Super-Curricular Activities for Classics: Reading, Competitions and Projects

Admissions tutors for Classics read personal statements chiefly as evidence of sustained intellectual curiosity, looking for signs that an applicant reads beyond the A-Level syllabus, engages directly with primary texts in translation or in the original languages, and treats language, literature, history and philosophy as connected fields. Because Classics degrees combine linguistic study with historical and literary analysis, tutors tend to value depth of engagement with a small number of texts or questions over a long list of activities. A student who can explain why a particular passage of Homer or Cicero interested them usually stands out more than one who lists prizes without explanation.

Super-curricular activity, in this context, means reading, listening and thinking that grows out of curiosity, distinct from extra-curricular pursuits such as sport or music, which demonstrate character and commitment without speaking directly to subject aptitude. For Classics, it usually involves independent reading in ancient history, literature or philosophy, exposure to Latin or Greek where the A-Level is not offered, and engagement with interpretative questions that dominate university teaching, such as how far ancient sources can be trusted or how far modern retellings distort ancient meaning.

Oxford and Cambridge interviews, along with the wider UCAS process, test whether a student can think on their feet with unfamiliar material, so activities that build comfort with primary sources, translation and argument tend to matter more than certificates alone. Reading, competitions, lectures, independent projects and even a term spent on an EPQ each contribute to this in different ways, and the strongest applications usually draw several of these together around a genuine area of interest.

Reading beyond the syllabus

Reading is the foundation of a strong Classics application, because it demonstrates that an interest in the ancient world extends beyond what a course requires. A useful starting point is one or two primary texts in a good modern translation, such as Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Herodotus' Histories or a play by Sophocles or Euripides, read slowly enough to form an opinion about them. Alongside primary texts, a small number of accessible secondary works, by historians such as Mary Beard or Edith Hall, help a student see how scholars build arguments from fragmentary evidence and how interpretations of the same material can differ.

Students taking Latin or Greek at A-Level benefit from reading short passages of unseen prose or verse beyond set texts, since sixth-form and university teaching both reward comfort with unfamiliar language. Those without access to classical languages at school can still build a case for aptitude through comparative linguistics, etymology or a beginner's course in Latin or Greek, working through the early units of a structured textbook to show willingness to grapple with grammar and syntax before arriving at university.

• Homer, the Iliad or Odyssey, in a modern verse translation
• Herodotus, the Histories, for an introduction to ancient historical method
• A short work of ancient philosophy, such as Plato's Apology
• One accessible modern work of scholarship on the ancient world

Competitions and essay prizes

National essay prizes and reading competitions give students a concrete goal and, often, useful feedback from markers with subject expertise. The Classical Association runs an essay prize open to sixth-formers, and JACT organises Latin and Greek reading competitions and summer schools that reward accuracy and confidence with the languages. Entering one or two of these in Year 12, chosen around a topic the student already finds interesting, tends to produce focused, well-argued work; entering many at once purely to build a list rarely does.

Essay prizes also generate material a student can return to at interview, since researching, drafting and redrafting an argument mirrors the kind of thinking Oxbridge tutorials expect. A shortlisting or commendation is a welcome addition to a personal statement, and the habit of constructing an argument it builds tends to matter to admissions tutors as much as the result itself.

Lectures, courses and other resources

Free public lectures and online courses let students hear specialists discuss current research and give them a sense of what university-level Classics involves. Gresham College hosts free lectures on ancient history, literature and philosophy, many of which are later available to watch online, and the Open University's OpenLearn platform offers short, free courses on classical topics that can be completed alongside A-Level study. Podcasts such as BBC Radio 4's In Our Time cover recurring classical subjects, from Homeric epic to Roman political history, in enough depth to give a student two or three sentences to discuss confidently at interview.

Museum collections give texts and competitions a physical dimension: the British Museum's Greece and Rome galleries and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford both hold major collections of ancient artefacts, and a visit, written up afterwards in a few reflective notes, gives a student specific, concrete material for a personal statement, in place of a general claim of interest in archaeology. The Perseus Digital Library provides free access to Greek and Latin texts alongside dictionaries and grammatical tools, useful for a student who wants to look at an original passage without owning a printed edition.

Projects, EPQ and independent research

The Extended Project Qualification suits Classics well, because it allows a student to spend real time on a single question, such as how far Augustus's own account of his reign in the Res Gestae can be trusted, or how a particular myth has been reworked in modern literature or film. A good EPQ title stays narrow enough to research properly in the time available, is grounded in primary material, and draws on a bibliography that shows the student has gone beyond a single textbook or website.

