<p>Princeton sophomore tells us he now wants to declare philosophy as his major instead
of economics. I am worried that he won't have the job opportunities that he wants
if he chooses this path. He is so undecided as to what he wants to do...still!! I
am a worried mom...what do you think?</p>
<p>I majored in Philosophy.</p>
<p>Philosophy is good training for learning how to think and argue logically.</p>
<p>This is useful for many careers.</p>
<p>Is he a sophmore now?</p>
<p>I’d say he still has time to figure things out. He can talk to the career center about possible postgrad plans for general liberal arts type majors (English, History, Philosophy, etc.)</p>
<p>Philosophy majors can think, analyse and write. Many employers seek them out.</p>
<p>Better to study what you love than forge ahead on a career you aren’t sure you are interested in just for the job prospects.</p>
<p>While some people may argue that philosophy majors are in demand, I’d argue that one doesn’t need to go to Princeton to study philosophy, especially if the parent is paying full rate tuition.</p>
<p>He is already a student at Princeton…he just seems a little lost and
I feel upset for him…I wish I knew what he wanted to do down
the road…he said maybe med school, maybe law school, maybe
consulting…maybe…in this day and age…are you sure it’s ok
to study philosophy if you don’t continue your education??</p>
<p>I have no idea why an employer would hire a philosophy major.</p>
<p>I am not one of the people that see philosophy as a major that is in demand.</p>
<p>foto2gem: My son, a freshman at one of Princeton’s peer schools, is also thinking about philosophy as a possible major. H and I support the choice. I’m actually enthusiastic about it. I love the focus on analytical skills, clear thinking, and big moral and social issues. I agree that employers prize philosophy majors for their ability to think logically and argue and defend their positions cogently. Many careers don’t require a specific major. Philosophy graduates can pursue careers in business, education, government, and the non-profit sector. We know a former philosophy major who is now making mega money as a hedge fund manager. (That would definitely not be my son’s route.) Law school is a frequent post-grad path.</p>
<p>Some jobs require critical thinking skills.
A successful philosophy major will demonstrate those skills.
So if the job doesn’t require a specific career oriented curriculum, philosophy is as good or better than many other majors.</p>
<p>Bigtrees,
What major do you think is worth the full tuition rate at Princeton?</p>
<p>PS Well sain wjb!</p>
<p>Although he thought he’d be a Poli Sci major, freshman S now thinks he will be a (some kind of European) History and Philosophy double major at his LAC. While dh is a little nervous about this (he’d like one of S’s majors to be Business), I think Philosophy is a perfect major for my son. While in high school, he loved Lincoln Douglas debate. Philosophers were often quoted in L-D cases, and so it made perfect sense that S would be interested in majoring in Philosophy. </p>
<p>S has been interested in law school for a long time, and Philosophy is a good major for that field.</p>
<p>Engineering
Business Accounting
Business Finance
Business Marketing
Law
Medicine</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, I’d argue that Princeton is <em>precisely</em> the type of school one should go to to study philosophy.</p>
<p>Schools where one’s classes will be small, discussion-oriented, and filled with other very intelligent–and possibly even intellectual–students.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Two things: a) there is such a thing as pursuing <em>education</em> not vocational training, and b) philosophy majors can do all sorts of things, and I can assure you that back when I was an employer I would gladly have hired a philosophy major from Princeton because my primary focus was finding people who were highly intelligent, logical and analytical, adept and eager learners, excellent writers, and able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people. As a matter of fact, my predecessor in one managerial post had indeed hired a Princeton grad who had a degree in some field that was completely unrelated to what our company did, and he was doing extremely well in the company. As did the Harvard classics major I hired, and the Barnard English majors. And so forth. All of whom I gather you would consider unemployable.</p>
<p>bigtrees: Aside from engineering, none of the majors you list is even available at Princeton, and neither law nor medicine is a major at any undergraduate institution in the U.S. Philosophy majors can go to law school, med school (assuming they take the prerequisites), or MBA school. You are confusing vocations with majors.</p>
<p>Philosophy at Princeton is a rigorous major. You’ve got to be an excellent writer, a careful and exacting reader of difficult texts, and a clear, focused, disciplined, organized, critical and analytical thinker to do well at it; if you’re not all those things, you’ll drown as a philosophy major in that department. It’s not so much the substantive knowledge of philosophy but the intellectual and verbal skills and talents associated with it that make philosophy majors from the top departments attractive to employers who are looking for employees with well developed cognitive, intellectual, and communicative skills. That said, philosophy majors as a group—and especially those from the top programs like Princeton’s–also do uncommonly well on the LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, and GRE exams. Hard to say what’s cause and what’s effect, though; the better test scores could just be the result of philosophy attracting a disproportionate concentration of the smartest students.</p>
