Philosophy Rated As One of the Top Majors to Avoid
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Anonymous
from article:
What do you think? |
Anonymous
| What does one do with a degree in philosophy? Think for a living? |
Anonymous
| In other news: "grass is green" and "OMG elephants are big animals!" |
Anonymous
Law school. It's one of the best pre-law majors. And thinking for a living is not such a bad thing. We could use more of it in our world then maybe things wouldn't be so effed up. |
Anonymous
But one needs some money to live while thinking about how the world can be less effed up. On a serious note, this is where if one majors in Philosophy, it must be in anticipation of doing some postgraduate work - whether law school or something else - but with the expectation that it will lead to a job where one can reasonably sustain oneself. |
Anonymous
+1 Most people cannot afford to go college just to learn the art of thinking. Majoring in philosophy is for students with a trust fund. Please don't post "but I majored in Philosophy! I graduated in 1994." That means your experience is irrelevant to that of today's grads. |
Anonymous
I'm married to a philosopher and this is true. Also the kind of serious thinking and analysis that's part of the serious study of philosophy is useful in being a productive and creative worker. But it is true you can't just expect someone to come along and hire you. You've got to hustle and figure out what you want to do with your life and go out and get experience and network. |
Anonymous
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Well, of the peers of mine who graduated in the mid 2000s in philosophy that I know of here is the rundown: one is on food stamps blogging and doing handcrafted leatherwork, a few are in law school (mostly those all went to top tier schools, Harvard, Chicago, NYU, etc.), a few have finished law school and are gainfully employed at firms, one is working for a nonprofit that deals with US-China relations, two got accepted to fully funded highly ranked (including living expenses) PhD programs, one is working as a paralegal, one is a daycare teacher, one is a freelance journalist with tutoring as a day job, one is interning for a US senator, and one is a construction worker.
So...it's a mixed bag. Some people completely fit the stereotype of the unemployed philosophy major, or at least underemployed. Some fit the stereotype of philosophy students becoming lawyers, although many of those did very well on the LSAT and got into top law schools and seem to be doing just fine, getting competitive jobs at national firms, etc. A few do stuff unrelated to philosophy, but they seem to be finding fulfilling professional careers, although perhaps not the world's most lucrative ones (journalism, working at a non-profit, getting into politics). Some haven't given up the pipe dream of academia yet, and go on to PhD programs, however no one has taken out debt for it. The kids who were very academically driven and typically together who majored in philosophy are the ones going to law school, interning for senators, working at non-profits, and getting into competitive PhD programs (also often they went to competitive SLACs, ivies, and other top universities and worked their connections). The ones who were less together, less driven, and perhaps majored in philosophy out of lack of direction tend to be floundering. But I'd hazard a guess that they would be floundering even if they chose a more "practical" major anyway. I'm not saying that there aren't other more practical majors out there, and they certainly aren't as a whole doing as well as engineers, but it's definitely a wide range of levels of success. |
Anonymous
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Here's a few philosophy majors who did okay:
Thomas Jefferson Martin Luther King, Jr. Jay Leno Ken Follett Mary Higgins Clark Umberto Eco Rahm Emmanuel William Bennett James Michener Phil Jackson Woody Allen Harrison Ford Alec Trebeck Carl Icahn David Souter |
Anonymous
But how many just settled for the philosophy major and did not pursue any graduate or professional degree. |
Anonymous
Just a little exposure to statistics would help you see how stupid your argument is. Btw, wasn't. Hitler a painter? |
Anonymous
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I majored in philosophy and I love my major. But I planned on and then attended law school, because even in the dark ages when I went to undergrad philosophy was not exactly an entry into the job market.
I decided I didn't like the actual practice of law, and now I'm a programmer. Philosophy was actually an excellent background for that. I wouldn't dissuade someone from pursuing philosophy, but I would suggest they also work on what their eventual job will be. |
Anonymous
| Perhaps they can find temporary work interpreting True Detective. |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
This is true. |