When it comes to Philosophy, I hear the same thing time and time again: It’s impractical as an undergraduate study, and it’ll leave you jobless and broke post-graduation.
If you study Philosophy hoping to become the next Aristotle, then the latter may hold some truth. But most of the people who choose to study Philosophy don’t really plan on becoming the next Aristotle, they plan on becoming attorneys, bankers, doctors, professors, researchers – not philosophers (there is no such career in our time today).
That’s because Philosophy students aren’t trained to be professional philosophers, they’re trained to develop an essential set of skills that are crucial for any work force, which is why many universities and colleges recommend Philosophy as a pre-professional degree.
Consider this:
- Philosophy majors received the highest scores on the LSAT, alongside economics majors, out of the 12 largest disciplines (engineering majors came third, history majors came fourth) from the 2008-2009 class. From all majors, philosophy students scored the second highest, physics students came in first.
- A study conducted by the National Institute of Education, it was reported in The Chronicle Of Higher Education that philosophy students received substantially higher scores than the average on the LSAT, GMAT, and the quantitative and verbal portions of the GRE. On the GMAT, philosophy majors outperformed business majors by a margin of 15 percent and outperformed every other undergraduate major except mathematics. On the GRE, philosophy majors scored the highest on the verbal portion than any other major (even English) and scored the highest amongst all other humanities majors in the quantitative portion. The study compared the scores of 550,000 college students who took these exams.
- And, we don’t end up broke. Philosophy majors make more money than Accounting and Marketing majors.The mid-career median salary for philosophy majors is $81,200, while the salary for accounting majors is $77,100 and $79,600 for marketing majors, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
And the reasons why Philosophy students perform so well on professional and graduate school exams:
- Students Master Problem-Solving Skills: This is a huge portion of Philosophy. You solve issues that really have no concrete answer, so you’re forced to reach a conclusion that can best present itself as a reasonable, plausible answer by using the given material. It helps you to analyze concepts, definition, arguments and problems. And you learn to organize your thoughts and ideas in a more productive manner, which ultimately allows you to work more effectively and efficiently.
- Analytic Reading Skills: If you don’t like to read, this may not be the major for you. Just as English and History majors, Philosophy majors read and analyze texts 60 percent of the time. Reading in this study requires more than being able to retain information simply for memorization; it requires you to actively read and reason within the material, as you’ll be reading some of the most challenging texts ever written.
- Persuasiveness: Being that really isn’t a “right” or “wrong” answer in Philosophy (with the exception of logic problems, which are arguments in the form of math equations), it’s vital to present an answer in a compelling manner. You learn to identify competing views, then develop counterarguments to such views.
- Written and Oral Communication Skills: More than 70 percent of Philosophy majors’ grades rely on the ability to communicate and express arguments in a comprehensible and eloquent manner. You learn to eliminate ambiguities, vagueness and generalizations from your writing and speech.
Take it from a Philosophy student who has held marketing and brand development internships, that you can do just about anything with a Philosophy degree. Just because Philosophy doesn’t offer a definitive career path like other popular majors, such as Accounting or Nursing, that doesn’t mean that it’s an impractical undergraduate degree. So the next time you have an elective to fill, why not consider a Philosophy course?