“The purpose or goal of getting a university degree is not to get a job or make money, but rather produce a more well-rounded learner, and give a student the tools to broaden their own intellectual horizons.”
Usually some version of the above statement is the reply to the question many students have when they graduate with liberal arts degrees and ask, “What can I do with this?” Many of my friends and I used to derogatorily call our B.A.s “7-11 degrees,” because that is what it qualified you do – work at 7-11. Obviously this is a bit crass, and we were poking fun at ourselves, but the question remains – what can people expect to do for a living with a liberal arts degree these days?
It’s a Shorter List Than You Might Think
Obviously the answer depends on what specific program a person takes. Not all B.A.s are created equal. Someone who has a political science focus might have better – or at least different – career prospects than someone who studied human ecology or art history. Science people tend to look down their noses at us humanities and social science folk, and what enables them to do that is the fact that the job market needs people who know science and math. Be they engineers of any kind, doctors, nurses, lab personnel etc. If you go into engineering, nursing, dentistry, or pharmacy you know exactly what you are qualified for when you graduate, and what your pay grade will be. This certainty is a pipedream for most who graduate with a basic liberal arts degree. While many people in English, or history will never make as much as an engineer (Related: How Much Do Engineers Make?), I find that they have generally accepted this, and have moved on to just hoping for a job of some kind, somewhere. So, here are some ideas if you are in the 2nd or 3rd year of your degree and are starting to panic about the job outlook and your student loans.
Back to School, Back to School…
Your best financial options probably lie in parlaying your first degree into a subsequent one. The most common path is probably the one I took into becoming a school teacher by way of an education faculty. Most law students have liberal arts degrees, as do some architects. These are obviously professions that require a high academic level of achievement, but the financial incentives might be worth it. There are also a limited number of people that decided that they will be able to market their skills in a different setting than initially thought with a Masters of Business Administration (more commonly known as an MBA). I have thought about doing this, and it worked out quite well for my new favourite financial affairs author Michael Lewis. There are language specific programs that you would be an ideal candidate for, and of course there is always the option of more years of schooling to become a professor in your chosen field (more and more people are taking this road, and it has becoming unnervingly competitive trying to land a long-term professor position).
Related
Show Me The Money Jerry!
If you are sick of university, or just want to open a new chapter in your life, there are definitely options out there for someone wondering what to do with a liberal arts degree. The first recommendation I would make would be to start applying to government jobs, and lots of them. Many of these jobs just don’t want to hire someone with no qualifications, but if you have some decent summer resume material (see our article on getting a great summer job) and a B.A., you can often parlay this to an entry level governmental position. What a liberal arts degree essentially lets potential employers know is that even though you are not specifically qualified for a job, you are capable of learning and possess a minimal level of writing and reading comprehension (a high school diploma definitely does not guarantee this). Once your foot is in the door, you can gain valuable experience and connections. There are plenty of options for lateral movement and you can scout the private sector from the safety of having a steady pay cheque. Another relevant option is teaching English abroad. This can often be done without much extra work and is a great way to see the world. Students who enter most militaries (including the Canadian one) with a Bachelor of Arts. will be fast-tracked to officer status, and a promising career in the military if you can stomach the rest of the job. Finally, there are a whole range of entry-level positions out there that have sadly become the domain of the B.A. There are just so many people with basic undergraduate degrees on the market right now that it has become more or less grades 12-15 in a lot of ways. There is nothing wrong with taking an entry-level position somewhere and working your way to the top (Related: Building A Positive Workplace Reputation), but a lot of people find this a tough pill to swallow after years of education and some serious student loans to pay back. Even for these entry level positions, there is often a lot of competition depending on the region and job sector.
Is a Liberal Arts Degree a Good Idea?
I’m quite sure there are some other great ideas for people who were history, psychology, sociology, classics, sociology and English majors. What would your best suggestion be? Stay tuned next week when I explore the who, what, where, when and most importantly IF getting a liberal arts degree is worth it for most students. Preliminary debate is welcome!
The way I generally describe BAs is that they qualify you to do almost everything, but at the same time, nothing.
That is, there’s a whole goddamn world of opportunities that require a bachelor’s degree (in just about anything), but there isn’t one specific career path that you will automatically be sent down.
By comparison, I have a bachelor’s of journalism? Guess what I’m qualified to do? Journalism! And that’s what I’m doing. I could also easily parlay into marketing, PR, advertising, communications and politics, without further schools. I have friends with a BA in English, say, who are legitimately qualified to work in all the above areas and more, but because their degree is more general, they have a harder time breaking in. So in effect, I am really SUPER qualified for one industry, but not others, but my BA friends are GENERALLY qualified for a TON of industries. I think the biggest problem with students who get a BA is that they don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what they want to do AFTER school, so they just end up taking the first crappy job that comes their way.
Then again, that’s all to say, that if you wanted to learn skills that would immediately lead you to an industry you’re qualified to go into, you should be going to college or trade school, not university. This is a gross generalization, but really, you go to college to get yourself a job, you go to university to get an education. Is it not possible to go learn for the sake of learning, or is all learning that doesn’t distinctly lead to a job worthless?
