I was thinking about going to college to get a history degree. I was wondering if it is worth pursuing.
I've got a history degree and a history masters (in medieval history no less) and I have to say it didn't, in my view, adversely affect my job hunt. After I graduated with my MA (I went direct from undergrad) I had only part-time experience in a minimum wage customer service role. Those were the jobs I had for about 6 months after graduation, working in fast food and in bars. After six months I managed to get a short term (6 month) contract in business development and a job offer on a fast-track programme in higher-education policy and admin (with a start date in 6 months time). After six months, I had my HE job offer, my business dev boss wanted me to stay on permanently and I had a full scholarship offer for a PhD. I chose the low-paid PhD.
Most of my peers' experiences are similar: crappy/low-paid jobs for a few months, followed by temporary contracts which eventually lead to permanent jobs. The industries are varied, but teaching, publishing, archives & libraries, government jobs, journalism, law, marketing and consulting are all things friends and acquaintances of mine have done. All of this evidence is anecdotal of course, but bear in mind that this was a few years ago and in the EU/UK, so the economic circumstances were by and large worse than the present day US.
I think part of the problem with history grads is that they've by and large drank the kool-aid which informs the 'you can't get a job with a history degree' narrative, so they simply give up easier or aim lower. However, the narrative is false. A recruiter for one big consultancy firm told me at a job fair that although they specified they were looking for "Economics, business and related" degrees im their ads, more than 25% of their new hires each year did not have degrees in that field, and strongly encouraged me to applt. History grads get jobs, and good jobs, all the time. Will you get signed up straight out of college like a nurse or an engineer? No. Will you earn £50k+ off the bat like an finance or actuarial grad? No. Is it tough to get a job? Hell yes. But in this economy, it's always tough and you'll need connections, luck and talent to get a good job no matter what your degree.
Of course though, this is all anecdotal. YMMV.
As a 2016 History grad... Don't. Just... Don't. Minor in history. Take history as an elective. Unless you feel up to grad school, or even law school, it's one of the degrees you can't really do much with. I'm pairing mine with a second language degree and an education degree. History is great. I love it. However the degree alone has qualified me to be a secretary, and I could have done that with a high school diploma.
I'm pretty sure most regular contributors here do. I majored in History and Math, though I'm not a contributor. One of my absent-minded professors forgot to submit his letter of recommendation for my Fulbright Scholarship application (I heard ecological history was pretty hot at the time about 10 years ago and wanted to look for any connections between ecological concerns and churches in Norway, if anyone cares) and I went into teaching Math. Still got that degree, though.
Over at /r/asksocialscience we put together a little FAQ about the careers you can do with various social science majors, including history.
What I strongly recommend looking at, more than anything else, is the link at the top, sociologist Neal Caren's "Major Pipeline" which use American Community Survey data (this is a major survey run by the US Census in years when there's not a decennial Census) to connect up data on college majors with Bureau of Labor statistic employment categories. Only the top five employment categories are included per major. What you see is that some majors offer clear pipelines (guess what, accounting majors become accountants or auditors) and some majors offer very unclear pipelines, or offer a wide range of options. It's also worth noting that this data is not for recent graduates, but for a representative sample of the US population (I think over 18, but possibly over 25, I forget now--the subsample used in this analysis obviously includes college graduates only). This means that the 60 year old account who got promoted into management several decades ago is included, as is the kid who graduated last year.
Think of what kind of school you get into, too, makes a huge difference. A shocking percentage of Yale history majors, for instance, go into management consulting at places like BCG or McKinsey (see this story as an example). Very few history majors from University of Wisconsin at Whitewater probably get that opportunity (though it's still likely a possible career for particularly talented students).
You can explore the data but I'll save you time for your most basic question: the top five employment categories for history majors are, roughly in order, lawyers, elementary and middle school teachers, managers (all others), office and administrative support (other), art design and entertainment (other). Which is to say, there's a clear path to teaching and to the law, but a lot of other paths outside that. One of my friends was a religious studies major, but is now a sys admin at a small hedge fund. Another was a sociology major and works on the digital end of NYT. Which is to say, some of those paths require a degree and skills, with the degree in almost any field demonstrating some skills and then other more specialized skills picked up outside your field going to get some more specialized jobs.
This may be a little long, but bear with me.
