translation Test, Greek Translation Test and the Classics Language Aptitude Test.
You only have to take the relevant sections for you.
If you study the language to A-Level or equivalent, you take the translation test in that language, which requires you to translate a short passage of prose and verse into English.
If you haven’t studied either Latin or Greek before, you take the Classics Language Aptitude Test, which is designed to assess your ability to analyse how languages work.
Interview Rate:
95%
Acceptance Rate:
37%
Intake:
103
Average Offer Holder CAT score:
Latin Verse Translation: 84
Latin Prose Translation: 71.2
Greek Verse Translation: 77.7
Greek Prose Translation: 69.6
CLAT: 92.7
What to know when applying for classics at oxford university:
You don’t actually have to have had studied Greek or Latin before (although of course many applicants have) as you can learn either Latin or Ancient Greek (depending on which one you choose) at Mods and then can choose to learn the other language at Greats if you want to.
The Classics degree at Oxford is incredibly broad, with the whole of the Mediterranean world being able to be studied, with a whole paper focusing on the Achaemenid Empire in Persia between 550 and 330 BCE, and a timespan from c.1000 BCE to the modern day, with Modern Greek Poetry being able to be studied, and also the reception of Classical Literature in English Poetry.
Although Classics is the title of the degree you apply for through UCAS, the proper name of the degree is Literae Humaniores, which is generally shortened to Lit. Hum. It literally means ‘the more humane letters’ in Latin and was used to distinguish the course from theology in the 18th Century.
What is Joint Schools at oxford university?:
You can also combine Classics with other disciplines at Oxford - this is known as doing a ‘joint schools’.
The following combinations are all offered:
Classics and English
Classics and Modern Languages
Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly known as Classics and Oriental Studies)
If classics sounds interesting to you, but you want less of a strong language focus, you might want to explore the following courses:
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
Ancient and Modern History
Course structure:
Classics is unusual in that it’s a four-year BA degree without a year abroad or a foundation year. The course is split into Honours Moderations (known as Mods) and Finals (known as Greats). You take mods at the end of your fifth term (march in your second year) and then greats at the end of your degree in your twelfth term.
You have less choice at Mods (although what combination of papers with set papers in the languages you’re learning, Greek and Latin literature papers, a paper in either ancient or modern philosophy or a classical special subject which can be either historical, archaeological, or philological.
At Greats, you choose eight papers from a choice of more than 80, with papers being able to taken from Greek and Latin literature, Ancient History, Ancient and Modern Philosophy, Archaeology and Linguistics and Philology, with no compulsory papers, although regulations on combinations.
Typical Day in the life of an Oxford University Classics Student:
Defining a typical day in the life is hard, because a lot depends on how much language teaching you’re having. For example, in the first two terms, if you’re learning a language from scratch, you’re having an hour of language teaching every day, Monday to Friday. On top of this, you have your hour-long tutorial for the essay paper you’re taking, any lectures which are relevant to your papers, and any college language teaching for the new language (which tends to be an additional hour), and then if you’re coming in with a language already, you’ll have a grammar lesson once a week for an hour for the first two terms. This means that it can be quite contact-hour heavy at the beginning.
Whereas in Greats, if you’re not having any language teaching, you have two tutorials for the two papers you’re taking that term, and then any lectures to supplement it, which usually averages around 3 a week.
Classics is a quite intense degree, even by Oxford standards, due to the amount of language learning happening if you don’t already come in with the languages, and then because you write two essays a week in Greats.
Day in the Life of a 1st-Year Oxford Classics Student:
9:00-10:00 – Latin grammar class – I had this 9am on a Monday every week for my first two terms.
10:00-11:00 – Beginner’s Ancient Greek class – I had this every day for the first two terms.
11:00-12:30 – Completing the daily work which was set from my beginner’s Ancient Greek class – this was usually some grammar exercises from the textbook, and perhaps some sentences to translate.
12:30-1:15ish – Lunch
1:15ish-4:00ish – Normally spent working on my tutorial work, which was Latin Literature in my first term. This generally was either reading the relevant part of the text again to pick out relevant examples for the essay, doing the set secondary reading or actually writing the essay.
4:00ish-4:15ish – Quick Break
4:15ish-6:00ish – More tutorial work and/or grammar work.
6:00ish onwards – End of work – dinner and spending time doing hobbies/seeing friends etc. My first term was October until December 2020, so COVID sort of limited what I could do, but I spent a lot of time with my fellow housemates.
Day in the Life of a 4th-Year Oxford Classics Student:
8ish-9:55 – Go to the college library and start working on reading for essay 1 of the week. I tended to go to the library earlier than most other students because I liked the libraries being quiet and I’m much more productive then.
10:00-11:00 – Go to a lecture – lectures tend to be a really good supplement to whatever paper you do, and for some papers, particularly the archaeological papers, are essential to the teaching of the paper.
11:10ish-12:15ish – More work in the library – with more reading for the essay.
12:15ish – 1:00ish – Lunch – usually college lunch because it was close, good and cheap.
1:00ish-3:00 – More work in the library, reading for the essay.
3:00-4:00 – Coffee with a friend.
4:00-6:00 – Finishing off the reading in the library and plan the essay. I tended to have a fairly firm rule of not working after 7 in the evening, and instead started earlier in the day, because my productivity dramatically dropped off the later I worked.
6:00-ish - 10:00– Go to an exercise class, eat dinner, relax and then go to bed.
Opportunities after a classics degree at oxford:
Lots!
Classics has its direct careers afterwards, such as academia, going into Museums or conservation or teaching. However, like the other humanities degrees, it also has lots of lateral options, drawing on the transferable skills which you gain, such as law, business, consulting, and the civil service.
Classics at Oxford has also been a popular choice with our Prime Ministers, with 7 British Prime Ministers studying classics at Oxford!
Have any further questions or looking for some support in your application? Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
