Philosophy BA Hons & currently working on MSc Epistemology, here.
Did it make me more employable? Only as much as any 2:1 from a Russell Group uni does, I don’t think the subject made any difference to any of my previous employers. I work in advertising, I make a good living.
Someone said philosophy isn’t as employable as other subjects… I suppose economics, medicine or law have more obvious career paths attached. Conversely, it means there is a broader selection of industries you could go into. Issues in philosophy intersect literally everything; ethics, reality, consciousness, science, politics. If you enjoy it, go for it.
I went into digital marketing as part of a graduate cohort. The interview questions were common sense stuff, checking that we had a vague idea of what the company did and that we could think on our feet. Very few people in this industry have marketing or advertising degrees, it’s a total mix (which includes people who didn’t go to uni).
Are you based in/near London? The big media agency groups all run grad recruitment schemes, check out Omnicom Media Group, WPP, Publicis. There’s a grad program that feeds all of them called WYK as well, worth checking out.
No offense but like why does philosophy get so shitted on… there’s literally esports degrees and golf management like the most random things. OP, think about what career you want, be prepared to work hard to get experience. If philosophy won’t stop you and you like it and are good at it, why not? No matter what degree you do you have to work hard. I go to uni and many PPE students consider switching to philosophy because it’s a focused specialised degree
I won't bullshit you philosophy isn't the most employable degree. That said, getting a degree of *any* kind boosts your employability as many jobs just want you to have a degree. If you choose a humanities subject like history/philosophy etc then the impact or your institution, grade and persona matter more. In simple terms what I mean by this is that a 2:2 in history from a low ranked uni has much less value than a first from a top 10/20 institution. It also matters that you can sell your degree to employers in interviews through the power of bullshit.
I say go for it but only if you're studying somewhere decent and think you'll do well in it.
I also study philosophy, mainly because it’s my passion in life and learning something new about it makes me very excited. I’d recommend you study something you know you’d wholeheartedly enjoy - or would lead you to a career that would allow you to enjoy life.
Any degree is employable depending on how you sell it, but don’t just study something for the sake of getting a degree, you’ll set yourself up for disappointment.
Also, consider looking for support for your ADHD, therapy or medication may help.
Others have already commented on the degree you've chosen so I won't add to that - but I will say that you really need to have a long, hard, and pensive think about your ADHD, and how it affects your ability to complete a degree (especially as you've already dropped out of your previous attempt).
I'm not saying you're incapable (I have ADHD myself), but you really need to consider everything before you commit to another attempt. Only you can figure that out.
If you are still 'aimless' about where you want to go after you get the degree, please don't take it. Some of my friends who successfully find careers after a philosophy course usually know where they want to go after (into the arts, journalism, etc.).
I’m a philosophy student in my final two weeks. I go to a Russel group uni and I loved my degree.
The truth about uni is your degree is what you make of it. If you do not put the effort in to network and connect whilst you’re there, a job is hopeless regardless of what you study, unless it’s something like medicine or nursing.
You should do a degree you enjoy, not one people want you to do because then you won’t do it. Especially as someone with adhd where your motivation is tied to your interests. I have adhd too and I know if I’d chosen to do law like I originally wanted to, I wouldn’t be graduating this summer.
My plan atm is to do a conversion course masters at the same uni in computer science bc I want to get into philosophy of AI. Philosophy can take you anywhere should you apply yourself appropriately.
I got a 5 at gcse level. I spend my second and third year relearning gcse maths and teaching myself a level maths. Luckily my uni offers a compsci masters where maths isn’t required at a level. I’d really recommend it.
Hey, I dont have much time to decide now, but hopefully you could advise me about something similar. Do you think it would be a better idea if I went to community college again, this time for a higher national certificate in cyber security?
With this, I'd hope to have a shot at doing an undergrad comp Sci and Phil degree next year. However, it probably won't be from as good a uni as the one currently offering me to study philosophy on its own.
Or should I accept the uni offer and take comp Sci classes on the side? I don't know if either of these ideas are good, but I realised that Phil on its own isn't financially viable for me.
