Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 19:26     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My daughter changed her major without telling us, she changed her major back 2 years ago. We never emailed the dean or anyone at the school because she was getting good grades and everything was going well. Now she is telling us in May she will be graduating in a degree in Art History, and she learned on Google that she might be able to get a job working as a Subway... What jobs can someone with a Art History BS get?


I have a B.A. in Art History and I am now a lawyer (commercial litigator, est. 250k). I know very few liberal arts majors who ever worked in their B.A. major area. Your DD is no worse off than a sociology/political science/anthology major. She'll be fine but, unlike an accounting/nursing/ Comp Sci major, she'll take extra time to figure it out.


+100

I'm a history major who works with other history majors and English majors in fintech. We're fine.
I know two art history majors. One became a lawyer and then a judge. The other is from a very wealthy family and makes pottery in Asheville.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 19:13     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Your daughter will be a college graduate. Many can't state such.

She'll be fine.

She will be competing with other college graduates with more marketable degrees for those high paying jobs.

Most of the good paying jobs for art history majors are in teaching, which requires a masters/PhD, which means paying even more money to earn a decent salary.

There are only so many museum director roles, and a college graduate is certainly not going to get such a job in 3 to 5 years, let alone just out of college.

https://research.com/careers/art-history-careers


Define "high paying" straight out of college.

Do you happen to know the median income in the U.S. for a middle class household?

A bachelor's degree will go towards at least being in the middle class. Then improve from there.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 19:08     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:Your daughter will be a college graduate. Many can't state such.

She'll be fine.

She will be competing with other college graduates with more marketable degrees for those high paying jobs.

Most of the good paying jobs for art history majors are in teaching, which requires a masters/PhD, which means paying even more money to earn a decent salary.

There are only so many museum director roles, and a college graduate is certainly not going to get such a job in 3 to 5 years, let alone just out of college.

https://research.com/careers/art-history-careers
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 18:37     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Your daughter will be a college graduate. Many can't state such.

She'll be fine.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 18:17     Subject: Re:Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:She can go to grad school.


Won't a Masters in Art History have the same prospects?


Almost certainly. I have a relative with a PhD in art history from a T10 school who works as a HS teacher.


In my area, high school teachers with doctorate and AP certification make $150,000 per year, with no need to make rain or worry about layoffs.



OP’skd doesn’t have a doctorate
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 18:12     Subject: Re:Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:She can go to grad school.


Won't a Masters in Art History have the same prospects?


Almost certainly. I have a relative with a PhD in art history from a T10 school who works as a HS teacher.


In my area, high school teachers with doctorate and AP certification make $150,000 per year, with no need to make rain or worry about layoffs.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:49     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Art history majors getting consulting jobs are either top students from target colleges where companies recruit or have solid family connections.


Even at target colleges, it's rare.
Why would they pick art history when there are applied math, CS, engineering, econ, finance, etc. majors.



Ummm . . . because they wanted to study art history, or also because they wanted art history to be the way they earned a bachelor's degree on their way to a career that will use some of those related skills?


I was talking about the high profile consulting companies, but then college is not a place for hobbies when you pay $$$ unless you are a trust fund kid.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:34     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:My friend who majored in art history is a curator and department head at the National Gallery of Art.

Do they have a PhD?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:32     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
My friend who majored in art history is a curator and department head at the National Gallery of Art.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:25     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:My daughter changed her major without telling us, she changed her major back 2 years ago. We never emailed the dean or anyone at the school because she was getting good grades and everything was going well. Now she is telling us in May she will be graduating in a degree in Art History, and she learned on Google that she might be able to get a job working as a Subway... What jobs can someone with a Art History BS get?



Insurance companies, Sotheby like auction houses, of course museums obviously come to mind. Another route is do a education masters and then teach history in high school. Often history teachers do very well as administrators.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:18     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Art history majors getting consulting jobs are either top students from target colleges where companies recruit or have solid family connections.


Even at target colleges, it's rare.
Why would they pick art history when there are applied math, CS, engineering, econ, finance, etc. majors.



Ummm . . . because they wanted to study art history, or also because they wanted art history to be the way they earned a bachelor's degree on their way to a career that will use some of those related skills?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 16:03     Subject: Re:Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:Is anyone going to bring up the fact that OP had no idea what her DD was majoring in until now, 3 months before graduation?


My favorite part was where OP suggested they’d have contacted the Dean about it if they’d known sooner. Because it’s the Dean’s job to convince their kid to switch majors!
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 15:58     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
My kid works at one of these firms and they highly value non-quant grads who can do the quant but bring other skills to the table. My kid was a history major. But that may not be what OP’s kid wants to do. Lots of options though.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 13:46     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
Anonymous wrote:Art history majors getting consulting jobs are either top students from target colleges where companies recruit or have solid family connections.


Even at target colleges, it's rare.
Why would they pick art history when there are applied math, CS, engineering, econ, finance, etc. majors.

Anonymous
Post 02/18/2024 13:19     Subject: Jobs in Art History Degree
If OP's DD is in fact intelligent and hard working plus networking, she'll he fine. It would take time but things will work out. If not, she would've equally struggled with biology and bio medical as well.