Career Options
Graduates with all forms of Classics degrees have traditionally had a very successful record of employability, and this continues to be the case. Traditional classics courses have provided an entry to a wide range of careers and positions, since employers have placed a premium on the combination of intellectual flexibility and rigour demonstrated by classics graduates. All forms of Classics degrees at St Andrews will equip students to the same high standards, to ensure that they will both succeed in and enjoy their chosen career or profession. Among the specific careers which individual graduates of ours have entered are journalism, law, accountancy, the theatre, banking, computer programming, teaching, industrial management, politics, the civil service, local government, librarianship, museums and archives and social work.
The Careers wiki gives information about alumni of the School, some of whom are willingto be contacted about career paths.
The Council for Industry and Higher Education published in 2006 Degrees of Skill: Student Employability Profiles.
The entry for Classics includes 'A graduate in Classics or Ancient History typically will have the ability to:
- Understand another culture and a complementary range of subjects such as language, literature, linguistics, philosophy, history, art and archaeology.
- Command techniques and methodologies such as bibliographical and library research skills, a range of skills in reading and textual analysis, the varieties of historical method, the visual skills characteristic of art criticism, use of statistics, philosophical argument and analysis, analytical grasp of language, and skills in translation from and/or into Greek and/or Latin.
- Understand a range of viewpoints and critical approaches.
- Exercise reflection and critical judgment.
- Gather, memorise, organise and deploy information.
- Extract key elements from data and identify and solve associated problems.
- Engage in analytical, evaluative and lateral thinking and to marshal argument.
- Present material orally and in writing.
- Work with others, work under pressure and meet deadlines.
- Apply modern foreign language skills and basic IT skills.
- Demonstrate autonomy manifested in self-direction, self-discipline and intellectual initiative.
Many classics graduates regard the skills they can offer and their interests and motivations as more important than their degree subject. Most classics graduates enter careers that seek graduates of any discipline. Examples include applications developer, archivist, accountant, Civil Service fast stream, Diplomatic Service, commissioning editor, curator, teacher, solicitor and technical author.'
The Prospects website gives information on careers and the first destinations of recent graduates.