1. What if I want to study Philosophy?
Job Prospects, Salary Expectations, etc.

2. Should you pursue a career-focused major or the major you love?
Picking a major
Should you pursue a career-focused major or the major you love?
Choosing one’s major can seem like this monumental, life-defining choice.
A key message: It’s not!
Even employers would say it’s not as important as you think
Other key message: You can have both - a major you love that naturally leads a diversity of career aspirations
This especially includes liberal arts majors

3. What are the skills most employers say they want? TOP FIVE
Critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills.
The ability to analyze and solve complex problems.
The ability to effectively communicate orally.
The ability to effectively communicate in writing.
The ability to provide knowledge and skills to real world settings.
Source: Hart Research Associates Employer Survey, 2013

4. Skills and majors
These are exactly the fundamental skills you get from studying Philosophy (and other liberal arts majors)
Question critically
Think logically
Communicate clearly
Act creatively
Live ethically
The liberal arts are designed to provide these exact same general, foundational skills that employers seek
These five phrases on this slide are from the University of Oregon’s mission statement, which are characterize what it means to be a liberal arts university
(Switch back to previous slide to show how these phrases exactly match the skills employers look for)

5. Does it work? College Learning Assessment by MAJOR
How do we know that a liberal arts background teaches these general, foundational skills? Because tests show it.
These are scores from the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) by types of majors. The CLA gives a person a real world complex problem to investigate and draw conclusions that can be supported by evidence – a business-related question typically. (For more info on CLA see -
The majors that score best on this exam? Liberal arts majors as one can see in the diagram.
Source: Council for Aid to Education

6. So I’ll learn a lot, what about money?
Source: How Liberal Arts and Sciences Majors Fare in Employment. 2013

7. Philosophy majors are the TOP earners among all the humanities majors:
“We hear again and again that employers value creative problem solving and the ability to deal with ambiguity in their new hires, and I can’t think of another major that would better prepare you with those skills than the study of philosophy. It’s not terribly surprising to see those graduates doing well in the labor market. We’ve seen quite a few executives—CEOs, VPs of Strategy—who studied philosophy as their undergrad program,” says Lydia Frank, the senior editorial director at PayScale.

8. Angela Davis Political Activist and Theorist
WHO HAS A DEGREE IN PHILOSOPHY?
Angela Davis
Political Activist and Theorist
Peter Thiel
Cofounder, PayPal
Ethan Coen
Filmmaker
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil Rights Leader
Bruce Lee
Martial Artist, Actor
Iris Murdoch
Novelist
Susan Sarandon
Actor
Susan Sontag
Author and Political Activist
Carly Fiorina
CEO, Hewlett Packard
Arian Foster
Profesional Athlete
Philip Glass
Composer
Stephen Colbert
Comedian

9. Three ways to become part of the Philosophy Department
Major in Philosophy
Minor in Philosophy
Minor in Ethics