Philosophy majors may not need to ponder their future career plans for too long. According to recent statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, many employers are looking for what philosophers have to offer.
Simon Kemp, the press officer for HESA, stated in an e-mail message that the data was collected between 2002-03 through 2005-06, which is a short time to make conclusive statements. However, it shows the number of graduates working full and part-time jobs six months after graduation has risen by 9 percent overall, but for philosophy graduates it has risen 13 percent.
David Schrader, executive director for the American Philosophical Association, said the study accords with what he has seen as well.
"It certainly is something that makes sense to me," Schrader said.
He said skills employers look for in philosophy students include strong writing, analysis and critical thinking.
"Employers figure they will teach you the particular job skills," Schrader said. "But they want you to think well, write well and learn well."
Carrie Gruber, a spokeswoman for the National Center of Education Statistics, said the career path for philosophy is not as clear cut to see as in other majors.
"For some majors, it's pretty easy," Gruber said. "If you are an engineering major, you will be an engineer. If you are pre-med, you are going to be a doctor. But philosophy?"
Heather Kelly, assistant director for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, stated in an e-mail message that since the philosophy major is small at the university, the employment information the office gathers is not large. In Fall 2006, there were 53 philosophy majors, and only six reported their employment status.
"In 2006, it was reported that four philosophy majors were employed upon graduation, one went onto graduate school, and one was seeking work," Kelly said.
Schrader said philosophy students can go into any career they want, from advertising to business.
Many philosophy students, however, seem to head to law school after they graduate, he said.
Philosophy chairperson George Schueler said the career choices are varied.
"Steve Martin, a comedian and actor, was a philosophy major," Schueler said. "So that's one thing you can do. You can become a famous person."
He said philosophy majors typically do very well on the Graduate Record Examinations, and even place higher than English majors in the verbal section.
"What philosophy majors learn to do is to think and analyze problems and questions," he said. "What you're doing in a philosophy class is extremely useful in the law and in all kinds of things."
Schueler also said many philosophy majors double major in something else, like biology or psychology. He even had one student who went on to be a nurse.
Marianne Green, assistant director of Career Services, stated in an e-mail message that she has not seen any evidence that employers are becoming more or less interested in philosophy majors than in the past, but she does see the advantages to majoring in philosophy.
"They excel at jobs that call for critical and analytical skills," Green said.
However, she sees a trend that employers do not look at a major as much as the candidate and his or her qualifications.
Schrader said he would like to see more students try out a philosophy class because many are not exposed to philosophy in high school courses.
He said he believes if more students took a philosophy class as freshmen, they would declare philosophy as a major.
"I see one of our biggest challenges is getting some word out to people of what the advantages of philosophy are," Schrader said.
He said he would like to see more studies done about the employment rates five years after graduation. Those statistics might show philosophy majors actually do better than many other majors in the long run.
Andrew Petrov, a former philosophy major, said he dropped philosophy because of the small size of the department, but he still thinks philosophy is useful in the working world.
"Studying philosophy when it's done right and it's not just babble gives people very important skills in how to analyze and argue," Petrov said.
However, he said he admits he is not sure what he will do after graduation.
"No idea," he said. "Just hope that the debt collectors don't come knocking on my door."
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