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Undergraduate Study

 

Classics at Cambridge is the study of ancient Greek and Roman cultures, language, literature, philosophy, ancient history, art and archaeology.

Our course is 4 years if you have little or no experience of Latin. If you have studied Latin A level (or equivalent), you can apply for the 3-year course instead.
 

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Overview
Number 3 in the UK for Classics (The Complete University Guide 2025)

Classics at Cambridge

Classics covers the history, culture, archaeology, art, philosophy and linguistics of classical antiquity. You will also study original texts and artefacts.

You can either specialise in a particular field or study a range of different topics.

Our 3-year course is for you if:

  • you have Latin A level or IB Higher Level (or equivalent). If you have little or no Classical Greek, we offer an intensive ancient Greek programme
  • you have Classical Greek A level or IB Higher Level (or equivalent) but not Latin. But you may be advised to take the 4-year degree, depending on your circumstances.

Our 4-year course is for you if:

  • you have little or no Latin. The first year will focus on Latin language, Classical topics, and an introduction to Ancient Greek. The second, third and fourth years are identical to the 3-year course.

For advice, contact the Faculty of Classics or your College admissions office.

Teaching, facilities and resources

Teaching

The Faculty of Classics has an exceptional reputation for teaching and research.

Facilities

Faculty of Classics facilities include:

  • Faculty of Classics library, well-stocked with collections on the Classical world of ancient Greece and Rome
  • our own Museum of Classical Archaeology, with collections that span from 1700BCE to 400BCE, and one of the very few surviving plaster cast collections in the world today
  • Fitzwilliam Museum, where some classes take place, with half a million beautiful works of art, masterpiece paintings and historical artefacts

You'll also have access to the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries.

Resources

We have:

  • a thriving student society
  • the renowned Cambridge Greek Play (produced in the original language) which is regularly staged by a professional director
  • undergraduate prizes, bursaries and travel grants

Watch the video to find out what a day in the life of a Cambridge Classics student is like:

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.

Find out more about general study costs.

There are no compulsory additional course costs for Classics. Optional costs are detailed below.

Books and set texts

There is no expectation to buy books, but if you would like your own copies of the most used/referenced material, we estimate it would cost £350 to buy the books new. This is not a compulsory cost as core material is available in our library and in the College libraries.

Field trips

There are archaeological fieldwork opportunities which vary from year to year. These are all optional and all costs are met by the Faculty.

Greek summer school

If you are made an offer for the 3-year course and you do not have an A Level (or equivalent) in Greek, you will need to take 30 hours of tuition in Greek before you start the course. You will usually be asked to do this by attending the JACT Greek Summer School. This is a residential course currently held at Bryanston School, Blandford Forum, Dorset.

In 2025, the total cost of the residential course (excluding travel expenses) is £1,095. The cost of the course is not set by the University and it may vary in future years. Details of the cost of the course and accommodation can be found on the JACT website. Travel costs will vary depending on where you are travelling from.

Partial and full bursaries (dependent on family income) are available to support Cambridge offer holders with the cost of the course. Find out more about the bursaries on the JACT website.

Summer school for the 4-year course

Offer holders for the 4-year course usually attend a summer school at the Faculty of Classics in Cambridge. The summer school is free of charge and includes accommodation and half board. You will need to cover the cost of your travel and lunch for the duration of the summer school (14 days). Travel costs vary depending on where you are travelling from. Find out more about the summer school on the Faculty of Classics website.

Careers and graduate options

Studying Classics will help you develop transferable skills that are essential for many careers after graduation, including:

  • analytical thinking
  • essay writing
  • visual analysis
  • reviewing different sources

You'll also graduate with a proficiency in learning languages.

Many graduates go into research and teaching in schools and universities, or work in libraries, museums and heritage organisations.

Some graduates go into other careers in:

  • the charity sector
  • law
  • media
  • accountancy
  • Civil Service
  • industry and business

Our graduates include:

  • novelists
  • politicians
  • bankers
  • barristers
  • solicitors
  • actors and comedians
  • musicians
  • theatrical artistic directors
Course outline

Teaching

During the first and second year (or second and third year, if you are taking the 4-year course), you usually have 8 to 10 lectures and at least 2 small-group supervisions in which you discuss your work, each week. You will also have language classes as needed.

In the third or fourth year you may have Faculty seminars, as well as lectures. Your College supervisions give you the opportunity to research essay topics of your choice, in depth.

Assessment

Assessments take place through end of year exams and submitted essays. In your final year you can substitute an exam for a dissertation.

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.

Preliminary Year (first year of the 4-year course)

This year will focus on bringing your Latin language up to speed. You'll learn through dedicated language classes that will have you reading original texts as quickly as possible. You will also have options from a whole range of Classical topics and be introduced to the basics of Ancient Greek.

Year 1 (Part IA)

You study texts in the original Greek and Latin from the most familiar periods of ancient literature by central authors such as:

  • Homer
  • Euripides
  • Plato
  • Virgil
  • Ovid
  • Cicero

You also study elements of:

  • ancient history
  • archaeology
  • art
  • philosophy
  • philology
  • linguistics

You also study modern usages of the classical tradition, to build the broadest possible understanding of the ancient world and our relationship to it.

