<p>I am a senior in high school; you may now stamp the word "ignorant" on my forehead. haha Currently, I am thinking I want to pursue a JD/PhD. My questions regard the PhD. I have no earthly idea how to select my major. I am fascinated by history, anthropology, comparative literature, and ANY area studies. I know that I need to major in the same discipline as my prospective PhD program to be taken seriously for graduate admissions. Aside from being indecisive on that, what programs are the most competitive? Everybody seems to say that a PhD in history will earn a job at Starbucks. However, I will also (hopefully) have a JD so that should mitigate the dilemma of job security. Are all fields in the humanites and social sciences screwed when it comes to landing a good teaching position at a university? I am just unaware of the current situation. Please and thank you! :)</p>
<p><i>I know that I need to major in the same discipline as my prospective PhD program to be taken seriously for graduate admissions</i> Not always true. My major was Sociology, my PhD program is Neuroscience.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in so many different fields, how about taking one or two courses in each dept during your freshman year, and seeing what really moves you? It is, in my opinion, quite premature for you to be thinking about grad school. For all you know, you’ll fall in love with ONE field in college, and answer your own question!</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that you are correct! lol So is there any consensus on the various fields? Are any of them particularly more competitive for admissions and even jobs!!??</p>
<p>Take as many different classes as you can in subjects you’ve never even heard of. Study abroad. Visit the Third World. Diversify your spiritual portfolio. Fall in love and/or fall out of love with someone extraordinary. Go to frat parties and get wasted. Read mystical poetry. Meditate. Make many friends and get to know some professors.</p>
<p>Then and only then should you think about grad school. </p>
<p>Also, it is rather difficult to starve in this world, EVEN IF you have a history PhD!</p>
<p>I thought about grad school before I had read mystical poetry and I will regret it for the rest of my life. Seriously, revisit your concerns in a few years after you have a bit more experience with what the academic study of history really is like. You might find that academia doesn’t resemble high school and the things that you liked about history in high school, you might find in anthropology, english or a myriad of other fields. As far as long term career goals, yeah, pretty much everyone trying to get a tenure track position in the humanities and social sciences has extraordinary competition and low success rates. In some cases, a JD alone would qualify you to teach at the university level. Take whatever classes interest you in college and have a good time doing it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about this. You have college to help you figure this out. Just relax and do well in whatever classes you take, and worry about this around end of sophomore year of college.</p>
<p>you’ll find that the disciplines probably aren’t what you thought they were in high school. “political science” isn’t the only discipline that studies politics, even if they act like it. and it’s all about institutions, not people. and models. and… ugh. sorry.</p>
<p>different fields have very particular ways they think about the world and they study and research in different manners. the types of questions you’re asking and the types of answers you’re seeking also differ by field. and you won’t really know which one you like until you’ve taken a few college courses.</p>
<p>also, the big part of the PhD is doing research. and you may love reading and writing, but you may hate doing research. you won’t know until you’re there.</p>
<p>as for job security… no, there aren’t a ton of job openings for history PhDs right now, but depending on your regional focus, the picture is better or worse. there are usually more jobs than PhD holders for african or latin american history, it’s about even for asian history, and there are FAR more people with PhDs than jobs available for people studying US or european history. if you’re worried about job security, study africa.</p>
<p>there are also a lot of jobs open to history PhDs outside of academia. museums, historical societies, the state department, NGOs, even corporate jobs. these jobs often pay twice as much as the professor gig would, but a lot of people within the university look down on them. i don’t really know why, i think it’s some hold-over from the enlightenment and some elitist hard-on for the ivory tower.</p>
<p>Dude, calm down. You;ll be fine. Your first two years you will take a lot of different classes. You will learn a lot. Talk to your career counselor, do assessments in your 2nd or 3rd year, and figure it out from there. Right now have fun and be a senior!</p>
<p>Your first two years of college will be spent taking the following courses anyway…</p>
<ul>
<li>2 English Composition courses</li>
<li>2 or 3 Social Science courses (Econ, Geography, Sociology, Psychology, etc)</li>
<li>2 or 3 Humanities courses (History, Literature, Art, Art History and other Fine Arts)</li>
<li>2 Natural Science courses (Pick from Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc)</li>
<li>1 or 2 Math courses</li>
</ul>
<p>No later than sophomore year, you will start liking something and have a major. Like the others posted…be calm.</p>