Studying Philosophy is...

         a great path to Advanced Education

         and well-paid successful careers

         a wide range of fields!

Interest in philosophy has exploded among those seeking a competitive edge in the job market as business leaders have come to realize the value of philosophical skills:

• Philosophy majors are smarter than others - and tend to make more money - I think, therefore I am (rich) from Big Think (2023)
• National Jurist says, "Classics, Philosophy majors do best when it comes to getting into law school" (2022)
• An article in Nature (one of the most prestiguious science journals in the world) explains How Philosophy is Making Me a Better Scientist (2021)
• What You Can do With a Philosophy Degree (2020)
• See why a successful investor donated $75 million to a philosophy department (2018)
• To Be A Good Doctor, Study The Humanities, from Dr. Angira Patel (2018)
• The Washington Post asks What's Next for Philosophy Majors? (2017)
• 5 Reasons Why Philosophy Majors Make Great Entrepeneurs, from entrepeneur.com (2017)
• Mark Cuban explains why he'd major in philosophy on CNBC (2017)
• Forbes (2017) provides A Case for Majoring in Philosophy
• The Chicago Business Journal (2016) explains The Value Of Philosophy To A Business Leader
• In The Wall Street Journal (2016), a successful businessman reflects on his experience to understand why he was Wrong About Liberal Arts Majors
• Forbes (2015) explains why That "Useless" Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest Ticket
• The Harvard Business Review (2015) explains How Philosophy Makes You A Better Business Leader
• Business Insider (2015) profiles 11 Famous Executives Who Majored In Philosophy
• The Washington Post (2015) explains why We Need More STEM Majors With Liberal Arts Training
• Forbes (2014) shows how Humanities Degrees Provide Great Return On Investment

Contrary to stereotype, philosophers do well in earnings, especially by mid-career:

• As 538Politics (2015) notes, Philosophers Don't Get Much Respect, But Their Earnings Don't Suck
• The Wall Street Journal points out that A Philosophy Degree Earns More Than An Accounting Degree

You may have the impression that philosophers have little concern for practical matters. Sometimes this is true. But think about what that means: we do this well in the job market without even trying. Imagine what you could do with a background in philosophy if you actually cared about money.

On the lighter side, you can listen John Cleese's ads for philosophy.

Thinking About an MBA? JD? PhD?

The GMAT is the standardized test used by universities to assess applicants to graduate programs in business. Philosophy majors, overall, do better on the GMAT than business majors. Philosophers outperform majors in finance, management, accounting, marketing, international business, etc.

The LSAT is the standardized test used to assess applicants to law school. Philosophy majors, on average, perform better on the LSAT than any other Liberal Arts major, including those in criminal justice and political science. In fact, according to The National Jurist (2014), a higher percentage of philosophy majors are admitted to law school than any other major. According to the American Bar Association's statement on preparing for law school, "Preparation for legal education should include substantial experience at close reading and critical analysis of complex textural material, for much of what law students and attorneys do involves careful reading and sophisticated comprehension of judicial opinions, statutes, documents, and other written materials. As with the other skills discussed in this Statement, the requisite critical reading abilities may be acquired in a wide range of experiences, including the close reading of complex material in literature, political or economic theory, philosophy or history. The particular nature of the materials examined is not crucial; what is important is that law school not be the first time that a student has been rigorously engaged in the enterprise of carefully reading and understanding, and critically analyzing, complex written material of substantial length." These kinds of skills are the lifeblood of philosophy.

The GRE is the standardized test used by universities to assess applicants to graduate school in most disciplines. Philosophy majors on average do better than virtually all other majors on the verbal reasoning and analytical writing portions of the GRE.

If you're thinking about graduate school, philosophy should be a part of your undergraduate plans.

The foregoing links are from https://history.louisiana.edu/undergraduate-studies/philosophy-minor/what-can-i-do-minor-philosophy

The Educational Testing Service reports that on GRE scores covering the three-year period ending June 30, 2006, Philosophy ranks first (of 50 fields) in both Verbal and Analytical Writing sections, and fourteenth in the Quantitative Reasoning section.

If the 50 fields are ordered according to the average of their three rankings, Philosophy is first. *

The GRE is a common standardized test taken by many students applying to graduate schools.

(See the Educational Testing Service publication, 2007-2008 Guide to the Use of Scores, at http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/994994.pdf, pp. 17-19.)*

Wondering Reason: Our Aims

The philosophy faculty at Mercer shares the priority of teaching our subject well with others in university settings, yet since we teach 100- and 200-level undergraduate courses exclusively, we specialize in these and take up the charge to lay a sound foundation for subsequent work. Many of our students are ‘driving by’ our courses for a general education requirement on the way to degrees and qualifications in vocational activities in the near or immediate term. As such, the course they have with us may be their only chance to engage in an academic study of our topics, so we may ought to have the additional responsibility to leave a mark on, not just their transcript, but also on their lives, before they are graded and move on. The nature of our subject matter seems to summon forth this charge to teach our students how philosophy can inform their lives. Our course offerings therefore aim to ground our students in the introductory levels of philosophy first, then offer a next step that bridges philosophical knowledge and practice to the work of other Mercer programs with courses like Business Ethics and Philosophy of Politics, and other courses in development such as Philosophy of Science, and Bioethics. In order to meet the needs to be more inclusive and to better prepare our students in the increasingly multicultural milieu within which we live, we have recently added Eastern Philosophy, which covers philosophical practices and theories from outside the Western tradition, including Asian, African, pre-Columbian American, etc. We also have students who are on their way to more academic work and thus the preparing them with the formal or informal prerequisites for other, advanced courses and degrees, within and without our disciplines, is plain. Towards this end, the crucial importance of community college courses being readily and easily transferable to other institutions is something about which we are mindful and dedicated. Especially because Mercer is a community college, we also strive to be extending and cultivating an atmosphere where reason and character are conspicuous and ubiquitous beyond our classrooms to our campus and county communities

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Nearby Philosophy Departments

Princeton University

Rider University

Rutgers University - New Brunswick

Rutgers University - Camden

The College of New Jersey

American Philosophical Association - Philosophy Majors

American Philosophical Association - On Philosophy

What you can do with a philosophy major?

A Plea for Philosophy

What is Philosophy?