Skip to main content

Careers & Graduate Info

Overview

Why Study Philosophy?

Philosophy majors and minors do exceedingly well on graduate school admissions exams and in a wide variety of professional fields. Furthermore, philosophy is intrinsically valuable and worth pursuing in its own right.

Graduate School

Philosophy majors excel on graduate school admissions exams. As indicated by the Infographic below, Philosophy majors earn top marks on the LSAT, GRE, and GMAT.


Career Information

Philosophy majors are employed in a variety of academic and non-academic fields. These include:

  • Government and Politics
  • Activism
  • Academia
  • Business
  • Religion
  • Writing
  • News and Journalism
  • Arts and Entertainment
  • Sports

Many Philosophy majors do not enter academia as professional philosophers. Instead, philosophy provides them with a useful and practical advantage in their respective fields: such as medicine, business, or politics. You might think about supplementing your current major with a double major or a minor in Philosophy. This is very common among philosophy majors/minors.

In addition, those with a bachelors degree in Philosophy tend to earn more over their lifetime than those with degrees in any other humanities field (see the above Infographic). Philosophy students have both the highest starting salary of any humanities major and the highest percent increase between starting and mid-career salary. 

The skills, abilities, and depth of understanding gained by a degree in Philosophy uniquely prepares one for a wide variety of fields. The following list is representative of a handful of career titles held by past Philosophy majors: 

  • lawyer
  • banker
  • business professional
  • counselor
  • minister
  • teacher
  • non-profit work
  • public relations director
  • publisher
  • journalist
  • entrepreneur
  • accountant
  • retail management
  • librarian
  • marketing
  • consulting
  • social worker
  • professor
  • self-employed
  • investment broker
  • armed forces officer
  • congressional staff member
  • diplomat
  • policy analyst
  • freelance writer
  • editor
  • legal researcher
  • labor relations
  • hospital administrator
  • nurse
  • physician

Advanced Degree in Philosophy

If you are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in Philosophy (M.A. or Ph.D.), see the Overall Rankings of Philosophy graduate programs at the Philosophical Gourmet Report