Does anyone know the earning potential of a Philosophy graduate?

cazziebo

Degrees don't get you jobs or salaries - graduates are 10 a penny these days. What a degree will give you is the ability to think creatively and in a disciplined manner - that's what will get you the jobs. Philosophy and Law are good degrees - and law graduates are in demand in business as well as other sectors. Philosophy not so much.

I'm a philosophy grad and have earned six figure salaries in the past...I went into IT in the mid 80s and from that into sales and management. Just started my own business and not quite up to that yet.

hawk30

I know it's too late since you haven't applied, but doing a law degree doesn't mean you have to work in law. It's a degree that many employers like. How do you know you will even like law or be good at it if you don't try it?

rageagainstessays

hawk30 wrote: »

How do you know you will even like law or be good at it if you don't try it?

I know that you can do other things with a law degree. For example I know of someone who is a sales manager with coca-cola who has a law degree. But at the same time, I like Philosophy (particularly ethics (applied)) and I've decided to go down that route. I do have legal work experience which I liked. I did it with an LA's in-house legal team for like 3 months.

prowla

It is partly true that the purpose of a degree is to encourage you to think, but it also makes some sense to use those 3 years of your life on subject matter that you may find useful rather going in with the intention of just discarding it.

I suppose if you did the degree and couldn't get a job after, you could always be philosophical about it...

TrickyDicky101

Madjock wrote: »

What about taking a year out before going to uni and getting a job at McDonalds, or failing that, at a solicitors office? You may find you hate the law and change your mind altogether about your passions. Which you probably will do anyway by the time you graduate.

^^^ This is superb advice. Frankly any kind of job for 1 year or maybe 2 would be good - it gives you much better perspective of the world of work than you will have assuming you have been in full time education up to now.

EDIT: This is from my own experience - I wish I had entered work after my A levels (which were over 20 years ago) rather than going straight to University. It would have allowed me to properly consider what I wanted to do and make an informed choice. I ended up doing something I didn't really enjoy (because it seemed like a natural progression from my A Levels) and this then resulted in me choosing a career (totally different from my degree) that I also didn't like. It took me 15 years from when I graduated before I started actually enjoying my work. I think had I worked for a couple of years before the degree I would have been better able to choose something appropriate for what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

Cycrow

you should really think about a job you will enjoy doing, rather than focusing on how much you can make from it.

Id much rather take a pay cut and do a job i enjoy than stick it out at something i hated

antrobus

samc1234 wrote: »

.... but I am generally interested in what the earning potential of philosophy graduates generally is, incase the whole law thing doesn't work out.

Does anyone know?

Yes.

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/careers/what-do-graduates-do/what-do-graduates-earn/

Voyager2002

Some comments:

If you want to be a lawyer but not do a Law degree now, that is fine. Be aware that this choice would mean a one-year conversion course later (to put you in the same position as a Law graduate): this course is expensive and no funding is available for it. So you might need to take any kind of job after graduation and study part-time.

Some legal practices (particularly the 'city solicitors') actually favour candidates whose first degree was not in Law. If you are very lucky, very bright and very hard-working you might even attract sponsorship from such a firm for your post-graduate legal training. So your chosen route might work out very well for you, but it might not!

Obviously, there is no such thing as "jobs for Philosophy graduates". You would be applying for jobs for graduates in any discipline, most of which are training schemes. Some of this lead to extremely well-paid positions, but you would be competing with many others on the basis of your skills in thinking and general life experience -- knowledge of ethics, epistemology and so forth are not exactly required by the commercial world!

rageagainstessays

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Obviously, there is no such thing as "jobs for Philosophy graduates". You would be applying for jobs for graduates in any discipline, most of which are training schemes. Some of this lead to extremely well-paid positions, but you would be competing with many others on the basis of your skills in thinking and general life experience -- knowledge of ethics, epistemology and so forth are not exactly required by the commercial world!

Although I agree that the skills aren't directly transferable, by the same logic one could ask you explain when an economics graduate is asked to utilise matrix algebra in their working life? They're not- its the analytical ability that the employers want. Which, fortunately Philosophers have in bags.

poet123

The legal profession is going through huge changes at the moment. Firms who have trainees are telling them bluntly there will not be a job when training finishes.

The new fee structure means that firms are not really in need of fully qualified staff as they obviously have to pay them at a higher rate, they need those who can do the job but who do not have to be paid for their qualifications. Funding for the LPC from firms is largely a thing of the past unless you are extremely lucky. So that is a cost in the region of £12,000 that will need to be factored in. It is certainly not the best time to be taking up a career in law so if that is your aim you need to put yourself ahead of the pack with the way you approach it.

If, for example, you wanted to do Medical Ethics then using Philosophy as as launch pad may not be a bad way to start. One of my relatives is a top ME barrister and he didn't go into it via a traditional route. If you are a forward thinker you can turn any degree into a positive at interview.