Is Classics A useless degree?

I’ve been looking at university courses lately, but the trouble is there isn’t much that i’m really passionate about - except i really like classics/classical studies. I’ve been looking at Edinburgh and the course English Lit + Classics, but is it useless? I’m not scientifically inclined, so i’m kind of stuck.

Reply 1

elilast

I am a recent Classics graduate so obviously biased. But Classics is in my opinion not much less 'useful' (for work) than other humanities degrees like English, History etc. You learn a lot of the same skills. Obviously, it won't get you job right at the end like doing Medicine does, but it sounds like you're not looking for that kind of scientific course anyway!

Reply 2

humanitieslover3

hi! i've just finished y13 and got an offer from oxford for classics. i genuinely think that all degrees that are not clealry vocational (like medicine) are 'useless'. finding a job is hard for most degrees, so it is more worth it to do a degree you enjoy at a good uni that you will excel in as that will help you most in the future. what will push you through the hardest times at uni will be your real interest in a subject.

i'm planning to do a conversion course into law after my degree and that is just one option available for those with classics degrees.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Realistically - most graduate schemes accept any degree subject, and most graduates go into work unrelated to their degree. You really would have no better or worse prospects than someone with a degree in another humanities field as above, or even in a social science or STEM field if applying for generalist grad schemes in e.g. financial services (including investment banking, management consulting, and accounting), the media, the civil service, generalist "business managerial" roles, NGOs and charities, etc. So you're really in the same boat as anyone else for the most part that isn't pursuing a role specifically connected to a specialist degree (e.g. various healthcare professions and their associated degrees, engineering roles for engineering degrees, creative design based roles necessitating a creative background, a number of areas which just require a "numerate degree" in e.g. the engineering, finance, or computing sectors etc).

If you also want some more formal proof, research has shown that STEM and non-STEM graduates in the UK have equivalent career and salary outcomes within 10 years of graduating: https://figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/report/The_employment_trajectories_of_Science_Technology_Engineering_and_Mathematics_graduates/10234421

Just pick what you actually enjoy and find interesting - at the end of the day you're probably going to end up, as with most grads, in a job where 90% of your work is either meetings, excel, or emails. Or some combination of those. And anyone from any degree can do any of that realistically. At least when your eyes are turning into rectangles from poring over spreadsheets you can think back to the good times of studying something you genuinely cared about, rather than getting a BSc Advanced Excel for People With No Imaginations degree.

Reply 4

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

I have finished my school career with Latin and be honest I did not need it for my work after all. Despite this I don't regard it as waste of time or useless, because my interest in Ancient Roman era was encouraged and on top I am able to deduce foreign words from the meaning what helped me to widen my pool for vocabularies.

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 5

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

Utterly useless if you want to be a plumber, yes.
Extremely useful if you want to be an archaeologist.

Asking if it's useless is therefore very subjective.

Disclaimer, I'm in my final year of a Classical Studies degree. I don't want to be a plumber so that's alright!