Yah, my cousin has a bachelor degree in journalism as well. I don’t think the B.A. qualifies for many jobs, it qualifies you to apply for a lot of jobs maybe. Quotes like “Go to college to get a job, university to get an education,” drive me crazy. If that is all University is about, couldn’t we just read books for free? Only liberal arts people believe that saying, go ask people in the science field if they are in university to get a job. If I’m just learning for the sake of learning, I prefer to do it for free, rather than pay huge amounts of money to get lectured from professors who couldn’t care less about undergraduates.
Very well written, Melissa, and I agree 100%
To respond to your question, “Is it not possible to go learn for the sake of learning, or is all learning that doesn’t distinctly lead to a job worthless?”
I presume you agree with the former proposition, and I do too. It’s a good thing for all people to be well educated in the basics of a wide variety of subjects. But don’t count on it landing you a job. For that, you need to continue your education, and become excellent in a speciality. Then you become valuable to an employer.
I definitely agree Don, but I do think that once students hit high school they will usually do better if the see a connection to an eventual career. A “light at the end of the tunnel” so to speak, since not everyone is motivated by the sheer pleasure of learning.
Great post and great question :)
I’ll include it in my link love- you guys write great content!! :)
Thanks, we really appreciate the support from such an established Canadian PF blogger Y & T!
My father’s mantra was always “college is not a trade school” and I still believe that. Granted, with college costs so high it can be very stressful to not see a clear career path. Actually, I really think that there are more opportunities than ever for liberal arts grads. There are so many ways to use your writing and research skills, so many ways to start your own business, etc. I was one of those political science majors and though I’ve never used my major (or except for about five years my master’s degree) in most of my jobs I think that I bring everything I learned to the table.
See in Canada colleges actually are trade schools the majority of the time (I realize the difference between them in the USA). I have definitely been trying to open people’s eyes to the possibilities of trade schools. The fact that you have never used your major kind of proves my point. How many engineers or medical degrees out there don’t use their majors? I would be willing to bet that in 10 years the average trades person will make more than the average B.A. or liberal arts degree.
There’s always retail :)
Yup, a B.A. will teach you how to get out the ole “communication shovel” anyway!
I studied history at university as did a number of my friends. So where are we now? It might surprise you…
- Marketing
- Sales
- Law
- Accountancy
- Management consultancy
- Investment banking
- PR
- Journalism
- Politics
- Teaching
Now for the caveats:
a) We all live in the UK where what you ‘major’ in (we don’t even use that term) has less of a bearing on your future prospects.
b) We all studied at Oxford University (quite how I got in, I’ll never really know). The UK, for better or for worse, still holds Oxbridge degrees in high esteem, no matter what type of degree you actually studied. It’s not unusual for someone to become an investment banker having studied classics or geography at Oxford.
c) Even though we chose to study arts degrees, we still had sufficiently strong maths skills which saw us through companies’ numeracy tests.
d) Most of us took part in extracurricular activities and took up internships to boost our resumes.
I don’t think that you’re shooting your career in the foot by opting for an arts based degree. However, make sure you polish up your resume with ample amounts of relevant work experience and extra curricular activities. At the same time, don’t let your numeracy skills fall by the wayside.
If you’re in the UK aim for the best university you can. It sucks but employers do look at where you studied as well as what you studied.
I would say that an Oxford University degree of any kind would have enough advantages to cancel out anything else. Obviously the success you and your friends have enjoyed prove just how powerful that name can be on applications. Many of the options you listed they still must have taken subsequent schooling for though?
Very interesting article and topic!
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Environmental Studies in 2005 from a liberal arts college. I absolutely loved the study, the reading, the learning, and everything.
I would say one of the best ways to break into a specific job place with a liberal arts degree is to have an internship–this will pad your resume with specific skills and could even lead to a job. I realize the job market is far different now than from what it was, but I was also laid off from my first two jobs out of college and understand how much you have to market yourself.
I had an internship my senior year in college at Chesapeake Fields Institute in International sales and marketing of locally grown snacks. It was fantastic, and landed me my first job out of college in International sales and marketing. Unfortunately, after one year my salary was gone due to the grant from the USDA being gone, so I had a three month stint of unemployment. I was fortunate in that my Aunt worked as a VP for a marketing company and so she ‘got me through the door’; I say that because I was given the ringer (they gave me three interviews and three tests!). That lasted for two years. Then I decided (after being laid off) that it was time to find something I was more passionate about and to use my other degree–environmental studies. I landed a job as an environmental investigator and have been there for three years (thank goodness I am no longer considered entry level! finally!).
Another area that liberal arts degrees (communication/marketing based) should look into is Innovation. What a fun time! I was really into that during my job in market research/marketing.
The intern-ships is definitely a great idea. I just find so many students think that a degree will automatically entitle them to a great paying job, an intern-based approach is a much more pragmatic and likely answer! Congrats on getting out of entry level positions. They are stressful on the bank account and a person’s emotional well-being!
