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2025 Best Classical Languages & Literature Schools

27 Colleges in the United States
1,407 Classical Languages Degrees Awarded
When it comes to popularity, classical languages & literature sits in the middle of the road, ranking #212 out of 395 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 27 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for classical languages & literature students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,407 degrees in classical languages & literature annually.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Classical Languages & Literature School

Best Classical Languages & Literature Schools The classical languages program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Classical Languages & Literature rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for classical languages & literature schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Pick Your Classical Languages & Literature Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Classical Languages
Master's Degrees in Classical Languages
Doctor's Degrees in Classical Languages

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Classical Languages & Literature Schools list to help you make the college decision. More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Read more about College Factual's methodology.

Best Schools for Classical Languages & Literature in the United States

If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the classical languages degrees they offer, see the list below.

10 Top Schools in Classical Languages

1
Tufts crest
Tufts University
Medford, MA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In MA

Tufts University is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in classical languages & literature. Tufts is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Medford. A Best Colleges rank of #39 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Tufts is a great university overall.

There were approximately 10 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Tufts in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Tufts University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In NY

Every student pursuing a degree in classical languages & literature has to check out Columbia University in the City of New York. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.

There were approximately 22 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Columbia University in the City of New York

3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In NY
33.3% Growth in Graduates

Cornell University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in classical languages & literature. Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.

There were approximately 12 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Cornell University

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In WI

Any student who is interested in classical languages & literature needs to take a look at University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.

There were roughly 12 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from University of Wisconsin - Madison

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In VA

Located in the medium-sized suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.

There were approximately 12 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from University of Virginia - Main Campus

6
Villanova crest
Villanova University
Villanova, PA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In PA

Located in the suburb of Villanova, Villanova is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Villanova is a great university overall.

There were roughly 22 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Villanova in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Villanova University

7
Georgetown crest
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In DC

Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.

There were roughly 8 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Georgetown University

8
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IN

Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.

There were about 13 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from University of Notre Dame

9
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MA
16.7% Growth in Graduates

Holy Cross is a small private not-for-profit college located in the medium-sized city of Worcester. This college ranks 9th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.

There were roughly 18 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Holy Cross in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from College of the Holy Cross

10
Bucknell crest
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
7th Most Popular In PA
20.0% Growth in Graduates

Located in the town of Lewisburg, Bucknell is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 11th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.

There were approximately 10 classical languages & literature students who graduated with this degree at Bucknell in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in classical languages & literature from Bucknell University

Classical Languages & Literature by Region

View the Best Classical Languages & Literature Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Classical Languages & Literature is one of 18 different types of Foreign Languages & Linguistics programs to choose from.

Classical Languages Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
General Classics & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics 1,227
Classics & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics, Other 71
Latin Language & Literature 70
Ancient/Classical Greek Language & Literature 39

View All Classical Languages Concentrations >

Majors Similar to Classical Languages

Related Major Annual Graduates
Romance Languages 13,644
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 8,146
American Sign Language 2,671
East Asian Languages 2,319
Germanic Languages 1,105
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages 598
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other) 518
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages 489
Second Language Learning 234
Native American Languages 48

View All Classical Languages Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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