<p>How popular is philosophy as a major?
What are the most popular majors?
What schools have the best undergraduate philosophy programs?
Does applying with philosophy as a declared major help or hurt my college admission chances? (I presume it is not to popular, and it could help me)</p>
<p>As you can see I have a lot of questions. I'm just trying to get a feel for my competition and what are the best choices to make. I want to apply early decision to NYU next fall. I am also looking at McGill, Boston College, Brandeis, Georgetown, and George Washington. I really want to double major in philosophy and international relations, but that's not possible at all the schools listed above. Do any of them have strong philosophy programs? </p>
<p>My weighted GPA is 4.0
I'm taking the SAT May 1st and am aiming to break 2000.
My high school is pretty good and I take a lot of honors/ap.
My r</p>
<p>To me it looks like you would probably get into those schools no problem, but, stacked with clubs? do you hold leadership positions in any of these.</p>
<p>If you want ot major in philosophy, you should really show in your application that you have a genuine interest in it, and you aren’t just manipulating the system and picking an unpopular major in an attempt to get in. Have you ever read any philosophical works? If not, spend the summer reading 10-20, and then submit a reading list along with your application detailling the works youve read</p>
<p>With all due respect to wagsthedog, you don’t have to be well versed in philosophical readings to become a philosophy majors. I am a philosophy major at a well established undergrad program and didn’t know a thing about it before college. I’m not sure about all the schools you listed but for most philosophy programs you will have to complete some prerequisites before applying to the department. </p>
<p>That being said, you seem to have a good chance at getting into some of these colleges. As far as the quality of the philosophy departments at those institutions NYU is the number one grad program in the world and Georgetown also has a decent grad program, however I’m not sure how their undergrad programs are. If you are truly interested in philosophy I would look at a highly rated program that does not offer grad work. This way you will have more interaction with professors and less classes taught by TA’s</p>
<p>The philosophical gourmet ranks Amherst College, CIT, Dartmouth, Reed, U of Vermont, Wellesley, and Western Washington University as the best Undergrad programs.</p>
<p>The best school for philosophy is Rutger, hands down, the most well balanced, and strongest philosophy department in the country. The ivies are good too, but they are just not as good as Rutger’s philosophy department.
HOWEVER, if you are looking for continental philosophy, BOSTON COLLEGE has the BEST continental philosophy program in the entire U.S</p>
<p>Pitt was #2 in the last NRC ranking, albeit that was back in 1995. It is has been and is #1 in the History and Philosophy of Science subdiscipline.</p>
<p>i thought this site would email me if i got a response to the thread, but that didnt happen. anyways, i just looked back at the thread and I would like to reply to some of the posts. </p>
<p>wags the dog–I am in no way attempting to manipulate the fact that philosophy is an unpopular major at universities in order to benefit myself in the college admissions process. I have read the work of Arendt, Nietzsche, Marx, Plato, and Hegel. Also, the reason why I want to double major in philosophy and international relations is so that I can apply my philosophical understanding and reasoning abilities to work in international politics (My ultimate goal is to work for the UN or the State Department). Throughout history, the most famous world leaders were also highly regarded for their philosophical thought (I.e. Alexander The Great, Napoleon Bonaparte) Oh and by the way, I may not hold official leadership positions, but the advisors of the clubs would be more than happy to vouch that I was actively involved in the group. I do not take part in many bureaucratic clubs aimed at r</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it’s for Pitt’s undergrad or graduate, but I think it’s probably for the program as a whole.</p>
<p>Also, Rutgers is actually a great school for philosophy. Ranked higher than Pitt. But I’d recommend Pitt over Rutgers, if only for the general reputations of both schools.</p>
<p>I think the best advice, if you really want to go to grad school for philosophy. Is to find a small program. Pitt and Rutgers are some of the best grad programs but I would look for a small, intimate program. A program where you can get a lot of face time with professors and not TA’s will be better for getting into grad school than going to a school with a high ranking Phd program. </p>
<p>One of the most important factors on getting into Phil PhD programs is getting recommendations from philosophers, so it helps if they are familiar with your work.</p>
<p>Some advice though. Look into what jobs you want to pursue after college. DO NOT just say you’ll worry about it later. Philosophy majors have no directly related job waiting for them afterwards. Sometimes its good to pair it with Business. Its actually a running joke among some philosophy majors that you can’t do anything with that degree</p>
<p>True, but the only majors that lead directly to a job tend to be boring. Philosophy is applicable to anything, as it’s the analysis of logic and argument (among other topics), all of which are essential skills for any profession.</p>
<p>I’m combining my philosophy major with a number of internships, a business minor, and other courses.</p>
<p>Don’t waste all your time and money on philosophy. The only real application for it is law school prep or a career in academia. If you want to work for the State Department or UN, then you better get some skills. I do some private government consulting and I’ve never heard anyone from any branch of the government say, “Hurry, we are in a crisis…we need some philosophers here ASAP!”</p>
<p>If you want a career with the UN/State, I would suggest majoring in Economics, law, Poli Sci/IR, IT, or Engineering.</p>
<p>If philosophy really interests you, pick it up as a minor. Or, major in Political Science. I was a Poli Sci/IR major and alot of my course work was in political philosophy. Many schools offer a Political Science major with “political theory” track.</p>
<p>When you’re graduating school, you want to have some skills. Knowing alot about philosophy isn’t a skill. Sure, it may provide you with some soft skills like writing and some analytical ability, but you could acquire those same soft skills from a variety of majors. </p>
<p>Think about this, when you are sitting in your first job interview, what do you want to be able to say to them, “I’ve read countless books about morals, society and consequence”, or “I speak X foreign language, can maintain your database systems, I’ve conducted research on the economic impact of marcellus shale drilling in the eastern united states and how it will affect future socio-economic conditions in Saudi Arabi.”</p>
<p>Get some skills, son. No one will be impressed with how much you can read. Philosophy is a respectful but unmarketable path.</p>
<p>Or go to law school, which I’m most likely doing. I’m also considering grad school in philosophy or another discipline. I get your advice, but I still prefer to major in philosophy.</p>
<p>Psh. Political science is more useful than philosophy? Hahhahaha, good one.</p>
<p>I agree, you won’t get much in terms of specific skills. However, (at least for Pitt), the major is only 8 courses. Which means I have room to take a ton of electives, a good portion of which are going to be business-related. Or, I could take language classes.</p>
<p>Philosophy major + business minor > political science major only</p>