What to do with Hum/Phil Degree | Humanities Department

What can I do with a degree in Humanities or Philosophy?

The short answer is, lots of things! When you graduate from the Humanities and Philosophy program, there are two major paths you can choose from:

Starting your career right away
Continuing your education in graduate school, an MBA program, or Law School.

Both of these options have a high likelihood of success. Why? The answer to this question has everything to do with the skills you develop in the Humanities and Philosophy program. Some of those skills include critical thinking, reasoning, written and verbal communication, and cultural literacy. In short, these courses give you the kinds of skills necessary to solve complex problems and connect with other people.

One recent student, who took a position as a Brand Ambassador after graduation (working with groups like Larry H. Miller, Arcadia Vacation Resorts, and Imagine Dragons), wrote:

The humanities offered me a chance to flex my creative, qualitative, and analytical muscles—to study big ideas. Without a doubt, these are some of the most underrepresented and highly sought-after traits in business right now. The humanities allowed me to differentiate myself. As a hirable resource to a business, I have a unique perspective that typical business grads cannot claim. But, it took a good deal of courage to move laterally, “against the grain” in terms of social norms, and switch from business to Integrated Studies where I could study the humanities and still apply what I learned to business in the context of marketing—the sole facet of a business that provides revenue and is concerned with the “big ideas.” I’m so glad I did.

Enter the Career Field

Did you know?

Over two-thirds of humanities graduates go to work immediately in the private sector
About 60% of American CEOs have Bachelor’s degrees in the Humanities
Over 95% of Humanities graduates are employed, with over 87% of them reporting strong job satisfaction, outperforming other fields in feeling a degree of independence, opportunities for advancement, and job location.
Many of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies are hiring as many or more non-technical employees as technical ones?

A recent report in Forbes magazine noted that as their careers progress, humanities and social science majors—like those completing the Humanities and Philosophy program—are actually outpacing those with professional degrees.[4] This is actually related to the point above about American CEOs. The reason has a lot to do with today’s workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee now changes jobs about every three years.[5] Many of these changes are the result of a culture that has shifted from one in which an employee lands a job in a large corporation and serves their career in one place, to one where the economy is constantly being prodded by start-ups and innovative new ideas. In this type of culture, the degree is mattering less and the skills matter a great deal. Building a successful start-up venture primarily relies on two skills: solving complex problems, and connecting with people to get them to see why it matters. These are exactly the skills cultivated in this degree program.

Learn more about jobs in Humanities and Philosophy:

“That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket” Forbes

“The State of Humanities: 2018. Graduates in the Workplace and Beyond” Research report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

“The Unexpected Way Philosophy Majors Are Changing the World of Business” Huffington Post

“Majoring In The Humanities Does Pay Off, Just Later” Forbes

“5 Reasons Why Philosophy Majors Make Great Entrepreneurs” Entrepreneur

“Philosophy graduates are suddenly all the rage with employers. What can they possibly have to offer?” The Guardian

“Selling Your Philosophy Degree” Forbes

“The Earning Power of Philosophy Majors” The Atlantic

Scott Hartley, The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why Liberal Arts Will Rule in the Digital World (Book)

George Anders, You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Education (Book)

Eric Berridge, Why Tech Needs the Humanities (Ted Talk)

Go to Graduate School, an MBA program, or Law School

The Humanities and Philosophy program is ideally suited to help students get into their desired graduate program. One of the misconceptions about graduate school is that you need to major in exactly the same thing as you hope to study in graduate school. In reality, graduate programs are constantly looking for students with a broad, interdisciplinary background that they can draw on for their own research. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the Humanities and Philosophy program, graduates can go on to pursue degrees in:

Art History
Philosophy
Musicology
Comparative Literature
Anthropology
Museum Curatorship
Classical Studies
…and many more

In addition, graduates of the Humanities and Philosophy program are positioned well to pursue their education in professional fields.

Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

Do you think you need to major in Business in order to get an MBA? A recent study on which majors get accepted into top-tier MBA programs actually found just the opposite. Graduates with a major in the Humanities actually had a higher acceptance rate and higher GMAT scores than those in Business. So why are Humanities majors faring so well? Jeremy Shinewald, who studies MBAs explains, “An MBA who is leaving business school with a liberal arts background may have a better understanding of the world around them and that could lead to a variety of benefits in business in terms of managing and relating to other people. It helps them make decisions that have a much, much deeper context with a more vast understanding of all of the stakeholders involved.” It may also have to do with the fact that more and more, the most important part of an MBA application is the personal essay.

Law School

Likewise, the Humanities and Philosophy program is an ideal place to prepare you if your future goals are to go to law school. In fact, Philosophy graduates regularly rank within the top majors in LSAT scores. A recent study also noted they were the sixth overall in combined GPA/LSAT scores, and boasted the highest acceptance rate of any major to law school.