Decide for yourself, which is money, passion, or confusion.
I will start my undergraduate experience in the fall of 2015 and I’m not sure whether to major in philosophy or economics. I want to be either, a corporate lawyer or work on Wall Street; money may not be speech, but it is power.
If I major in philosophy my goal is to go to Harvard Law School.
If I major in economics, then I plan on going to business school, or going to law school if I get a high LSAT score.
I’m unsure about philosophy because it doesn’t seem financially secure. If I get a low score on my LSATs I probably won’t go to a prestigious law school and school brand matter a lot to me.
So what do you think I should do?
Double Major in philosophy and economics? (Risk of low GPA)
Major in philosophy? (High risk - high reward)
Major in economics? (Financially secure yet risk not getting a high LSAT but possibly a high GMAT?)
I’m extremely confused by what to do because I need a high GPA.
And if anyone has tips for earning a high GPA, please post them.
I’ll share an observation I’ve had that was surprising to me. On the Students Review dot com website (select Careers & Majors) the 168 philosophy graduates report an average eventual pay of $111,000/yr, and 71% of them say they’re satisfied with their jobs (although they don’t commonly work in their field of study). These figures compare surprisingly well with the corresponding statistics for the other majors there. The philosophy unemployment figure there is 9.2% - higher, but not astronomically so, than the 6.6% average. If you select “Contact Alumni for Advice” from the Careers & Majors drop-down menu, you can see some of the jobs philosophy majors have gone on to do.
The Wall Street Journal has some statistics on this. Philosophy majors, on average, have pretty low salaries to start out - about $39,900, which is slightly lower than the national average for new college grads. But mid-career, their median salary is $81,200. They are tied with math for the highest percent change from early to mid career for all majors. (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html).
The thing to remember is that majors - particularly traditional liberal arts & sciences majors - don’t lead to jobs or salaries. Skills and experiences do. You could major in philosophy and be an investment banker 5 years from now. Conversely, you could major in economics and be a social worker. You can certainly work on Wall Street with a philosophy major, particularly if you later earn an MBA or a JD and go into business. And if you major in philosophy, there’s nothing stopping you from minoring in economics or taking many classes in economics and quantitative analysis to prepare you for finance jobs or the like, or arm you with some economics knowledge.
So if you want to major in philosophy, do so. Then acquire the kinds of experiences - internships, part-time jobs, skills like programming and public speaking - that will help you get to either of your two goals.
Also, I have to say that I’m confused about your assumptions surrounding LSAT and GMAT scores. There’s no specific major that prepares you for the LSAT; it’s a test of reasoning and critical thinking skills, which you can develop in either major. I’m pretty sure that the same is true for the GMAT. [This[/url] table shows that economics and philosophy majors score about the same on the LSAT on average. [url=<a href=“http://blog.prep4gmat.com/majors-with-the-highest-and-lowest-gmat-scores/%5DThe”>http://blog.prep4gmat.com/majors-with-the-highest-and-lowest-gmat-scores/]The same is true of the GMAT](http://www.phil.ufl.edu/ugrad/whatis/LSATtable.html). So majoring in one or the other won’t necessarily improve your scores on either test.
The Wall Street Journal has some statistics on this. Philosophy majors, on average, have pretty low salaries to start out - about $39,900, which is slightly lower than the national average for new college grads. But mid-career, their median salary is $81,200. They are tied with math for the highest percent change from early to mid career for all majors. (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html).
The thing to remember is that majors - particularly traditional liberal arts & sciences majors - don’t lead to jobs or salaries. Skills and experiences do. You could major in philosophy and be an investment banker 5 years from now. Conversely, you could major in economics and be a social worker. You can certainly work on Wall Street with a philosophy major, particularly if you later earn an MBA or a JD and go into business. And if you major in philosophy, there’s nothing stopping you from minoring in economics or taking many classes in economics and quantitative analysis to prepare you for finance jobs or the like, or arm you with some economics knowledge.
So if you want to major in philosophy, do so. Then acquire the kinds of experiences - internships, part-time jobs, skills like programming and public speaking - that will help you get to either of your two goals.
Also, I have to say that I’m confused about your assumptions surrounding LSAT and GMAT scores. There’s no specific major that prepares you for the LSAT; it’s a test of reasoning and critical thinking skills, which you can develop in either major. I’m pretty sure that the same is true for the GMAT. [This[/url] table shows that economics and philosophy majors score about the same on the LSAT on average. [url=<a href=“http://blog.prep4gmat.com/majors-with-the-highest-and-lowest-gmat-scores/%5DThe”>http://blog.prep4gmat.com/majors-with-the-highest-and-lowest-gmat-scores/]The same is true of the GMAT](http://www.phil.ufl.edu/ugrad/whatis/LSATtable.html). So majoring in one or the other won’t necessarily improve your scores on either test.