Philosophy Rated As One of the Top Majors to Avoid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good philosophy grad would seem well suited for any number of entry level knowledge work jobs. I can't see why philosophy would be any worse than any other liberal arts major, or majors like sociology etc.

Agreed. There is something to be said about education for education's sake. After all college is about education, not training, although some here struggle with that concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good philosophy grad would seem well suited for any number of entry level knowledge work jobs. I can't see why philosophy would be any worse than any other liberal arts major, or majors like sociology etc.

Agreed. There is something to be said about education for education's sake. After all college is about education, not training, although some here struggle with that concept.

When one is spending upwards of $200K on an undergraduate degree, count me in among those who struggle with the concept of education for education's sake. In fact, count me in among those who think it is sheer lunacy to incur that sort of expenditure to earn a college degree and to be oblivious of the whether one will get a job thereafter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:from article:

Searching for the meaning of life as a philosophy or religious studies major is a noble endeavor, but unfortunately, it's not super exciting to employers.

"In my opinion, these degrees are not at all marketable," says Lynn. "I don't even know what people do with these degrees to be honest. Unless they're willing to go all the way to a PhD in philosophy, for instance, their career paths are zero."

And while she does respect these studies, she advises students to at least minor in something such as business or economics.

As for the verdict from the "Hard Times" report? Not too inspiring. Philosophy and religious studies recent grads had a 10.8 percent unemployment rate.

I am not sure how majoring in philosophy is worse than majoring in history or English. Getting a phD in philosophy is a much riskier career move than majoring in it.

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good philosophy grad would seem well suited for any number of entry level knowledge work jobs. I can't see why philosophy would be any worse than any other liberal arts major, or majors like sociology etc.

Agreed. There is something to be said about education for education's sake. After all college is about education, not training, although some here struggle with that concept.

When one is spending upwards of $200K on an undergraduate degree, count me in among those who struggle with the concept of education for education's sake. In fact, count me in among those who think it is sheer lunacy to incur that sort of expenditure to earn a college degree and to be oblivious of the whether one will get a job thereafter.

I think a philosophy degree actually could be excellent training for any number of jobs. This is a knowledge economy, so skills like writing, speaking, analyzing texts, organizing information, are all vital. There's a lot of middle ground between pure vocational education and just farting around for "education's sake."

[Anonymous]

There are some holdouts who believe a college education is the beginning and not the end of education. Philosophy, classics, English, are all great springboards. You can take a post graduate pre-med course or minor in the pre med requirements, or go to law school. Or, go into a business field entry level followed by an MBA.

To some, going to college for a trade devalues the college experience. Just saying, as they say.

[Anonymous]

PP here. In fact I have been told the original purpose of the MBA was to train folks with undergraduate degrees in Letters to work in business.

[Anonymous]

Who is Lynn and why should I care what she says?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good philosophy grad would seem well suited for any number of entry level knowledge work jobs. I can't see why philosophy would be any worse than any other liberal arts major, or majors like sociology etc.

+1 I don't see how sociology or political science has more employment potential than philosophy. Most philosophy programs require at least a course or two in logic. It is well suited to breaking down and making coherent arguments. Philosophy requires really strong reading comprehension, writing and analytical skills. There are a ton of white collar jobs that rely on those skills.

It's not only a good precursor to law school but also any kind of graduate work or professional work that involves organizing information, research. Depending on what area of philosophy a person focused, it can even be a good complement to programming and database management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some holdouts who believe a college education is the beginning and not the end of education. Philosophy, classics, English, are all great springboards. You can take a post graduate pre-med course or minor in the pre med requirements, or go to law school. Or, go into a business field entry level followed by an MBA.

To some, going to college for a trade devalues the college experience. Just saying, as they say.

You can include me as one of those holdouts who believes a college education is the beginning and not the end of education. However, I am also aware that unless one is cognizant of the changing demands within today's marketplace a person can have a college degree that provided a great education but is worthless in the context of what is sought by today's employers.

[Anonymous]

Major in philosophy. Ask people WHY they would like fries with that.

[Anonymous]

DH and I were both philosophy majors in the dark ages (late 80s), and even went to grad school for it. I have never lacked for gainful employment - admittedly, we entered a relatively strong job market where smart liberal arts majors willing to work hard could get an entry level job, gain experience and move up from there. It gave us a great foundation, a classical education, cultural literacy, the ability to think and most importantly - analyze arguments and write.

I agree that it's great preparation for the study of law, but also computer programming and accounting and tax. The same minds that are good at philosophy seem to be great at those things.

If a student is passionate about philosophy, and is willing to accept limited job prospects (or great grad school prospects) and/or working hard to network and get an entry level job in a decent organization, then why not let them study it? Must every college education be vocational training?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some holdouts who believe a college education is the beginning and not the end of education. Philosophy, classics, English, are all great springboards. You can take a post graduate pre-med course or minor in the pre med requirements, or go to law school. Or, go into a business field entry level followed by an MBA.

To some, going to college for a trade devalues the college experience. Just saying, as they say.

You can include me as one of those holdouts who believes a college education is the beginning and not the end of education. However, I am also aware that unless one is cognizant of the changing demands within today's marketplace a person can have a college degree that provided a great education but is worthless in the context of what is sought by today's employers.

Agree, PP. I think people are in serious denial.

[Anonymous]

And I'm laughing at any discussion of law school. Sorry, that's not a wise route for most people these days.

[Anonymous]

When I worked at Towers Perrin, now Towers Watson, many of the very top earners (VPs) had majored in Philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I'm laughing at any discussion of law school. Sorry, that's not a wise route for most people these days.

Not everyone is interested in STEM nor good at it.