Career Options for Philosophy
Most students ask this obvious question: What can I do with a philosophy degree? They are often surprised when they find out that while many philosophy majors do become philosophy professors, a lot of them do not. Instead, they go on to become prominent members of many other professions and careers. These include business, law, politics, journalism, non-profit organizations, the medical field, the arts, and many more.
A bachelor’s degree in philosophy provides excellent preparation for graduate studies in many areas of the humanities, law school, and business school. Philosophy majors have very impressive scores on standardized tests such as the GMAT (for MBA), the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). Philosophy majors have the second highest scores in the GMAT and they score higher than business majors. They rank second highest in the LSAT and they score the highest in all of the humanities. Philosophy majors rank first than any major in the verbal section of the GRE and fourth in the quantitative section (below only Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology majors).
Famous Philosophy Majors
Government
- Thomas Jefferson (U.S. President)
- Rudy Guiliani (former Mayor of New York City)
- Robert MacNamara (former Secretary of Defense)
- Richard Riorden (Former Mayor of Los Angeles)
- Justice David Souter (Supreme Court Justice)
- Justice Stephen Breyer
- George Stephanopoulos (former White House Press Secretary)
Business
- Frank Moran (founder of Plante and Moran)
- George Soros (financier and philanthropist)
The Arts
- Wes Anderson (director, The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited)
- Pearl S. Buck (Nobel Prize for Literature)
- Ethan Coen (filmmaker, O Brother Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men)
- Umberto Eco (Novelist)
- Richard Gere (actor)
- Philip Glass (composer)
- Bruce Lee (martial artist, actor)
- Elmore Leonard (author)
- Iris Murdoch (author)
- Robert Motherwell (painter)
- Barnett Newman (painter)
- Marsha Norman (playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner)
- Mary Higgins Clark (author)
- Woody Allen (director, actor)
- Steve Martin (actor, director, playwright, and author)\
Other
- Phil Jackson (NBA coach)
- Aung San Suu Kyi (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize)
- Pope John Paul II
- Albert Schweitzer (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize)
- Angela Davis (social activist and political philosopher)
- Mario Savio (civil rights leader)
- Juan Williams (NPR host, writer, journalist)
