The great secret<\/strong> in universities and the national press is that the Humanities<\/strong> train students in exactly what employers are looking for<\/strong>: reading comprehension, proficiency in writing in English, and foreign language acquisition.<\/p>\n This from a 2018 survey of 431 employers from across America (2018 American Academy of Arts and Sciences \u201cThe State of the Humanities 2018: Graduates in the Workforce and Beyond<\/a>.\u201d Also the Oxford Global Talent report<\/a>).<\/p>\n What better place than to hone these skills than in the Department of Classical Studies<\/strong>? The skills that you learn in our courses are the very ones that companies, government, law school, even medical schools desire.<\/p>\n Some recent alums<\/strong> are: software developer; private equity investment officer; pharmaceutical statistician; nurse; editor; aerial dancer; sports writer<\/strong>; staff member at Sotheby\u2019s<\/strong> auction house; medical device engineer; dentist; physician; TV writer<\/strong> for CSI New York<\/em>; Marine Corps aviator;<\/strong> National Parks Service worker; first female commander of a US Navy warship<\/strong>; founder<\/strong> of an innovative clinic for eating disorders and metabolic medicine. You get the picture. The range is almost limitless.<\/p>\n Only a few majors make a career out of Classics, whether that is to teach Latin in high school or to pursue the PhD to seek university employment \u2013 some do go on, of course, and they do well.<\/p>\n If you still have hesitations about majoring in the Humanities, Aaron Hanlon, Eric Hayot, and Anna Kornbluh created a project called\u00a0Humanities Work<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>that dispels common myths about majoring in the Humanities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fact:<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n Graduates with humanities majors earn comparable median salaries ($53,000 for English majors, for example) to those majoring in biology ($56,000), environmental science ($57,000), and psychology ($49,000). By age 40, liberal arts degree holders actually surpass STEM degree holders in average annual salary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Source: http:\/\/humanitiesworks.org\/comparable-salary\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n A World Economic Forum survey of top executives from nine leading industries listed critical thinking, writing, emotional intelligence, or cognitive flexibility, and other humanistic skills as the top skills they are looking for in employees. And a Forbes magazine article writes that \u201ctoday\u2019s tech wave will inspire a new style of work in which tech takes care of routine tasks so that people can concentrate on what mortals do best: generating creative ideas and actions in a data-rich world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Source: http:\/\/humanitiesworks.org\/humanistic-skills\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n Fact:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n When it comes to getting a job, humanities majors experience rates of unemployment (3.6% for History, 3.7% for languages and literatures) similar to those of business majors (3.7%), physics majors (3.4%), or criminal justice majors (3.8%).<\/p>\n But the truth is you shouldn\u2019t worry about getting a job with any of these majors. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the government organization that compiles this data, none of these rates are significantly different from the average for all fields of study. This means that while people tend to have strong opinions about some majors setting you up for stability and prosperity and others setting you up for a lifetime of financial insecurity, the fact is that the differences in unemployment rate are negligible.<\/p>\n\n
Still worried?<\/h3>\n
Myth: Humanities majors make less money<\/h3>
Myth: Humanities majors don't learn 'real world' skills that employers are looking for<\/h3>
Myth: Humanities majors have a harder time getting a job<\/h3>