Majoring in Classics provides an enjoyable and intellectually enriching foundation for a whole range of pursuits, including writing, law, life sciences, business, and journalism.

The Princeton Review writes:

We can’t overestimate the value of a Classics major. Check this out: according to Association of American Medical Colleges, students who major or double-major in Classics have a better success rate getting into medical school than do students who concentrate solely in biology, microbiology, and other branches of science. Crazy, huh? Furthermore, according to Harvard Magazine, Classics majors (and math majors) have the highest success rates of any majors in law school. Believe it or not: political science, economics, and pre-law majors lag fairly far behind. Even furthermore, Classics majors consistently have some of the highest scores on GREs of all undergraduates.

Shocked? Don’t be. One reason Classics majors are so successful is that they completely master grammar. Medical terminology, legal terminology, and all those ridiculously worthless vocabulary words on the GRE (and the SAT) have their roots in Greek and Latin. Ultimately, though, Classics majors get on well in life because they develop intellectual rigor, communications skills, analytical skills, the ability to handle complex information, and, above all, a breadth of view which few other disciplines can provide.

An excellent statement on the direct relevance of Classics in the 21st century has been published jointly by the Society for Classical Studies and the Archaeological Institute of America.

For a nice synopsis of what majoring in Classics entails and the varied career options are out there, see Careers for Classicists, put out by the Society for Classical Studies.

For the importance of Classics in higher education, please see “The Classics Major and Liberal Education,” the results of a study conducted by the Center for Hellenic Studies.