What alevels did you take?

Hi guys,

I'm a year 12 student, a bit confused as to what to do in the future! I was just wondering what alevel combinations you guys took to get into classics/ancient history? My school doesn't offer latin/greek/classical civ, so if I wanted to apply to a top uni, would that look quite bad?
I do history though (modern)?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

wholikeswood

i took latin and ancient greek. school didnt offer ancient history. they offered ClasCiv, but i didnt want to be too narrow so i kept things open by also doing modern history and spanish.

do you do any modern language a levels? would be good if you're doing spanish, italian or french, etc, etc.

you can start "ab initio", i.e. do classics without ever having done a language before, but places like oxford and cambridge will require you to do a language aptitude test (they give you a fictional language and some of its basic rules, then ask you to translate a passage of that gobbledegook) to see whether you're capable of it.

basically, if you dont rly fancy learning latin (and possibly greek, too) from scratch, i'd suggest that you do ancient history or perhaps combine classics with something like ancient history.

Reply 2

Peanut42

At AS I did History (early modern), Politics, English and Classical Civ. I did do Latin at GCSE, but as few schools offer Latin or Greek these days I doubt a uni will count that against you.

Pretty much all the top unis can let you study Latin or Greek from scratch, but to do this you'd have to study Classical Civ. or an equivilant rather than pure Classics. (not that there is any real difference)

So long as you show a genuine enthusiasm and passion for the subject, you shouldn't be at any disadvantage. (try the PS helpers on here to really make sure your PS is the best it can be.)

Hope this is some help!

Reply 3

elanor_sarah

Universities are aware many schools don't offer Classical subjects, saying in your personal statement you didn't have the opportunity to study it but have become passionate because of 'xyz' and have read and are interested in 'xyz' will be beneficial.

I did English Lit, History and Class Civ A levels with Biology at AS. I think strong Humanities subjects would be beneficial and a language if you want to do language in your degree.

Reply 4

snow_white_forever

i also didnt have the opportunity to study any classical subjects.....i took philosophy, english and law. i think if you can demonstrate an enthusiasm and passion for the subject that appeals more, think my philosophy helped too