It’s time for Rutgers’ SAS undergraduate ‘Major Fair’—and to take stock of what Classics can do for your career (Part 1 of 2)

Are you going to be there? It’s time once again for the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) Major Fair. It all goes down at the Rutgers Student Center, Multipurpose Room, on College Avenue campus. And when? Wednesday 24 October from 1:00 – 4:00pm.  Classics Undergraduate Director Professor Leah Kronenberg—who is interviewed below in this post—will be there throughout to answer your questions.

Here’s an inside tip. It’s not just for majors. The SAS Major Fair offers information for majors, minors, certificates, and careers.  And here’s how it works. Students speak with representatives of academic departments and programs, student services offices, and a variety of Rutgers Schools and Colleges by visiting their tables at the fair.

The event is designed to help students who have not yet declared their major or minor. But it’s also aimed at those who already have declared, but still may be uncertain about their choice of major, minor, or career path. Put simply, it’s an opportunity to investigate various academic and career options in one place, at one time.

And if for some inexplicable reason you miss this Fair, there’s another in the spring. Plus you can always contact Professor Kronenberg to make an appointment for one-on-one Classics major and minor advice.

The RU Classics website contains much crucial information on the undergraduate program. It’s pretty much all there, including answers to the question “why study Classics“, a detailed exposition of major and minor requirements, the Department’s learning goals, our undergraduate Honors program, opportunities for study abroad, all topped off by miscellaneous Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).  Oh, and all the details on our internationally-renowned faculty of seven.

 We took a moment to check in with Professor Leah Kronenberg before the SAS Major Fair to ask her simply—why choose RU Classics?

“Classics is the ‘classic’ humanities major”, cheerily replied Kronenberg. “It still has the reputation of being a hard and impressive course of study, but our students quickly learn the truth about Classics: it’s really fun!”

“And as it happens”, continued Kronenberg, “the Classics major at Rutgers is one of the most flexible humanities majors. We have major options for every type of Classics-related interest—whether you want to focus on Latin (190d), Greek (190b), Latin and Greek (190c), or Classical Humanities courses (190), we have a major for you.”

But the Classics Department isn’t stopping there, Kronenberg pointed out. “In fact, we are in the process of approving an even more flexible version of our Classical Humanities major which will allow students to shape their major however they want—students will just need to complete 36 credits of Classics courses, including an intermediate classical language course (Latin or Greek) and six 300+ level Classics courses—the rest of the details are up to you!”

Professor Kronenberg had even more to say about individualized options. “You can also design your own ‘hybrid’ Classical humanities major if you’d like to take more than the required intermediate level language course but don’t want to take the full 26 credits of Greek or Latin required for the language-intensive versions of the major. In short, we are always happy to work with our students to design the Classics major that best fits your needs.”

How about offerings on the ancient world in other Rutgers departments? “We are also one of the few departments to allow unlimited (approved) courses from other departments to count for our Classical Humanities major”, explained Kronenberg. “So, you can take ancient philosophy, ancient history, Greek and Roman art history courses, or even courses on the use of classical themes in later literature—and these will all COUNT!!”

You can download a “ready to fold” version of our undergraduate brochure (cover pictured above) here. See you at the Fair!

Coming imminently in Part 2 of this blog piece…20 global movers and shakers who chose Classics as their undergraduate major…

Your first stop for all Classics major and minor questions: http://classics.rutgers.edu/undergraduate