Philosophy gives you transferrable skills
According to recent data from the Department of Labor, the average person will change careers (not jobs!) 5-7 times during their working life. This sort of transition can be tough; if you’ve spent all your time on a pre-med track and then discover that you don’t want to go into medicine, you have to start from scratch. It’s the same with careers in engineering, business, journalism, law, etc. But not with philosophy. Philosophy teaches you skills (like the following) that will be helpful no matter what career you decide to pursue:
- How to analyze and solve complex problems
- How to read dense and technical prose
- How to think and write clearly
- How to argue persuasively
Philosophy majors do very well on graduate exams
Philosophy majors routinely get some of the highest scores on exams required for graduate school. The following data is compiled by the American Philosophical Association (updated in 2023). For more, see their handouts on Philosophy and the LSAT and Philosophy and the GRE. More data on philosophy majors’ performance on graduate exams, including the GMAT, can be found here. The APA has also compiled a substantial amount of data on the field of philosophy in general here. (Note: the MCAT does not report data about average scores by major.)
Philosophy is great as a double major
Because philosophical skills are so transferrable, they can help you think more deeply and clearly about any other field. That’s why for nearly any field of study there’s a philosophy of that field: philosophy of psychology, philosophy of medicine, philosophy of physics, philosophy of education, philosophy of art, political philosophy, philosophy of literature, etc. Even if your primary interest is in some other field, you can gain a deeper understanding of that field through philosophy. This is what makes philosophy such an excellent companion major. (That, and the fact that the major requirements are pretty simple!)
Philosophy majors do very well financially
The financial prospects for philosophy majors are much better than you might have expected. A recent study indicates that humanities majors provide a very good return on investment. On top of that, philosophy majors actually out-earn all other humanities majors over the course of their careers:
In fact, when you control for the cost of educating majors and compare it to the earnings of those majors, philosophy ends up being comparable to engineering in terms of earnings per invested educational dollar. (These results are based on a study of data from Florida, which is nicely summarized here.)
Many famous people were philosophy majors
Philosophy majors have gone on to do some amazing things!
UF has a lively philosophy community
The UF philosophy department has a vibrant and active community. Clubs like the Undergraduate Philosophy Society (“PhilSoc”) and the UF Minorities and Philosophy Chapter hold regular meetings and are always looking for new members. The department also hosts speakers for invited talks (see our events page), and puts on an annual “Food and Talk” event that features free dinner and philosophical discussion in an informal setting.