Students without an EPQ option can still run an equivalent independent project informally: translating and annotating a short passage, comparing two translations of the same text, or writing a long essay on a question raised in class but never fully answered. What matters to admissions tutors is evidence of a student working with primary sources unsupervised, forming a view, and being able to defend it, since that mirrors the independent reading expected once term starts.

Work experience, exposure and societies

Classics has no obvious equivalent to work experience in medicine or law, so exposure tends to come from teaching, heritage and research settings instead. Volunteering to help run a school's Classics or Latin club, or assisting with lessons for younger pupils, shows initiative and gives a student something concrete to discuss about explaining difficult material to someone else. Archaeological fieldwork, where a local dig or heritage site offers placements, and JACT's residential summer schools in Latin and Greek both give a sustained taste of what university-level study of the ancient world involves.

• Starting or joining a school Classics or Latin reading group
• Volunteering at a local museum or heritage site with classical collections
• Attending a JACT or university-run summer school in Latin or Greek
• Helping teach or tutor younger pupils in Latin, Greek or ancient history

A Year 12 to Year 13 timeline

Super-curricular work spread across both years of sixth form gives an application room to develop steadily, with reading, competitions and any project building on each other well before UCAS submission in Year 13. Early in Year 12 suits broad reading and a first attempt at an essay prize or reading competition, while the topic is still open and there is time to follow curiosity in several directions before settling on an area to pursue in depth. By the second half of Year 12, most students have identified one or two questions that genuinely interest them, which then shape further reading, any EPQ title and the direction of a summer project.

The summer between Year 12 and Year 13 is often the most productive stretch, since school commitments ease and there is time for sustained reading, a first EPQ draft or a summer school. Year 13 itself is best spent consolidating: finishing and redrafting the personal statement, rereading the two or three texts most likely to come up at interview, and preparing to talk about any project or prize in specific detail, since interviewers usually probe well past what appears on the form. Oxbridge applicants sitting an admissions test or attending an interview later in Year 13 benefit from keeping a short list of texts and ideas fresh in mind.

Writing about it and talking about it: personal statement, interview and common mistakes

A personal statement for Classics works best when it follows a line of thought instead of a list, explaining why a particular text, question or period mattered enough to follow up, and what the student did as a result. Naming a book, an essay prize or a lecture only helps if the sentence around it explains what the student took from it, since admissions tutors read hundreds of statements that simply list activities without reflection. Two or three activities explored in depth give a tutor something to engage with; a longer list mentioned only in passing tends to read as padding.

At interview, tutors usually return to whatever the student has written about, testing whether the enthusiasm on the page survives close questioning on an unseen passage, a counter-argument or a text the student claims to know well. Rereading the texts named in the personal statement shortly before interview helps, as does being ready to explain both what convinced the student and what remains unresolved in their own view; a prepared, memorised answer rarely survives a genuine follow-up question. Admissions tutors are generally testing how a student thinks under pressure, not whether they already hold a settled opinion.

A few mistakes recur often enough to be worth naming. Overclaiming fluency in Latin or Greek beyond what a student can defend under questioning tends to unravel quickly at interview, and a long list of unconnected activities usually reads as padding built up for the form itself. Choosing every activity for how it will look on a form, instead of following an actual question, tends to produce statements and interview answers that feel rehearsed and thin once a tutor asks a genuine follow-up.

• Overclaiming language ability that cannot be defended under questioning
• Listing many activities with no explanation of what was learned or why it mattered
• Choosing activities mainly for their appearance on a form, without genuine interest behind them
• Leaving all reading and preparation until the final months before interview

Recommended resources for Classics

• Classical Association: Runs a national essay prize open to sixth-formers and publishes Iris, a magazine written for students of Classics.
• Classics for All: A charity supporting the teaching of Latin, Greek and Classics in state schools, useful context on access and outreach.
• The Iris Project: An Oxford-based charity bringing Classics into state schools and communities, with outreach events some sixth-formers can attend.
• Cambridge School Classics Project: Publishes the Cambridge Latin Course and related resources widely used for independent or beginner Latin study.
• Gresham College: Free public lectures, including regular series on ancient history, literature and philosophy, most available to watch afterwards online.
• In Our Time, BBC Radio 4: Long-running discussion programme with academic guests covering recurring classical topics in enough depth for interview preparation.
• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: Holds a major collection of classical antiquities and runs events and resources for school visitors.
• Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome: A widely read, accessible history of Rome by a leading classicist, often a first point of entry to Roman history.
• Perseus Digital Library: Free online library of Greek and Latin texts with dictionaries and grammatical tools, useful for reading primary sources directly.

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