Classics at Oxbridge

[twistyizzy]

DD is only 13 but has loved Classics since Yr 3/4. She is pretty set on doing it at GCSE, A-Level + uni. She already does Latin + classics at school, top of each class plus reads for her leisure and has just finished the Pat Barket + Natalie Haynes series. She is about to start The Odyssey. Zero pressure from us, this is all driven by her.
My dad went to Cambridge to study Classics and she is obsessed with doing the same. Again, zero pressure from us as DH and I went to RG but not Oxbridge.
So my question is, bearing in mind she could change her mind but is unlikely to, what can we do to support her in terms of supra curricular? I know Oxbridge do outreach, taster days etc but they seem to be aimed at Yr 12 + 13 only.
I'm not thinking of now but maybe Yr 10 + 11 to help her make decisions about A level options etc.

Thank you - that's all food for thought and very helpful. She's obviously got another couple of years to clarify what she wants out of a degree course - it may be that Oxbridge classics is too language-heavy for her when she researches it properly. She is a keen and able linguist though - it's just fitting everything in.

@foxglovetree I totally agree about the IB - my elder daughter has done it and benefited hugely. It's a great course and offers real breath and challenge for all-rounders. I think not doing Class Civ when it's an option is the only thing stopping her from happily choosing IB. She's lucky to have the choice though - especially in the state system.

Apologies again for the thread hijack!

Unless she has her heart set on Oxford, she could look at other universities for a wider range in courses in the field of Classics. For instance, St Andrews does Ancient History and Latin:

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/courses/details/ancient-history-and-latin-ma/54981226

If she did Latin at school, then there would be some familiar language content in the Latin modules of the degree, but it wouldn’t be the same language load, as doing Latin and Greek?

St Andrews is ranked first for Classics in one university ranking, I looked at?

Just to clarify - beginner students at Oxford don’t have to learn both languages. They choose one to start with and if they want to take the second up later, they can. I believe at Cambridge they do have to take both at least initially.

Though I 100% agree that there are excellent Classics courses elsewhere and most have a lower language requirement.

@thewalrus if she is a keen and able linguist there is every reason to think she would thrive at Oxbridge, whether or not she takes French A level. If she is considering French she is clearly good at languages. Learning an ancient language is quite different from a MFL anyway (in some ways it is more like a maths puzzle). The students who struggle tend to be the ones either who didn’t research the course or the ones who haven’t ever done any language learning so don’t realise what it involves (eg the fact they have to learn vocabulary).

The choice is the student's at Oxford but it does seem that tutors do very strongly encourage a student who shows promise with their first classical language to take the second for finals. DD4 was quite motivated by not having all those 9am starts when she chose her finals options and when she submitted them several tutors fired back emails immediately which said it would be a huge waste for her not to take Greek (she was at home at the time so had asked me about options and showed me the emails). They didn't insist but it was very clear advice and didn't leave much room to resist (unsurprisingly, she said subsequently that the tutors were completely right and she was extremely glad of the intervention). So, a free choice.... up to a point!

foxglovetree/ thewalrus people obviously differ but anecdotally DD4 found the grammar learning for her French A level immensely useful when she got to Oxford.

As a beginner, DD was assigned Latin first; she would have preferred Greek, and intends to do it later in the degree, but does say that the group doing Greek had a heavier workload to start. As an indication of pace, midway through the first term, this week's homework is to do a lengthy translation of Livy that is on the A-level syllabus. She agrees that existing knowledge of other languages makes learning Latin much easier, but this is also the aspect she is most interested in at present.

When we were doing the rounds of open days, Exeter's course stood out as extremely flexible and accessible to varying starting points, Greek/Latin preference, and a whole heap of interesting sounding modules less traditional than some courses.

Students are meant to get the choice of which language they begin with - so being assigned Latin is a bit unusual. I know plenty of people who began with Greek.