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Religious Studies Program

The Cal Poly Philosophy Department houses a Religious Studies program with a wide variety of courses in GE and a Religious Studies minor.

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Between the Species

Between the Species online journal logoAn online philosophy journal about the relationship between humans and animals.
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Ethics Group


Cal Poly's Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group focuses on the implications and impact of emerging sciences and technologies.
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Why Philosophy?

Philosophy is Interesting.

Money isn't everything, and the material practicality of philosophy isn't the best reason to study it. The best reason to take up the serious pursuit of philosophy—or anything else for that matter—is because you love it. Not everyone is interested in logic and hard analytical thinking. Not everyone is interested in serious and honest investigation into questions about the existence of God, the morality of torture, the justifiability of capitalism, the possibility of life after death, or the problem of showing that we are capable of knowing anything at all. But if you love thinking about this stuff more than anything else, then majoring in anything else is a compromise—one you have no good reason to make. See more about philosophy.


It Pays Well.


 

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Mid-Career Salaries By Major:

  • $90,500   Civil Engineering
  • $88,300   Finance
  • $82,300   MIS
  • $81,200   Philosophy
  • $79,600   Marketing
  • $77,100   Accounting
  • $76,800   Architecture
  • $72,100   Business Management
  • $70,000   Communication
  • $67,000   Nursing
  • $66,700   Journalism
  • $64,700   English
  • $60,400   Psychology
  • $55,300   Nutrition

 

2008 Best Undergraduate Degrees by Salary (PDF)

 

2016 Best Undergraduate Degrees by Salary (PDF)


It's Outstanding Preparation For Law School, Graduate School, Business School And Even Med School.

  • Pre-law: For decades the American Bar Association has been telling prospective law students that there is no real “pre-law” major. However, for decades, philosophy majors have been outscoring all other majors in the humanities and social sciences on the all-important LSAT exam. Of all majors that routinely send more than 1,000 graduates to law school only economics occasionally beats us (as they did for the 2015-16 year).  However, as usual, and, again, amongst majors sending more than 1,000 graduates to law school, philosophers were admitted at the highest rate (86.40%) while economists were second (85.46%). See more...
  • Grad school: Philosophers outscore everyone on the Verbal Reasoning and Analytic Writing sections of the GRE (the exam usually required for entrance to master’s and doctorate programs). See more...
  • Business school: Philosophers outscore all business majors (including accounting, management and economics) on the GMAT (the exam usually required by MBA programs). See more...
  • Pre-med: According to the American Medical Student Association, the acceptance rate at American medical schools for philosophy majors is higher than that of any other major (including biology, chemistry and biochemistry).

The basic reason for all this success is clear. Except for a very small group of other hard disciplines, no area of study equips students as well as philosophy does with the logical, analytic and linguistic abilities prized by graduate and professional schools.

Think About Philosophy:

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