I went to Auburn from '07-'12 and majored in history the whole time I was there, the only change being that I changed from being a social studies education major to a liberal arts history major after the Fall of '08. This didn't effect me too much because early on I was getting most of my electives and general education courses out of the way. I switched from education because I felt like the College of Education was too focused on educational theory and classroom management instead of the actual history I was to be teaching. When I got to the College of Liberal arts I focused, for the most part, on latin-american history, and found some truly brilliant professors in the department of history that I learned an incredible amount from, and am thankful for to this day. The only beef I had with the department was that there was literally zero guidance on post graduate studies or career opportunities. Luckily, I knew early on that teaching and research weren't for me, and I sought out non-profit internships. I currently work for a non-profit doing development (fundraising) and I absolutely love it, even if the money is booty. A lot of the skills I honed in undergrad are now my most valuable tools, chiefly writing, research, and communication skills. A professor once told me that liberal arts majors, and especially history majors, may not learn a work force ready skill, but we "learn to learn." I have found this to be so incredibly true, and it's also a great line to use in an interview.
Hi, not to distract from other answers here, but you may be interested in this series of posts discussing the realities of grad school
I have a history degree and a masters in library and information studies. I'm a librarian in a heritage research library.
Currently an undergrad with concentrations in Public History and American History, and a minor in English.
Currently working as a Park Ranger while I finish school. The entry level pay isn't great for a family of 4, and neither is the permanence, but by far it is the most rewarding work I've ever done. Because I qualify for special hiring authorities, as a veteran, I'll have no issues transitioning to a career position.
More still, my research aligns with my park's themes. I'm getting paid to conduct research, and the NPS has even covered the cost of copying archive materials necessary for that research. This has allowed me to break into an area that hasn't had original research done in decades.
I graduated from college with a History Degree and went into the Army. I can honestly say I use what I've learned every single day and wouldn't trade it for anything. Upper level undergraduate History classes really teach you how to think and how to conduct your own research, not just random facts from a bygone age. It was also a lot of fun too, because you get to pick what you research.
Out of all the students in my old department, most with a history degree went to Law School, started teaching, or joined the military. Good luck!
You may want to read this recent thread asking, "Historians of reddit! What career(s) did you acquire with your degree?"
Further, citing my prior posts:
What do you want to be in five years?
What do you want to be in ten years?
Do you have what it takes to be what you want to be in five, ten years, given the realities of the world around you?
Don't mistake possibilities for opportunities.
But first things first. If you haven't yet, you should read through a recent Monday Methods on "So you want to go to grad school for history and the discussion therein.
Second, check out the American Historical Association's job listings. Their essay on what can you do with an ungrad degree in history tries to paint a positive image around the reality: that with an undergrad degree in history, you probably won't be working as a historian.
Third, read through older similar questions, use the search box with a search phrase or another.
I have a BA in history and am currently in a PhD track program. I think getting a history degree can open up a ton of options either in History, Museums, archives, law offices, etc. You just need to decide what you eventually want to do with it.
Still doing my history degree so don't really count but I've got a bursary at a law firm and probably going to move into the industry after a conversion year. Ngl though the bursary work isn't great and I've been floating the idea of going into academia because I truly love history.
I started with a major in Psychology and a minor in History, ended up graduating with double major in both. I'm currently working in a Fortunte 500 company, but about to take up an English teaching position in Vietnam. I haven't really applied either of my degrees to work, but a lot of places are just looking to see if you have a college degree, doesn't matter the type. I majored in History because I love it, no regrets here.
Disclaimer: Lurker, not contributor.
I have a BA in History, but don't work in the field. My current job just wanted a Bachelor's of some kind. But that's actually exactly what I expected when I went into it. I just majored in history because I love it, and don't plan to do anything more with it (mostly due to issues with the college system, but I won't post that rant here).
That said, I have a good job, I paid off my student loans in two years, paid off my car shortly after, and recently bought a home, wherein I have room for all the history books I could ever want. A history degree is not the best degree if you want a job, as others here have already given good comments on, but it can work depending on what your goals are.
That said, if I had to do it over again, I would be tempted to get a business degree and just read history on the side. Again, it depends on what you want out of life.
^(And if money was no object at all, I'd become a bat-ologist, but as it is biology was my worst subject.)
I'm studying to get one and I plan on teaching the subject as a professor at universities.