Sophomore DC just declared history major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The university will matter for this degree.

Wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did your history major student do after college. Anyone do a PhD in history? Get a job at a think tank? Assuming just an undergraduate degree is not enough.

DH has an undergrad degree in history and is a CEO at a mid size (800 people) tech company.

.. and had to get a masters to get there, right?

No?

[Anonymous]

History major here, and I work in retail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to law school.

Me, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did a program teaching English and US Culture in Japan after college. (JET Program, highly recommend it)

Thought I would go into Foreign Service or Law school.

Worked as a paralegal in a law firm while applying to law school. Hated it.

Moved over to an entry level digital role in Sales and marketing for a few years.

Then got my MBA and have had a 25+ year business career with mostly Fortune 500s.

I can write and read very well, and that helps in my career. I also know the history and geography of many of the cultures that are part of my multinational company, which helps more than you might think when dealing with people in different continents.

You can do a lot with that kind of degree.

The first part is exactly me (history major, taught English in Japan through JET, paralegal while I applied to law school and realized I hated it). I wound up getting a masters in public policy and went into college administration. I enjoyed history and the writing and critical analysis I learned through that discipline has helped me and everything I’ve done since.

[Anonymous]

I wish more of the dimwits running our government right now were history majors.

[Anonymous]

We are at a top private. One prior student at our school came back to teach History at the same school now, while he's working on a PhD degree at a local university.

[Anonymous]

Memorize lies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to law school.

Me, too.

Same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The university will matter for this degree.

Wrong.

No, they’re obviously correct that the university matters. With a major based on hard skills—engineering or nursing or whatever—it matters much less. An essential part of a history major’s education at Princeton or Bowdoin or wherever is the soft skill of being collegial with members of the ruling class
—an experience less readily available at Oregon State (to choose at random a very fine school that is not terribly chic). And I haven’t even mentioned the reality of connections, credentials, etc.

[Anonymous]

History majors learn how to write, analyze, persuade, discern - it’s a fantastic major for life and any number of fields. Not just a pathway to academia or law school but that’s great too. For me it was the corporate world and I am grateful for the skills my history major gave me, every day.

[Anonymous]

History major here, did graduate work, tested into Foreigh Service, opted to go to law school. At the appropriate school, History is one of the best majors to equip people in reading, writing, and analyzing vast amounts of material in a short period of time. I combined it with Econ so I also gained quantitative rigor. Anybody who is looking for long-term success is going to graduate school unless you are an extraordinarily gifted STEM kid who may go into tech or engineering immediately. So I would commend undergraduate majors like History and Philosophy for anybody likely to go into business, law or policy, and ignore the rubes who post nonsense on this site. But I would be very careful about the major at certain universities, where departments have been turned upside down over the past 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:History major here, did graduate work, tested into Foreigh Service, opted to go to law school. At the appropriate school, History is one of the best majors to equip people in reading, writing, and analyzing vast amounts of material in a short period of time. I combined it with Econ so I also gained quantitative rigor. Anybody who is looking for long-term success is going to graduate school unless you are an extraordinarily gifted STEM kid who may go into tech or engineering immediately. So I would commend undergraduate majors like History and Philosophy for anybody likely to go into business, law or policy, and ignore the rubes who post nonsense on this site. But I would be very careful about the major at certain universities, where departments have been turned upside down over the past 30 years.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must be rich. I would not pay for this degree.

Why not? These are the jobs of the future in an AI-generated workforce.

[Anonymous]

I knew a history major who became an investment banker and went on to Wharton