Hannah - Classics

Name: Hannah Walker Gore
Subject: Classics
Year: 2nd
A-levels taken: English Lit, Latin, Maths, Further Maths

What does your working week entail?

Classics is extremely flexible, so you can negotiate your workload to suit you. For example, I choose to have Greek and Latin supervisions every week, but attend no language/reading classes at the faculty, because I learn better in one-on-one sessions.

I write one 2000 word essay a week (although mostly not set a whole week in advance - usually 5 days), which involves at least 15 hours of reading and about 6 hours of writing. I know that sounds like a lot, but spread over several days it works out ok. I do some language work for my supervisions each week (maybe 2 translations and some grammar work), and attend about 6 lectures a week. This is only a tiny fraction of the lectures put on which relate to my subject. You also have quite a lot of set texts to read (which the literature supervisions and lectures relate to) but I don't make time to read those in term time, so I do so in the (very long) holidays.

How easy was the transition from A-levels to the first year of your degree?

Quite easy - there was quite a lot of language to catch up on (particularly Greek) but everyone is very supportive. I did very little work at A-level, so the shock of having so much work was the worst bit, but once I started prioritising it became manageable. I find researching and arguing the essays really enjoyable too which helps!

How easily can you fit social activities into your working week?

Well, I have a pretty packed diary which I have to carry round with me at all times! But I manage to play about 4 college sports (one of which I captain), go to weekly classes at the gym, be college Women's Officer and still go out at least twice a week. Even work is quite sociable because people work together in the college library and then head down to the bar - which is conveniently next door!

What sort of things did you talk about in your interview?

Classics in the media at the minute - programmes like Rome and films like Troy. We also talked about my personal statement a lot, and books I'd mentioned in it - everything from Plato to Greek tragedy. I did a very short Latin translation in one interview, but got lots of help with vocab.