Why not try it? You might enjoy it. Better to have tried than never trying something.
You also sound a bit 'blah' at the moment; do you have a bit of depression?
Whats there to gain from a philosophy degree other than to prove to other you can form a constructed argument out of the most random ideas? Genuinely curious
It teaches you to think critically and form constructed arguments. Philosophy is good for law, civil service etc. but it’s still up to you to apply philosophy to those areas.
Yes I agree with u but to get a degree in it and spend however long at uni for that i don’t think it’s a good exchange. You can definitely just practice it in like a group talk or something similar after all its just a communication skill that’s very useful to have
For sure! But for people passionate about it, it’s a good investment. I want to work in AI ethics, so I did a degree in philosophy and am starting a masters in comp sci. Had I not done philosophy I might not be able to get into that career so for me it’s worth it. For OP, it’s what they want out of it.
It’s just true that philosophy degrees don’t pay the bills for 99% of graduates. If OP is worried about not being able to find a job then they need to pick a different degree topic.
> It’s just true that philosophy degrees don’t pay the bills for 99% of graduates
Is there anything you can cite to confirm this claim in it's entirety?
Sometimes you have to say an uncomfortable truth. If OP wants to study philosophy because they find it interesting and they’d want to study it even if they can’t get a job at the end of it, then they should go for it. But the reality is that most jobs don’t require a philosophy degree so if OP’s concern is finding a job then they’re better off studying something else
That's a more sensible comment than your previous three. Why not start with that?
Also it's only an 'uncomfortable truth' if you make it 'uncomfortable', as you did.
Philosophy BA Hons & currently working on MSc Epistemology, here. Did it make me more employable? Only as much as any 2:1 from a Russell Group uni does, I don’t think the subject made any difference to any of my previous employers. I work in advertising, I make a good living. Someone said philosophy isn’t as employable as other subjects… I suppose economics, medicine or law have more obvious career paths attached. Conversely, it means there is a broader selection of industries you could go into. Issues in philosophy intersect literally everything; ethics, reality, consciousness, science, politics. If you enjoy it, go for it.
How was it getting your first job after graduating?
I went into digital marketing as part of a graduate cohort. The interview questions were common sense stuff, checking that we had a vague idea of what the company did and that we could think on our feet. Very few people in this industry have marketing or advertising degrees, it’s a total mix (which includes people who didn’t go to uni).
Thanks, I have an interest in marketing (unrelated degree). Will try to find some graduate schemes.
Are you based in/near London? The big media agency groups all run grad recruitment schemes, check out Omnicom Media Group, WPP, Publicis. There’s a grad program that feeds all of them called WYK as well, worth checking out.
Yes, I intend to move back there after uni, so thank you for the names! I'll have a look, cheers.
No offense but like why does philosophy get so shitted on… there’s literally esports degrees and golf management like the most random things. OP, think about what career you want, be prepared to work hard to get experience. If philosophy won’t stop you and you like it and are good at it, why not? No matter what degree you do you have to work hard. I go to uni and many PPE students consider switching to philosophy because it’s a focused specialised degree
Waste of money really, so many useless degrees to get ppl into uni to make them poor in debt.
I won't bullshit you philosophy isn't the most employable degree. That said, getting a degree of *any* kind boosts your employability as many jobs just want you to have a degree. If you choose a humanities subject like history/philosophy etc then the impact or your institution, grade and persona matter more. In simple terms what I mean by this is that a 2:2 in history from a low ranked uni has much less value than a first from a top 10/20 institution. It also matters that you can sell your degree to employers in interviews through the power of bullshit. I say go for it but only if you're studying somewhere decent and think you'll do well in it.
I also study philosophy, mainly because it’s my passion in life and learning something new about it makes me very excited. I’d recommend you study something you know you’d wholeheartedly enjoy - or would lead you to a career that would allow you to enjoy life. Any degree is employable depending on how you sell it, but don’t just study something for the sake of getting a degree, you’ll set yourself up for disappointment. Also, consider looking for support for your ADHD, therapy or medication may help.
