History and Philosophy Degree?

Question

What Career opportunities are available with a History and Philosophy Degree. I don't fancy teaching/lecturing, so don't suggest those please.

Also, do you think it's advisable if I want to go into Law, PR, Journalism etc

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Things you can do with Philosophy:

Business. The ability to look at old problems and processes in new ways is invaluable in the business world.

Writing/Editing. There's always a shortage of people who are good at expressing themselves on paper (or online). Careers in journalism, marketing and advertising are excellent for good communicators.

Public service. Both politicians and career public servants benefit from the ability to identify, define and solve an astonishing variety of problems.

Law. Lawyers are really nothing more than philosophers trained in specifics of a country's legal system. Law students are famously subjected to a distinctly philosophical form of on-the-spot classroom quizzes known as the Socratic method.

Foreign service & diplomacy. The philosophical ability to discover unconscious assumptions and work around them is particularly important when working with people of different cultures.

Answer 2

Your degree would be the same as a general liberal arts degree in the eyes of most employers. You could work in the business world or in government, in many different josb that only require a bachelor's degree. A very few examples: insurance underwriter, software tester, management trainee (no business mgmt degree needed for many of these), auditor (for gov't programs, not necessarily accounting audits, which is what people think of).

History jobs: museum work, historic preservation, tour guide, expert for films (except I think you'd need an advanced degree)

Sorry, I can't think of even one job specifically for a BA in Philosophy.

Both would be especially good for going into law.

You could get a PR job if you can sell yourself well enough, but courses in communications, business psychology and maybe marketing would help.

Same with journalism - if your writing is good enough, you might get a job without a journalism degree, but some journ. courses would help. Without them, the smaller local papers or a business might employ you to do their corporate newsletter.

I'm thinking that if you're willing to consider grad school, you might be interested in public policy. You'd be able to blend your knowledge of philosophy and history in researching and designing ways to improve a community. Here's a brief intro to what it's all about: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-public-p...

Here's info on a top public policy program: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~gspp/