During a study abroad program in Northern Italy with Professor Roncaglia, students learned how to digitally preserve ancient artifacts and their surface details using Reflectance Transformation Imaging technology.
What can one do after earning a degree in Classics? Since there is no set career path (unless you wish to teach Classics at the secondary or post-secondary levels, in which case, please feel free to discuss this route with any of our faculty!), students are often told “well, anything!”. While the freedom in that response may be inspiring to some, it can also be daunting and not exactly helpful when you are unsure of what career path you’d like to pursue. Overall, our coursework provides an excellent foundation for success, building communication, human relation, critical thinking, and other practical skills applicable to and marketable for careers in a wide range of fields.
Here are just some of the various areas which our Classics students have pursued for their careers (see also GVSU’s excellent worksheet on Classics career paths, potential employers, and how to succeed):
- Communications (Writing; Editing; Publishing; Journalism; Research; Translation)
- Archaeology
- Curation, Archiving, and/or other Museum work
- Law
- Technology (Software design, Project Management, Data Analysis, HR, etc.)
- Business (Management, Customer Service, Sales, Public Relations, HR, Consulting, etc.)
- Library and Information Services
- Medicine
- Education (Teaching at high-school or college level; Research; Administration; Student Affairs; etc.)
- Performing Arts (Acting; Screenwriting; Dramaturgy; Design; etc.)
- Food and Hospitality (Agriculture; Restaurant Management; Chef; etc.)
- Non-Profits (Administration; Grant Writing; Research; Development; Programming; etc.)
- Government and Politics (Lobbying; Policy Analysis; Management; Foreign Services; Intelligence; Research; Translation; etc.)
If nothing jumps out at you right away, internships during the summer and school year can help you to determine in which paths you might be interested (and those in which you are not!). Santa Clara offers many resources to help you find internships (both paid and unpaid) in the Bay Area and beyond. If the opportunity happens to be unpaid, apply for SCU’s REAL program funding to help you earn money while you gain valuable experience and connections at your internship.
To learn more, consult with the SCU Career Center about future career paths and to connect with a career coach and other Bronco alums. The Career Center has also partnered with Handshake, a platform to help you jumpstart your career.
See also Career Ideas for Classicists: Undergraduate Edition, published by the Society for Classical Studies (the national Classics professional organization in the US).
For further ideas on how to brand or market yourself as a Classics major, see this article from Psychology Today.
And to find out more about what our previous Classics students have gone on to do, don’t forget to check out the alumni stories!