Classics work experience???

3

Hi,
I am in Upper Sixth (Year 13) and planning to apply for Ancient History or Classical Civilisation at uni. I will be applying to unis next year during my gap year, and was wondering if during that time I should try and gain some work experience or internships with something classics/history related in that time to put on my personal statement. Would unis value any hands-on experience with Classics??
I would love some recommendations or advice on what to do!
Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

Volunteer at a museum if you can.

It's not essential though - Classics is rarely oversubscribed so although yes it'll give you something to jazz up your personal statement, if your grades are good and you're just generally enthusiastic about the subject chances are you'll be fine.

But for your own interest, museum volunteering is your best bet.

Reply 2

HistoryCactus

8

I’m aware that history and classics based work experience is hard to find but I know places like archives and cathedrals may be open to some work experience and yeah local museums most of the time are probably your best bet for either volunteering or work experience

Reply 3

McGinger

20

You dont need any 'work experience' for a Classics degree - and it wont make any difference to your UCAS application. Just find something you might find interesting, and forget 'relevant'.

Reply 4

xyz1234567

11

By all means volunteer if you would find it enriching, but it won’t make any difference to your application. Classics is a highly academic degree and what unis are most interested in is your academic performance and motivation and that you are exploring the subject beyond the school curriculum. You would do better reading lots of Classical texts in translation or doing an online Latin course (there are good free ones via the OU)

Reply 5

Mu-tron

12

Original post

by introvrted_human

Hi,
I am in Upper Sixth (Year 13) and planning to apply for Ancient History or Classical Civilisation at uni. I will be applying to unis next year during my gap year, and was wondering if during that time I should try and gain some work experience or internships with something classics/history related in that time to put on my personal statement. Would unis value any hands-on experience with Classics??
I would love some recommendations or advice on what to do!
Thanks :smile:

Like the others, I don't think work experience is necessary. I'd only do it if you think you'd enjoy it/you want to move into that line of work, whatever it is, in future.

Nothing wrong with volunteering at a museum but I can think of more relevant options, like volunteering at a Classics charity (Classics for All, the Iris Project) or at a theatre company that puts on classical plays.

Reply 6

BusyMummyWrites

2

If there is a volunteer archaeology programme near you (eg there is one in Woking) or a town museum you could help at, it may be useful, but for UCAS they want to see your passion for the subject that extends outside your school topics, so I’d focus on reading around the texts so that you can reference how relevant Euripides or Plato is in a modern context, how democracy as we understand t today has its roots in classical times and how observing contemporary politics is especially interesting as a result of your reading. My DD also talked about the fact that current creative writing models follow ‘The Hero’s Journey’, so that narrative structures in ancient plays and epic tales are heavily influential in contemporary creative arts (film, tv, novel structures as well as theatrical plays) etc.

Reply 7

IslandHistorian

2

I applied for ancient history this year and got 5 offers. My work experience was at my town library and I focused on skills from that which linked into history and university study in my personal statement. I think unis just like to hear that you've done something and learned something from it, rather than having done something specifically connected to the subject.

Reply 8

IslandHistorian

2

Original post

by IslandHistorian

I applied for ancient history this year and got 5 offers. My work experience was at my town library and I focused on skills from that which linked into history and university study in my personal statement. I think unis just like to hear that you've done something and learned something from it, rather than having done something specifically connected to the subject.

In a gap year, definitely any work experience you can find that's linked to the course would be great, but it's more important that you can discuss the benefit of it in your personal statement than how closely linked it is, I think.

Reply 9

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

18

Original post

by introvrted_human

Hi,
I am in Upper Sixth (Year 13) and planning to apply for Ancient History or Classical Civilisation at uni. I will be applying to unis next year during my gap year, and was wondering if during that time I should try and gain some work experience or internships with something classics/history related in that time to put on my personal statement. Would unis value any hands-on experience with Classics??
I would love some recommendations or advice on what to do!
Thanks :smile:

This isn't really an answer to your query exactly but I thought it may be worth mentioning the JACT Greek Summer School. They have beginners classes and nightly lectures and it's really fun; I went twice despite not even studying Classics.

Classics work experience???

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated