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.
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.