<p>My S is a junior Classics Major. Yes, it’s scary, but he is so happy and really working on himself. And learning Ancient Greek is not a walk in the park.</p>
<p>He has no idea of what he wants to do in life. He is talking to Peace Corps recruiters. He said the earthquake in Haiti made him realize he wants to devote two years to serving people. He hopes he’ll get an inkling of a career direction.</p>
<p>He is quite young for his class (just a late Fall b’day, not a precocious genius) and is serious looking for his thread.</p>
<p>He loves mythology. He is considering: Writing social policy etc. – i.e. govt. work, law school, psychology. He isn’t sure.</p>
<p>Still, I am supporting him fully so he can grow into the most confident adult he can be. I think that will serve him better than any particular major. We are investing in HIM, not a major. And he is at a top LAC, another great place for this type of education.</p>
<p>If they are not driven vocationally, they’re not. Can’t force things. These are intelligent guys. They know they have to earn a living eventually.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when she was 5 my D said, “law school”. She starts in August.</p>
<p>So bigtrees, the only major available at Princeton that you deem worthy of the full tuition rate is a program (Engineering) which has to meet the same qualifications of an outside accreditation group (ABET) as that same major from ‘any state u’. And average starting salaries from both schools are in the same ball park range.</p>
<p>fotogem,</p>
<p>in my experience (29 years of university teaching) it’s only just-graduating people with technical majors, like engineering, who are really hotly sought after; for those with nontechnical majors, like philosophy, English, religion, even economics, it doesn’t really matter what they major in because they all seem to be in the same boat right out of school. I read somewhere that 20 years out, the humanities types are just as successful, in income terms, as their more “practical” peers. That’s no doubt because many of them go on to get law degrees and MBAs, or get into corporate training programs and then move up the ranks, but it’s also because aging people in technical fields are vulnerable in companies that prefer to fire them and hire the youngsters.</p>
<p>fotogem, </p>
<p>My husband teaches Philosophy at a well regarded LAC. Over the last twenty years he has had many majors go into law (a favorite grad school decision), med school (second only to law school) and MBA programs. He also has had students go to graduate school in Philosophy and he now has former students as colleagues in the field. He has had many kids go into government jobs, including State Department jobs. But he has had kids go on to do some really unusual things as well including: lead singer/guitarist with a well known rock band, an Academy award-winning special effects artist, off-broadway playwright, one who runs an NGO in Mongolia bringing the internet to nomadic tribes (among other things), one who flies all over the world doing network trouble shooting for major corporations and governments, hospital ethicist, and one who is currently doing a unique self-created double degree in Physics and Archeology at MIT/Oxford. </p>
<p>The Princeton department is top-flight. He will work with some of the greatest thinkers in the world. His resources will reach way beyond what a first seems possible – because, as many people have already he will know how to think.</p>
<p>When someone asked my then six year old son what his father did he answered " He teaches people to think really fast about really hard things."</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I love that.</p>
<p>Philosophy majors do fine in life. Brother majored in philosophy and music and is now a major officer in a major financial. That’s just one example…[Philosophers</a> Find the Degree Pays Off in Life And in Work - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/26/business/philosophers-find-the-degree-pays-off-in-life-and-in-work.html?pagewanted=all]Philosophers”>http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/26/business/philosophers-find-the-degree-pays-off-in-life-and-in-work.html?pagewanted=all)</p>
<p>While so many other schools were cutting back, Princeton has maintained what is widely considered one of the best philosophy departments in the country. Its famous graduates include Carl C. Icahn, the financier, who earned his B.A. in 1957; his senior thesis was titled ‘‘The Problem of Formulating an Adequate Explication of the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning.’’ Philosophy majors in the class of 1977 have spent the last two decades building striking resumes – just not in philosophy.</p>
<p>Princeton has one of the best philosophy departments in the nation. What a great choice! </p>
<p>Seriously, in terms of getting a job straight out of college from a school like Princeton, a philosophy major who has taken a couple of econ courses and done well in them will do just as well as an econ major. The way econ is taught isn’t really more practical than philosophy. Employers know that. </p>
<p>He’ll do fine.</p>