Classics students possess an eye for detail, curiosity about languages (including their own) and love of reading. Some such students include:

• Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud
• Theodor Mommsen and Toni Morrison (both recipients of the Nobel Prize for literature)
• Oscar Wilde, Eric Segal ("Love Story") and J.K. Rowling ("Harry Potter")
• Garry Wills (Catholic cultural critic) and Archbishop Pilarczyk of Cincinnati
• David Packard (as in Hewlett-Packard) and Charles Geschke (founder of Adobe)
• James Baker (former Secretary of State)

Classics students often pursue academic careers. Classics majors go on to graduate school to earn advanced degrees in classics or related fields such as archaeology, history or philosophy. Classics students receive a strong liberal arts education that enables them to pursue a graduate degree in many other fields of study including law, medicine and the ministry, and allows them to move into a great variety of careers in industry, business and public services, as shown under success factors. Classics students develop high-level critical thinking, communication, reading and writing skills. Such competence and precision are highly valued in both the private and public spheres.