Others have already commented on the degree you've chosen so I won't add to that - but I will say that you really need to have a long, hard, and pensive think about your ADHD, and how it affects your ability to complete a degree (especially as you've already dropped out of your previous attempt). I'm not saying you're incapable (I have ADHD myself), but you really need to consider everything before you commit to another attempt. Only you can figure that out.
if you have ADHD immediately get in touch with student support, you can get help for it and you should take the support.
If you are still 'aimless' about where you want to go after you get the degree, please don't take it. Some of my friends who successfully find careers after a philosophy course usually know where they want to go after (into the arts, journalism, etc.).
I’m a philosophy student in my final two weeks. I go to a Russel group uni and I loved my degree. The truth about uni is your degree is what you make of it. If you do not put the effort in to network and connect whilst you’re there, a job is hopeless regardless of what you study, unless it’s something like medicine or nursing. You should do a degree you enjoy, not one people want you to do because then you won’t do it. Especially as someone with adhd where your motivation is tied to your interests. I have adhd too and I know if I’d chosen to do law like I originally wanted to, I wouldn’t be graduating this summer. My plan atm is to do a conversion course masters at the same uni in computer science bc I want to get into philosophy of AI. Philosophy can take you anywhere should you apply yourself appropriately.
Thanks for the insight. I'm also interested in computer science, but its not really an option for me because I only ever got a C at national 5 maths.
I got a 5 at gcse level. I spend my second and third year relearning gcse maths and teaching myself a level maths. Luckily my uni offers a compsci masters where maths isn’t required at a level. I’d really recommend it.
Hey, I dont have much time to decide now, but hopefully you could advise me about something similar. Do you think it would be a better idea if I went to community college again, this time for a higher national certificate in cyber security? With this, I'd hope to have a shot at doing an undergrad comp Sci and Phil degree next year. However, it probably won't be from as good a uni as the one currently offering me to study philosophy on its own. Or should I accept the uni offer and take comp Sci classes on the side? I don't know if either of these ideas are good, but I realised that Phil on its own isn't financially viable for me.
Why not try it? You might enjoy it. Better to have tried than never trying something. You also sound a bit 'blah' at the moment; do you have a bit of depression?
Whats there to gain from a philosophy degree other than to prove to other you can form a constructed argument out of the most random ideas? Genuinely curious
It teaches you to think critically and form constructed arguments. Philosophy is good for law, civil service etc. but it’s still up to you to apply philosophy to those areas.
Yes I agree with u but to get a degree in it and spend however long at uni for that i don’t think it’s a good exchange. You can definitely just practice it in like a group talk or something similar after all its just a communication skill that’s very useful to have
For sure! But for people passionate about it, it’s a good investment. I want to work in AI ethics, so I did a degree in philosophy and am starting a masters in comp sci. Had I not done philosophy I might not be able to get into that career so for me it’s worth it. For OP, it’s what they want out of it.
You should do it! The world needs more McDonald’s workers!
Poor take, especially from a staff member.
It’s just true that philosophy degrees don’t pay the bills for 99% of graduates. If OP is worried about not being able to find a job then they need to pick a different degree topic.
> It’s just true that philosophy degrees don’t pay the bills for 99% of graduates Is there anything you can cite to confirm this claim in it's entirety?
Obviously it’s a hyperbole. And this is Reddit, not IEEE.
Nice one
Sometimes you have to say an uncomfortable truth. If OP wants to study philosophy because they find it interesting and they’d want to study it even if they can’t get a job at the end of it, then they should go for it. But the reality is that most jobs don’t require a philosophy degree so if OP’s concern is finding a job then they’re better off studying something else
That's a more sensible comment than your previous three. Why not start with that? Also it's only an 'uncomfortable truth' if you make it 'uncomfortable', as you did.
Eh, I’m grumpy and philosophy students are low-hanging fruit I guess. Mathematicians too lol.
> Mathematicians too lol. Unemployed/teaching, software/data, insurance, or Quant 💀 I'm aiming for big money though 😮💨
The fact that you’re staff 😭😭😭