English/ History/ Foreign Language majors? Talk to me!

[Anonymous]

English major.

Worked for many years in communications on Capitol Hill and then at trade associations. Moved into public relations and have been doing that for years.

Along the way, I picked up a second bachelor's degree, this one in a STEM field that has solidified my credentials as a communicator in this area. I was in 40's at the time.

OP, your DD may state that she abhors math and science now, and she probably does, but you never know how things will develop. If you had told me when I was 22 that I would eventually be back in school studying science, I would have laughed at you. Now, I love it.

[Anonymous]

I’m a government major, art minor… been in Human Resources since I graduated many years ago. You’d be surprised how many liberal arts majors there are in the corporate world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi! Just curious if you were any of the above majors, could you tell me what you do now. Or if your child is studying any of the above things, what do you think they will do with it.

DD simply arbors math, physics and thinks she hates any kind of science. Sad, she had a really lousy biology teacher freshman year at her school and is so turned off. Whatever.

Doesn’t want to be a lawyer, teacher, or librarian. Teachers are so horribly treated theses days and I am a librarian and they finish lowest on the totem pole in my federal agency. Unappreciated and underpaid.

I am asking because we are trying to choose colleges that might have additional areas that she can minor in to make such a degree more marketable.

Wish I had a stem kid. But I don’t! Sweet kid. NO STEM.

So.... that's truly terrible
I majored in philosophy, then worked at an investment bank, then got my master's, now work in consulting. Not from a T25 or highly regarded SLAC.
Humanities/social science majors pose no issue in job security for a student that is adept at representing themselves/communicating well.

+10. Thank you philosophy major! I love people like you. What did you get your masters in?

Public Policy. I could have stayed at the Investment Bank I worked at after college. I probably would have moved up and probably my earnings would be better at this point, but I wanted to do something different. I still do fine and have a great WLB so no regrets.

[Anonymous]

English professor here. My former students who majored, off the top of my head, excluding those who went into teaching and law: Chief of marketing and PR for an opera company. Health policy lobbyist. Donor relations professional in higher ed. Diplomat. All professions where excellent writing and communications are valued.

[Anonymous]

History major. I went to law school

[Anonymous]

English major here. VP of global marketing at Fortune 100 company.

[Anonymous]

Friend was a French major, now manages famous musicians.

[Anonymous]

Language major. I'm now a professor and have the most marvelously flexible work-life balance you could ever imagine. I work hard, but with a great deal of independence. Some of my students have gone into intelligence, law, IT, teaching, and finance, as well as grad school in my field. They do really well because the methods of our field train them to seek creative solutions to complex problems.

[Anonymous]

History major. Worked at a big law firm as a paralegal in my 20s. Then got a masters in international relations. Now work in development finance. My mother studied history and worked in higher education administration. My husband studied international relations, worked on the Hill then law school now consulting.

[Anonymous]

Among my friends with degrees in those areas are a physician and physical therapist (returned to school for post-bacc), admissions dean at a law school, executive in communications for a big company, middle school teacher, small business owner, and someone who works for an association.

[Anonymous]

History major here. Worked for several years after getting my BA in a variety of admin positions across real estate, consulting, and tech firms. Then went back for my - wait for it - MSLS, hi fellow librarian mom. But I found I didn't really want to work in a library (I hear you on the bottom of the totem pole thing, sigh) so I went back into administration. Now in senior management at a nonprofit, but sometimes eye a jump back to the corporate world which I may yet do.

In my crowd, my closest history major friend (BA) now works in the intelligence field and has been all around the world. Closest English major friend (also only a BA) is high up in some tech startup and makes way more money than me (or my STEM PhD DH for that matter...whom I also outearn, incidentally). Best friend from college who majored in foreign languages works at a global ed tech firm. And a former roommate who majored in philosophy is now doing really well in politics.

As the English professor above noted, a liberal arts degree often fosters excellent writing and communication, not to mention critical thinking, skills and those are always going to be in demand. Lots one can do with degrees like English, history, philosophy or foreign languages!

[Anonymous]

English major now in medical training after getting a health policy degree.

[Anonymous]

English major - worked as an admin, then as an intelligence analyst, now a VP for large defense contracting firm. I had no idea what I wanted to do but I super lucked out - both in earnings and flexibility.

[Anonymous]

The skills humanities majors bring are less likely to be lost to automation. Top STEM students will always have options, but forcing okay students into STEM is likely to backfire--they won't be great at it and will always be running ahead of their work becoming automated.

[Anonymous]

I was a history/foreign language double major. I thought I wanted to be a history professor and went to graduate school. Loved graduate school, got a tenure-track job, hated being a professor.

Now I work in grantmaking, which I love. I work for the feds at a small grantmaking agency, but there are also non-government foundations and non-profits that make grants.