Lonnie Said:

What job can I get with a Liberal Arts degree?

We Answered:

Well, an Associates degree never really leads directly to any specific job. (I guess officially an RN degree is an Associates, so that's an exception) You're best off continuing your education and earning you BA. But, you can get a sales job, and use the skills you picked up to help you (people skills) move up in a company.

Eva Said:

What career opportunities do I have with a LIBERAL ARTS degree?

We Answered:

What can you do with a Major in Liberal Arts?
Career Specializations within liberal arts
Opinions on the availability of jobs available to Liberal Arts students upon graduation vary. Some advisors will tell you that your initial job search will be difficult, but your prospects will grow as you move up the corporate ladder and closer to those professionals who hold degrees and therefore understand the true value of a liberal arts degree. The other opinion is that upon graduation you will find more opportunities open to you because you have a broader base of knowledge and vital communication skills than a candidate who has specialized in only one discipline. As with any career pursuit, the answer lies in your own preparation, previous experience, and perseverance.

Your career choices can include teaching, communications, media, advertising, marketing, public service or law, and all within business, government, non profit, science, social science, music, or language sectors. It can be as diverse as labor relations specialist, women's rights advocate, or planned donations officer at a museum.

Beyond entry level positions at an associate or bachelor level, many higher level professionals start their careers in seemingly unrelated, but in actually quite valuable, liberal arts degree programs. A future lawyer can begin his or her education with the English, public speaking, government, philosophy, history, economics and computer courses available with a liberal arts curriculum.

Providing a list of the courses you took to obtain your degree may be beneficial when you prepare your first resume because it will show the interviewer that you have the background in areas beneficial to your desired career. A human resources specialist in employee relations can take courses in psychology, sociology, political science, economics or statistics, and organizational behavior that would put him or her ahead of candidates with a strictly business background.

Look beyond the obvious choices for careers when choosing a liberal arts degree specialization. For example, a modern languages degree can lead directly into translation and interpreting jobs, but can also apply to international concerns such as foreign services, immigration, non profit or international aid agencies, or even local in groups who deal with ethnic communities such as neighborhood medical services. Developing the skills to work in different languages can also lead to careers in areas as diverse as computer programming and ciphering work with intelligence agencies.

Vernon Said:

Is a liberal arts degree even worth the effort?

We Answered:

HORATIO: Is it a custom?

HAMLET: Ay, marry, is't:
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.

Georgia Said:

Is a liberal arts degree in philosophy useless?

We Answered:

Even a 4 year degree in philosophy is useless these days. As associates in philosophy means zip. all it is good for is transferring into a 4 year program to get a bachelors.

Before the early 20th Century, a college degree was not meant to train a person for a job. A college education was for personal enrichment. To turn you into an educated person with skills in critical thinking to allow you to take up a career in public administration, the clergy or business where you would learn on the job.

There was no intention for a degree to train you for a specific career.

However since the 1940’s the expectation of the public about a college or university degree has changed and a college or university education is now expected to lead you to a career.

Unfortunately the college and university system has not changed with the times.

A degree in Anthropology, Archeology, Art, Art History Creative Writing, Film, General Studies, History, Humanities, Language & Culture, Liberal Arts, Liberal Studies, Literature, Political Science, most any language including English, Media, Music History, Paleontology, Photography, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Sociology is considered a "personal enrichment" degree. Journalism is heading this way too. Also pretty well anything called “Something Studies”. That is, these degrees are degrees that are meant to enrich you personally in the classical sense of a university education without leading to any specific job.

Psychology requires a PhD in order to do well.

These degrees sometimes result in a position in academia if you go on to get a PhD though there is an oversupply of PhDs for all the academic jobs that come up in these fields.

However, in today's world where people go to university to enable themselves to get a job and hopefully a career a bachelor's in these fields is essentially useless. With a degree in these fields and a GPA generally over 3.0 you can:

1. Get into law school. However law schools today graduate far more lawyers than there is business for lawyers.

2. Get into graduate school in a different field. Hopefully one without too many prerequisites you do not have. Consider getting a masters in Technology Management. You can make a similar salary to an engineer but you need essentially no sciences prerequisites.

3. Get into graduate school in the same field and eventually into a PhD so you can become a college professor in this field someday. However, there are far more PhD grads in some fields like Philosophy than there ever will be professorships or any kind of teaching programs.


4. Take a teaching qualification, which is usually 2 more years, so you can teach the subject at a public K-12 school.

5. Look for a job in a field where they want you to have a degree without any concern what it is. Where they only want the degree because they want educated people who have proven they can stick with something difficult and see it to completion. Like the insurance industry.

6. If you join the military you are more likely to enter as an officer instead of enlisted personnel.

Do note that if you do go for a more advanced degree, no one cares where you got your bachelor’s degree. Only the school where you got your most advanced degree counts. And that counts for a lot less than the name schools would have you believe.

If your GPA is over 3.0, don’t take a second undergrad degree if you already have one of these degrees. A graduate degree will be more valuable to you.

So, what exactly IS an English major supposed to do after college?

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prair…


Here is a listing of the average starting and mid-career salaries for most 4 year majors. The issue here is that these only apply to people who actually got a job in their field. Little problem for BSc holders but things are not as rosy for BA holders. Many graduates in the lower half on the list never get a job in their field and are not counted.

colleges/degrees.asp" rel="nofollow">http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/de…

The ones with the highest salaries are the ones in the most demand by employers. And the higher they pay, the harder they are. And generally the more math they require. And remember this survey only covers the students who got a job in their field of study. The lower paid the job on this list, the few the number of graduates in a particular major got a job in their field.

http://education.yahoo.net/articles/six_…

The Highest Starting Salaries of 2010
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles…

Look here to find the job prospects for most all occupations in the USA.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm

Susan Said:

Are there any cons to a liberal arts and science degree?

We Answered:

A degree in the liberal arts is a general degree without any specialization. An associates in the liberal arts is pretty much the most worthless degree you could get and still have a degree - it doesn't qualify you for any jobs that any other major wouldn't, and any other major would at least help a bit.

Diana Said:

What kind of a job can I get with a Bachelor of Art in Liberal Arts degree?

We Answered:

Bartender? Seriously, all my friends that got liberal arts degrees work in resturants. You could probably go the civil service route. Police, fire, library worker, clerk, theres about a million jobs in the public sector that you'd qualify for...and it may be a better option for you.

Gwendolyn Said:

How high can you go in math with a liberal arts degree?

We Answered:

Sounds like you want something more like a degree in General Studies. Or take a minor in some scientific field like Chemistry, which might include some Math and Physics courses. Or just take these classes anyway and use them for your electives. You may not be able to associate these classes to any curricula but they will still show up on your transcript, and you may possibly apply them to a second major, or even another minor. Just depends how much school you want to take (or stomach, if you know what I mean).