<p>i'm a senior in high school right now, and am very interested in philosophy. i believe the ucla philosophy department is pretty good. however, my parents argue that there are not many careers and i wont be able to make a living with this major. they suggest that i pursue something in the medical field or science. </p>
<p>any advice? opinions?</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>you can always double major. philosophy goes well with almost everything.</p>
<p>Philosophy isn't a vocational major, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>I myself am a philosophy major, and like many liberal arts majors, I hope to go to law school. But I am genuinely passionate about my major too.</p>
<p>Other than for law school though, a philosophy major can get you into business school and med school too, if you take the right courses. For example, some focus on logic can help, and so can epistemology for law.</p>
<p>I think an education in philosophy is a valuable asset to have. But ultimately, it's your call.</p>
<p>Philosphy majors make great prep for law, medicine or business school. They have the 3rd highest acceptance rate for med schools, and at my university (UVA) they score an average of 15 points higher on the LSAT. Also, some firms higher philosophy majors to work in teams with engineers and such to bring some diversity to the team, but this is far less common.</p>
<p>If your really good, there's always grad school in philosophy, but you have to be good, very good. Admissions to phil grad programs are notoriously tough, and you will be disheartened quickly when you start searching about the topic and finding out how bad it really is. I used to think it was exaggerated; it's not. Even if you get in and get your PhD, good luck finding a tenure track position at a remotely good school (or any school for that matter)</p>
<p>So those are basically your options. Phil majors can get hired into some random jobs if they pick up a good skill set and are at a school with good recruiting, other than that there law, business, med, grad school.</p>
<p>You can do a lot of things with a major in philosophy
As for careers, you can become a professor, a teleevangelist, a lawyer, a doctor, or work in McDoanlds.
plus.. you can go and find the philosopher's stone!!!!! LOL
The eduction is worth it, you must have faith in philosophy.
I'm going to major in philosophy in the college, but i'm going to do it on the ROTC scholarship.. they guarantee me a post in the army after i graduate, which is very good.
If you want to be a great philosopher, study sciences or other subjects before you go to graduate school in philosophy.. That's just my opinion, cuz look at all those great philosophers, they all have experiences in other fields beside philosophy.
Just to name a few
Nietzsche joined the army, and majored in classical philology during his college years.
Heidegger joined the army.
Sartre was in the army and mastered drama.
Wittgenstein majored in science.
and almost all the analytic philosophers majored in math.</p>
<p>Philosophy gives you skills that will translate into many other fields: logical, critical thinking, ability to effectively communicate and articulate ideas, etc. You could do almost anything, IMO.</p>
<p>Hmm... philosophers are ones who study certain things and "ponder" questions that not many people have ever heard, and create questions that not many people have ever made. The can range from things about life and space, or things more down to earth like simply thinking.</p>