Reading and language classes directed by specialist language teachers, as required, will extend your knowledge of the ancient languages.

End of year exams will test your linguistic and literary comprehension and essay writing skills. You will also submit 2 essays on non-literary topics for assessment.

Your language exams will be adapted to take into account your language ability when you started the course. This way your results will accurately reflect your progress over the course of the year.

Year 2 (Part IB)

You study 2 compulsory papers:

  • Greek translation
  • Latin translation

You will also choose papers from a range of subjects, including:

  • Greek Literature
  • Latin Literature
  • Greek Philosophy
  • Greek and Roman History
  • Classical Art and Archaeology
  • Classical and Historical Linguistics

Further optional papers on prose or verse composition in both languages are available if you wish to develop your confidence and creativity in manipulating language.

You will take end of year exams and submit 2-4 essays for assessment. For language exams, different streams are adapted to different entry levels to make sure results reflect the progression made over the course of the year.

Year 3 (Part II)

You can specialise in one discipline, such as archaeology, or choose a range of disciplines according to your individual strengths and interests.

You choose 4 papers from a broad range of options:

  • literature, for example Greek poetry of the Roman Empire
  • philosophy, for example Greek and Roman Philosophers on Beauty
  • history, for example The Age of Civil War
  • art and archaeology, for example Beyond Classical Art
  • historical Linguistics, for example Greek in the Bronze Age
  • a multidisciplinary paper, for example Gods of Greece and Rome
  • papers from another degree course

At the end of the year, you take exams in these subjects. Or, you can substitute one paper with a dissertation on a subject of your choice within the field of Classics.

Past dissertations have covered:

  • cross-dressing in antiquity
  • modern receptions of Sappho
  • Milton as a Latin poet
  • gods in Pindar
  • Greek tragedy and politics
  • Roman statues and canons of beauty
  • Indo-European poetics
  • the nature and role of pleasure in human life
  • urbanism in Roman Egypt

For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Classics website.

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply. 

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

  • take part in an interview
  • complete an admissions test
  • produce some written work
  • achieve a particular grade in your current studies
  • do some catch-up work
  • start your new course from the beginning 

For more information visit the Faculty website.

You can also apply to change to:

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.

Entry requirements
The entry requirements listed are for entry in 2025 or deferred entry in 2026. Entry requirements for 2026 entry or deferred entry in 2027 will be published in May 2025. Check our guidance on choosing high school subjects.

Minimum offer level

A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.

Subject requirements

Classics 3-year course

To apply to any of our Colleges for the three-year Classics course, you will need A level/IB Higher Level (or the equivalent) in: 

  • Latin 

If you apply to the following Colleges they will usually require an A*/7 in Latin: 

  • Churchill 
  • Lucy Cavendish 

This may also be a condition of your offer at other Colleges.

If you do not study Latin, but instead study Classical Greek, you are advised to contact a College before applying. 

Classics 4-year course  

We don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Classics (4-year course).  

We’d recommend certain subjects for a strong application:   

  • Classical Civilisation   
  • English (language or literature)   
  • History   
  • Languages (ancient or modern) 

You might be asked to achieve an A* in specific subjects (for example one of your essay-based subjects) as part of your offer.   

You can find more information about the subjects our typical entrants have studied below.      

What Classics students have studied

3-year course

Most Classics (3-year course) students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (68% of entrants). The majority students who studied IB achieved at least 44 points overall.

Most studied:

  • Latin (99%)

Other common subjects included:

  • Classical Greek (46%)
  • Classical Civilisation
  • English (Language, Language & Literature, or Literature)
  • History
  • Mathematics
  • A modern language
4-year course

Most Classics (4-year course) students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*AA.

Almost all had studied one or more of the recommended subjects above.

This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured. 

When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.

Admission assessment

There is an admissions assessment at all Colleges for this course. You do not need to register in advance. 

Check the College admission assessments page for more information.

Submitting written work

Applicants to all Colleges (for both the 3 and 4 year course) are required to submit 2 pieces of written work prior to interview. 

Offers above the minimum requirement

The minimum offer level and subject requirements outline the minimum you'll usually need to achieve to get an offer from Cambridge.

In some cases, you'll get a higher or more challenging offer. Colleges set higher offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.

IB offers

Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.

All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.

Next steps

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Contextual information

Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions.  This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.

However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.

We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.

You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.

  1. Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.

    Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data.

  2. Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes.  When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.

  3. Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data.  Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.

The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.

Key information

Minimum offer level 
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
UCAS code 
Q800 (3 year course)
Q801 (4 year course)
Course length 
BA (Hons) 3 years or 4 years, full-time
Start date 
October 2026
Study at 

All Colleges

Applicant numbers 
2024 cycle:
Applications per place: 2
Accepted: 53
Contact email 
access@classics.cam.ac.uk
Contact telephone 
01223 335151