Why Major in Philosophy?

Philosophers get jobs!
Liberal arts majors in general are more in demand in the workforce than accounting or finance majors, but philosophers in particular do very well. While employment rates for all graduating students six months after graduation rose 9% from 2002-2003 to 2005-2006, employment rates rose by 13% for philosophy majors during that same period. Why? Philosophers are trained in critical thinking, close analysis, careful evaluation, innovative thinking, and open-mindedness, skills valuable to employers in many fields

Philosophers get paid!
The average mid-career salary of philosophy majors, $81,200, is quite high in comparison to those of other popular majors, and it is the highest among humanities majors.

Philosophers crush grad school tests!
Philosophers do better at all of the major graduate school tests than virtually any other major:

  • LSAT: Philosophers are second only to physics/math majors (157 to 160)
  • GRE: Philosophers score higher than all other majors on the verbal and analytic writing portions, and also score very high on the quantitative portion.

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  • GMAT: Want to get an MBA? Philosophers also do very well on the GMAT:

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  • MCAT: Want to go to medical school? Philosophers do better than all science majors:5

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Philosophers have serious political and ethical chops!
Tulane Philosophy specializes in ethics and political philosophy, both contemporary and historical. Some of the greatest ideas in the political and social realm have come from philosophers, and students who study philosophy at Tulane have the opportunity to learn from these masters, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Rawls, and Nozick. 

Philosophers love what they do!
For most, philosophy is a passion and an ongoing engagement with the biggest of Big Questions: Is there a God? What is the self? Do we have free will? What is the meaning of life? How is consciousness related to physical reality? What should I do? What is truth? Justice? Beauty? These are ancient questions, but they are also questions which philosophers have made important, unmistakable progress in answering during the last century alone. Come join us in this ongoing, life-changing enterprise.