Hi all! My name’s Avesta, and I’m a first year Classicist (four-year course) at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Choosing to study Classics was a leap into the unknown for me, having never studied any classical subject in my academic career; it was through university taster days and personal reading that sparked my passion for this degree.
Classics at Cambridge is a two-sided coin, focusing equally on the culture of classical antiquity and also its languages. The former is taught in the lens of several disciples; literature, history, philosophy, linguistics and art & archeology. Alongside this, all students learn two languages- Latin and Ancient Greek; for many students, we learn one or both languages ab initio. I believe this is a testament to the academic rigour and sheer importance of the subject, which I feel is particularly misunderstood by many who do not know what Classics is.
Classics at Cambridge has become more inclusive with the introduction of the four-year course, which features a preliminary year (think of it as a foundation year) to learn Latin to an A-Level standard and engage in introductory courses on each classical caucus; this is for those, like me, who were not able to study Latin at A-Level. The preliminary year discards the ‘elitist’ reputation of the subject, allowing more state school students such as myself to enter and engage with the discipline.
The structure of my week varies as a prelims student. Overall, you do compulsory modules on all the caucuses, whilst learning Latin ab initio throughout the first year; you begin to learn Greek ab initio as well in your third term. Starting from Easter term, you will drop three Latin lessons and so pick up five Greek lessons, alongside Greek supervisions to consolidate language progress. Thus, the preliminary year is intense in its language focus. From the beginning of Michaelmas term to the end, you will have been progressed from ab initio Latin to an A-Level standard, same for your Greek later on the year.
For now, my typical week is comprised of language classes, lectures and supervisions; the supervisions are organised by your college and the rest by the faculty. You will have five Latin classes a week during first and second term; three on your set texts for your summer exams, one for general Latin practice and one for grammar theory. There are around two to three introductory lecture series on all caucus’ each term, compromising of around 4 lectures per series. These lectures serve as a brief overview on the different areas of the classical world for prelims students, as the faculty recognise many students may not have studied any classical subject before university. You will also have supervisions; prelims Classics students have around three/four supervisions a week. Two of these will be your language supervisions, whilst the other one or two will be on an essay/reading discussion set on one of the Classics caucus’.
My interview process was relatively smooth sailing, compromising of two back-to-back interviews and a short language assessment. My first interview was with two fellows from Trinity college; heavily personal-statement based, this interview was compromised of my interviewers grilling me on certain aspects of my personal statement. This interview felt like a tennis match, whereby my interviewers and I were constantly discussing and rebutting each other’s premises and arguments. My second interview was more materials-based and was conducted by the two Magdalene Classics fellows. We discussed both of my essays I had given as part of my application; I then was asked to talk about an extract of a classical text I was given in my interview invitation email. I was then given an image of a vase to discuss, and finally I was given short Latin poem to translate. The latter was the most daunting part of the interview experience, as at this point, I had never done Latin; I used basic etymological understanding and GCSE Spanish to eventually successfully translate the poem, but with great anxiety! My language assessment was difficult and left me worried that I had cost my application because of my poor performance.
Overall, though challenging and intense, Classics is an incredibly rewarding degree and I am enjoying every moment of it. The faculty has pushed me to learn a language at an incredibly fast pace, leaving me acquiring a set of skills that helps me not only learn other languages quicker, but also understand English even more. Exploring the other Classical disciplines has also assured my passion for the subject, as every week there is always something new to learn about a different aspect of classical antiquity. Tough but enriching, I wouldn’t change my degree or Cambridge for the world.