One of the most important decision-making times of your life is from the last years of high school to the beginning of your career; the decisions he makes in this period affect his life’s journey and often his life’s outcome. A very influential decision in these years is the choice of a career. Now, before we begin the process, I will admit that I have a bias in favor of a philosophy major, but a bias based on the reason that I believe, the reason that I will show you. First, I’ll examine the era we live in and how majors prepare you for life, and then I’ll explain why a philosophy major is often the best choice.
Today we live in a rapidly changing global society, in which the need for adaptability is very necessary. The information age of research, reasoning, and effective communication has begun; the industrial age of repetitive machinery has passed. As such, the liberal arts and sciences, which are most colleges, do not train for specific jobs, contrary to popular opinion. Instead, they give you the versatile skills that are valuable for numerous careers, and specializations simply combine those skills with technical ability. Philosophy majors, unlike other majors, do not fuse skills in the same way. They specialize in learning those versatile skills in depth, leading them to be on numerous career paths.
Now, wouldn’t it be better to combine the versatile skills that are in demand today with practical and technical skills? Only if you don’t plan on advancing your career that fast or that far. By spending time fusing skills, you don’t spend as much time on versatile skills as needed. The only way to fuse skills effectively would be to have a dual spec with philosophy included. However, many students do not have the time or ability to double major. So that leaves us with the main philosophy.
What evidence do I have that philosophy is better? Well, let’s see how philosophy students do on tests after the undergraduate experience. First, let’s take a look at the LSAT (Law School Admission Test); According to the University of Virginia Office of Career Planning and Placement report, a comparative study by a major in law school admissions test performance, the average LSAT score for a major in philosophy was 15 points higher than the average for any other major. Next, the American Medical Association reported that in a study they had done, they found that philosophy students had the third highest acceptance rate into American medical schools. York University found that on the Graduate Record Examination, the test required for admission to a master’s program, philosophy majors scored an average of 5% better than average; in the verbal section, they scored higher than all other specialties, including English; In the quantitative section, where the humanities tend to perform poorly, philosophy students outperformed other humanities, with the exception of economics.
Next, let’s examine life after school. According to the National Research Council for 1995 (the latest year’s date is available), unemployment for philosophy students was only 2.3%, which was less than half the national unemployment rate for that time. Finally, how much do philosophy students earn? On average, philosophy majors start with salaries of $27,000, after 5 years, they reach an average of $40,000, and after 10-15 years, they reach $60,000. All of this is earned while working about 50 hours a week.
As you can see from these statistics, philosophy performs better than the other supposedly practical careers on many measurable scales. However, what else does the eldest do for you? It leads one to acquire writing and persuasive skills, along with the ability to make a strong argument. Philosophy, the love of wisdom, stimulates intellectual capacity both in reasoning and creativity. It leads to seeing things from new perspectives and can ultimately lead to a fulfilling life.