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Classics at Durham

Hi, I'm completely new to this place and was hoping it would make me less confused about stuff (although it'll probably just make me MORE confused, but oh well). I'm thinking of applying to Durham next year to do Classics but I can't seem to find out much about the course - the Durham website's reeeeally vague about it. Does anyone here do Classics at Durham or know much about it, and is it any good?

Reply 1

Picnico

The Times Education Guide puts Durham as 5th in the UK for classics (3rd in terms of entrance requirements). The university is put as 10th best.

Reply 2

WokSz

17

Durham is very good for Classics and you'll be in very good hands if you do decide to go there. What I love about the course is that you don't have to do Latin or Greek to do Classics.

Reply 3

Piggsil

16

Why don't you try sending off for a paper prospectus? It's free & I often find it's easier to get the info I'm looking for in there rather than on a website, which can be confusing. Click here to order one: http://www.dur.ac.uk/studying/prospectus/

Reply 4

MurielMatters

OP

Yeah, I've got one, but I don't think it goes into that much detail. I just wanted to know what kind of things you did, like is there an emphasis on language or literature or history etc.?

Reply 5

Applying4Maths

One of my housemates does classics, and he is really enjoying it. I think you have to do some history, some literature and some language but you can choose you modules yourself in order to specialise in any of the 3. If you look at the bottom of this page you can see what modules you can do as part of the Classics degree.

Reply 6

sidekick

12

I do a bit of Classics... well, a module of Latin and a module of Greek, which I have enjoyed as much as you can, lol. No point me going into them though unless you're planning on doing the languages, but if you are then I am happy to answer any questions :biggrin:

Don't know much else about the classics dept to be honest, we combined arts people don't tend to hang around separate departments much... but I know lots of people who do classics and they all seem to like it. Think the teaching's generally pretty good, fair amount of choice as to what modules you do etc. Woo.

Reply 7

bravenewcentury

My best friend is a Classicist- apparently while the department is full of rather mad people, and introductory-level Greek at least can be a bit dodgy (at the moment the same woman is teaching beginners' ancient Greek as taught my beginners' New Testament Greek module, and she can get the two forms mixed up!), there are some really brilliant lecturers and courses, and the department is quite good with student support.

Reply 8

socialist cook

8

bravenewcentury

My best friend is a Classicist- apparently while the department is full of rather mad people, and introductory-level Greek at least can be a bit dodgy (at the moment the same woman is teaching beginners' ancient Greek as taught my beginners' New Testament Greek module, and she can get the two forms mixed up!), there are some really brilliant lecturers and courses, and the department is quite good with student support.

Hello Imogen! :biggrin:

Reply 9

bravenewcentury

socialist cook

Hello Imogen! :biggrin:

Hello Judith! *waves*

Reply 10

anonymous1985

Classics is meant to be one of the most challenging subjects at Uni isn't it? Apprently it has the highest rate of drop outs! Not that i'm trying to put anybody off lol! It looks like a great course!

Reply 11

WokSz

17

It is hard, especially as people don't understand the fact that a huge emphasis is placed on linguistics. Many people tend to do it also because it's so heavily undersubscribed.

The irony.

in answer to ur question, i just finished taking one classics module in my first year and it wasnt too bad. granted it wasnt my degreee so i never knew who the characters were half the time, and also what the maps and everything where supposed to be enlightening me about (never was good at geo....plus i didnt show up to half my lectures 'cause i found that wikipedia contains even more info than lectures and slides), however, i still managed to pass with a 2:2 considering i did no work. i say that u should definately go for ir if its something u really want!

Reply 14

BlanchedAlmonds

Classics is good - or so I'm told. Beginners Latin/Greek has 4 classes a week (and those classes can be at 9AM every morning) - and they take you up to A Level standard in a year. The department as a whole has a bad record for using DUO (the uni's online facility), pretty much everything is done through paper/email rather than 'notices' and you better pick up that sheet in class b/c it may never reappear again! The classes for languages are quite small, lectures are bigger, but alway done in person. The major let down is seminars, which for the core 'history' models never tend to relate to lecture material and always tend to be too short (with too much new material to cover in the time allocated). The lecturers and staff in the department are nice and mostly very helpful and the department itself is lovely. The modular 'changes' this year seem to indicate that the department is planning to place a larger emphasis on literature than on history in the future, but you will be required to learn some history at least! Hope this helps.

Classics at Durham

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