How can I ever get a job with a degree in Classical Studies or Medieval Studies? Apply for one!
And Don’t Stop Dreaming, Because You Can Still Get a Job!
A degree in Classical Studies or Medieval Studies is very versatile. You are trained in many different areas, literature, history, art and archaeology, the study of religion, society, languages, philosophy, to name some aspects of Classical and Medieval Studies. These are good job skills because they train you to be able to do a variety of tasks and to adapt to change.
Besides good job skills, the programs allow you to dream. Imagine yourself at Cleopatra’s dinner parties, riding breakneck with Attila the Hun, rescuing damsels in distress, sailing with Odysseus, traveling with Roman merchants on the spice route to China, debating in Plato’s Academy in Athens, or simply wandering around the streets of ancient Greek, Roman and later Medieval cities, shopping in markets, visiting friends and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of those worlds. You can have a taste of all this with these programs, and some courses are taught overseas and take you very close indeed to these worlds. And your degree can take you abroad for jobs should you wish to go.
With a degree in Classical Studies or Medieval Studies there are three main paths to take, academic, professional, and practical or corporate. How much time, money and effort is required? What are the job possibilities for each path? An overview and some practical advice for each follows below.
Do you want to be a university professor? Go for an Academic Career. This path generally requires a PhD, about 7 years beyond an Honours BA. Graduates of our programs have gone on to study in England and earned MA and PhD degrees, at the University of London; at Cambridge University, in Scotland, at St. Andrew’s University and on the continent, in Belgium, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (courses are given in English and Flemish). Graduates have also completed degrees in Canada at the University of Toronto, McMaster, Queen’s, University of Western Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier and Laurentian. While in the graduate programs, our students have been well-supported, and found employment as proofreaders, editors, tutors, researchers, administrative assistants and instructors, often in addition to grants from Canada and the home university, be they on foreign soil or at home in Canada. Students wishing to pursue an academic option should start Latin or Greek studies in the first year if possible and aim for as much of both languages as possible for Classics, and a very great deal of Latin for Medieval Studies. After the degrees have been completed, some have found employment within the university community (Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, Cambridge University, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Bishop’s University, Quebec), as professors, administrators, researchers and lecturers. Information on Graduate Studies across Canada may be found at http://www.canadian-universities.net/
Professional Careers. Many of our students have gone on to rewarding professional careers. These generally require one or more years of graduate work, either an MA or a professional program, e.g. commercial art, conservation, teacher’s college, medical school, law school or library science. More and more of the Community Colleges are offering professional certificates in art, conservation, medical occupations, and such a certificate combined with the academic degree from Waterloo can be a very marketable combination. It’s worth having a look at the programs offered by these institutions.
Teaching is a profession many of our graduates are in today, and at all levels from primary through secondary. OISE (Ontario Institute of Secondary Education) offers a BEd Pre-service Certificate in Latin and Classical Studies, which will equip you to teach High School. Programs in Ontario are beginning to grow again as people figure out that they provide useful educational skills, and if you wish to travel, to the USA, for example, there are more job opportunities than there are applicants. Latin and classics are now taught even at the elementary level in the USA and in England. Students wishing to pursue a teaching career should as early as possible, even first year, have a careful look at the requirements and offerings of the various teacher’s colleges. They are all different and offer different programs. Teaching can lead the graduate to overseas work: armed with an ESL (English as a Second Language) certificate opportunities to work with adults (immigrants) and are currently teaching various levels from primary through secondary grades in Ontario and Quebec. Investigate the employer carefully and make sure you are aware of the requirements of the job, its benefits (or lack of), and investigate the country where you will be teaching. There is much information on the internet: search for ‘English as a Second Language’ or ESL, or ‘teach abroad’, or even be country-specific. NB: Japan has a well-organized program ‘JET’ which has taken our graduates; information is available from the Japanese Embassy site and this particular program does not require an MA. Students receive ‘on the job training’ in Japan. More Information: Go to The Ontario Universities Application Centre There you will find downloadable booklets on the Teacher’s Colleges, on Law Schools and on Medical Schools. All of these are open to graduates of Classical or Medieval Studies programs. Go also to UW Career Services, and see what information they have on teaching. There are visits each year from representatives of the various teacher’s colleges. Follow the links to Resources/Links; Non-UW Sites, and to International Work Search. and see what other opportunities are there.
Library and Information Science is a rewarding and lucrative career, and no longer confined to positions in small town libraries checking out books. Trained librarians are needed for all types of archival and curatorial work, for electronic information and data systems. Every government, hospital, large corporation, every institution of any size has archives and records, and therefore the need of trained archivists to manage or to curate them. Librarians with specialist skills such as languages can apply these skills to specialized library work. Library schools can offer courses on paper conservation and the librarian can work with rare books and documents. Some of the advanced language coursework at the University of Waterloo can include Latin Paleography (manuscripts) and Roman Epigraphy (writing on generally non-book or scroll surfaces), and more courses can be taken while in library school. Our graduates have gone to programs at the Universities of Toronto, Faculty of Information Science, and Western Ontario, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, but it is worth looking further a field too, at other library schools, for example at UBC, School of Library, Archival and Information Science. The programs are multi-faceted and varied, and include courses on conserving and curating documents, manuscripts and historical materials which many institutions and libraries hold in their collections. Our present graduates are employed in diverse places such as Hamilton-Wentworth, London and Oshawa Public Library systems, archivists at the National Research Council of Canada and the provincial archives of Manitoba.
Some of our graduates have careers in a variety of professions:
Librarians
o National Research Council of Canada
o London Public Library
o Oshawa Public Library
o Hamilton-Wentworth
Teachers (more than one in local boards)
Practical and Corporate Careers. Many people want a less demanding career which will leave them time for family and many other activities, and should the time come for a more demanding job the Classical and Medieval Studies degrees have prepared you for change. Many corporations offer opportunities for advancement even without post-grad education. This too can be had with a Classical Studies or Medieval Studies degree. Even with these practical careers there is room for the dreamer: one 3-year general graduate is currently a medical underwriting consultant in Zurich, Switzerland and has plenty of time for travel and seeing the sites studied in university. Most of the jobs listed below require no specialized professional training, and what one does need is generally supplied by the employer. What the graduate needs is the good solid training provided by a Classical Studies or Medieval Studies degree; if one does wish to advance within a corporation or move about the Classical and Medieval training has prepared you to be able to change.
Some of our graduates have careers in
a variety of corporations and institutions: