Leaving Academia

[ILikeWine]

I am only in my first year of a Classics MA but have already decided this is certainly not for me. But because I am on scholarship and I enjoy it and the city I'm in I want to see it to the end. Having decided not to go on into academia, I don't know what else my Classics MA might help me get into once I'm done. I do not want to teach high school even though it is the obvious backup (which I think is a lame reason anyway). Museum work is another obvious choice but I don't consider it lucrative enough. 

What are some of the careers you see people switching into from Classics? Any advice?

Edited October 21, 2014 by ILikeWine

[biisis]

nothing "lucrative"

[smg]

My brother teachers ESL at the university level in Hong Kong with an MA in Classics.  It's not lucrative.  Your options are probably limited to drug dealing and gun running. 

[Talmid]

Become a military officer. In no time you'll be making six figures doing the same work you read about in the Iliad.

[Pius Aeneas]

Your options are sort of limited if you want to do something lucrative with your Classics MA.

Law used to be the high-paying refuge of bright Humanities students, but that field is nowhere near the sure bet that it was even a few years ago. Stay away unless you can get into a very good school without taking on the absurd six-figure debt.

You mention that you don't want to teach high school, but that's probably the most logical choice if you want something stable with somewhat decent pay.

You also might try non-profit work, which is, again, not lucrative. There's also non-faculty positions in higher education--you could, in an ironic twist, join the ranks of drones largely responsible for the assault on the Humanities and the modern university more broadly.