So hopefully I'm not beating a dead horse by posting in this thread in the first place, but please - take Latin. This is a bit biased coming from a Classics BA, but hear me out.
The functionality of Latin is, admittedly, rather low. It is useful for etymologies and general syntax and grammar and all that, but - as has been said before - it is far better to just learn Italian than studying ancient Italian/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Romanian to learn Italian. Certainly, Latin and (especially) Greek paradigms will make most other Indo-European conjugation/declension memorizing like a walk in the park, but - again - it's not a good idea to get the shit kicked out of you massively just so subsequent shit-kickings won't be so bad.
And, for fun, let's do this anyway -
Latin-derived: posting, Latin, Classics, B(achelor), A(rts), functionality, admittedly, useful, general, Italian, studying, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Certainly, especially, conjugation, declension, memorizing, idea, massively, subsequent.
Greek-derived: biased, etymologies, syntax, grammar, paradigms.
The truth is, it's a cultural thing. Learning Classical Arabic is not at the top of my list, and learning Latin is probably not at the top of a Middle-Eastern Muslim's list. But it's kind of frightening how much (of Western culture) comes from Greco-Roman culture - our laws, our government, our history, our architecture, our religious symbolism, and undoubtedly our literature. Learning Latin brings with it learning about Rome and Greece, and an understanding of how the world came about - and why the Spring Revolutions should be watched carefully, and why we're called the Seventh Rome.
Anywho, Latin's clawing its way bit by bit back into the US (I think), and I'm pretty sure the UK still has a strong showing, comparatively at least. So if you're interesting in where you came from as an instance of "the Westerner", please at least take a look at it.
But don't go into academia. Adding this many commentaries to the Aeneid is making love under a goddamn spotlight. Study it, then do something else. Anything else. Physics is cool. Try that.