My BA doesn’t qualify me for much but it did qualify to go to law school which was my main reason for getting it.
Right, exactly like myself with Education. I actually really enjoyed my BA, but the fact remains that we are probably mis-informing people as to what it qualifies them for.
A liberal arts degree is THE BEST undergrad degree in the world! I’ll show you why, but I have to publish the post in my queue first lol.
Best, Sam
Haha, depending on your perspective I guess eh Sam?
I think it’s wise to go with a specialized degree. For instance, although I started college with a general interest in business, I chose to study accounting. Why? Because it’s really difficult to get an accounting job with a general business degree. However, with an accounting degree, it’s not hard to work in a job that requires a general business degree. As a matter of fact, I received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. I simply majored in accounting.
Even if you plan on going to law school, it’s a good idea to receive education in a field that will help you generate a decent income should the whole law school thing not pan out. For me, college wasn’t just about experiencing different cultures, drinking, partying, and learning to live and think independently. College is time consuming and expensive. If you must go, it needs to yield a worthy return on your investment.
Exactly Shawanda, I’m not saying University is bad, or a Liberal Arts degree isn’t worth it for anyone. I’m just stating that people should have all the relevant information before making such an important decision to start their life. Right now there are way too many cultural norms at play that cloud the picture unnecessarily.
My advice to young people is to get a degree that gives you a valuable skill. The only skill you learn from getting a BA in Art History is how to impress chicks at a museum. If I ever have kids and am in a financial position to help them with college, I will only help them if they major in something valuable.
I guess I believe that value lies in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure Art History is valuable to a select group of people, but the bottom line is that unless you’re already financially secure it is tough to justify paying a lot of money to attain that knowledge. My dad’s agreement with me was that he would help me pay for school as long as I didn’t smoke and didn’t do drugs. His solid rationale was that if I ever had money to do those two things then I would have money to pay for my own school. I think it’s a pretty fair argument!
I have a BA.
Poli-Sci and Sociology.
The degree itself didn’t open many doors, but it did open up opportunity. The BA was a good base that “proves” I have the ability to learn, write, research and think analytically. Got me a job in a call centre @ Telus in Calgary. I did get promoted quickly but the wage was still low and the hours long.
I went back to school – college – to learn how to do something. In my case, programming (which I don’t do although I am employed in IT).
When I finished college I competed for an in demand internship program with the government in the IT field.
Ultimately, I think my BA (including the Poli-Sci), the real world experience and the diploma helped me land the job and a career (at least for now) in government.
So what i’m trying to say is that the B.A. in and of itself may not lead to much. Coupled with some other tools in the tool box it is a common yet necessary accomplishment that will help a young person get a job in some industries/fields.
This sounds like the typical career path one should expect with a BA in my opinion. I just think that most students are not told about this reality. By all means, if they know this and choose to better themselves by taking a BA, then that is great for our overall workforce!
If you’re independently wealthy or a woman about to get married to a wealthy man, a liberal arts degree is a good choice. Otherwise, it is a complete waste of time and money. I wish I could go back and do engineering or finance because that is where the money is. Quoting Joyce or Auden will not help you in the work force, unless you want to work as a comedian. A ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ major will not only set you back for four years, it can set you back about a decade. Be vary wary of these ‘degrees’. They are cash grabs for most universities.
Preach it brotha! BAs are what they are, a path to something, just not a direct one.
As a student, I want to make one point that I feel a lot of people outside of the education system (and even in it) don’t see, or choose to overlook. I’m a bioengineer, the program I am enrolled in which allows me to get a B.S. degree in bioengineering requires 138 credit hours within the discipline. This figure is even a severe underestimate of time spent, as many of these credits come from lab work, for which my university offers a mere 1 credit for 3 hours of work in lab each week, not to mention the immense amount of time spent out of class on reports, as well as doing problems and studying for other classes. For the sake of comparison, a history major requires 36 credits….39 to graduate with honors. A philosophy degree requires 38. From my perspective this is laughable.
This is how I see it: Just going to university and getting a degree DOES NOT mean you are capable of performing adequate work for a high salary. This is due to the inequity of college degrees. There is work to be done in any degree program, and a philosophy major can do just as much work as an engineer, but he doesn’t NEED to do all that work. Engineers do. If you’re going to go for a liberal arts degree, you better go for it hard. In fact, you should be getting 3 or 4 liberal arts degrees, because only then are you degrees worth as much as mine. Employers looking at your degree will assume you did the minimum amount of work required to get that degree, so unless you have other outstanding assets, you won’t be selected for any position.
Employers know about this discrepancy, universities do too, but students don’t. This is partially the fault of the universities, which of course market liberal arts degrees as valuable training for jobs that don’t even exist yet, or something similar. This isn’t true. These programs are among the weakest offered by any university, and have become so through generations of grade inflation. Students see how easy they are and are drawn to them, thinking a degree is a degree. Here’s a warning: All degrees are not equal, not even close.
I couldn’t agree more Alex… and I have a liberal arts degree! There is a reason why we have a huge need in STEM fields, and philosophy degrees can be found on any 7-11 staff.