I was a history major and am now in a masters program for history. I haven’t had trouble finding work.

What I do isn’t directly related to my degree, but I did get it largely because of my degree. I was hired to work with old gas records for a local utility company. After a year I got promoted to project lead. A history degree qualifies you for a lot of jobs in business especially. You learn research skills, communication, and writing. If you leverage that you can get work.

My plan is to become a teacher after grad school and possibly eventually teach at the college level.

I’ll be honest though, getting a position as a professor is really hard. Teaching at a high school is more likely, but won’t pay as well. You shouldn’t go into history for the money, but there’s no reason you can’t make a living with a history degree if you want to.

I wish I had continued, but did my undergraduate degree in history. Became a lawyer. Regret my choices.

I'm not American so did not get completely fleeced for my education.

History is a great choice, IMO, for an undergraduate degree. You learn to write persuasively and think about the way our shared stories about the past influence our future. You are taught to question sources and their potential biases.

I'm graduating in a couple days with an honours in history and am going to graduate school in the fall for a masters. I wouldn't say this is the correct choice for everyone. If I hadn't gotten funding at a good school I probably wouldn't have pursued it past the undergraduate level. Don't waste money on loans for graduate school. If the graduate school thinks you're good enough, they'll give you free tuition and a 20-30k stipend each year. I've not regretted majoring in history as it's what I like best and I don't feel any other humanities have an advantage over it in terms of employment. Of course, everyone is right to worry about getting that dream job in academia as a tenure-track professor. Lots of people grind it out as poorly paid adjuncts for years until they land somewhere or give up. However, I wouldn't think getting employment outside of academia would be a problem. After graduate school, a history student ought to have fluency in at least a couple languages other than their native as well as excellent writing and research skills, etc. You may not be writing history articles or books, but you won't be pushing a broom either.

I got my BA in History, no regrets. GI Bill paid for it and it doesn’t matter what my degree is in for my job. I knew I would never use my degree so I was free to choose a subject that I was interested in.

I, like many of my fellow American humanities majors, majored in history and became a lawyer. I don’t regret it - I love history and knew that I wasn’t cut out for academia and didn’t really know what else to do.

Being a lawyer, on the other hand...

My sister got a history bachelor's with the goal of working at the airforce academy's library/museum. That dream ended when she realized that any job requires at least a masters and another 100k in school loans. She's now a case manager for junkies at a rehab.

I’m doing my Masters in History and have found it worth it.

But I am also in the military (Air Force) and in an assignment that will use it. I think in 4-5 years I have a really good shot at getting “Regional Affairs Strategist” to give you some clue on what I am aiming for.

I got my undergrad and was able to immediately join into a special 1.5 year ROTC program while working on my Masters and doing Catch-up classes for the AF.

I have commissioned from that program and still working on my Masters while I wait for my active duty date.

In a way, I can say joining the military has sort of enabled me to pursue what I love to study without worrying about regretting it in any way in the future. I could have worked on my masters without the military, but I am certain my career path would be a hell of a lot more work to get the career I would want from it and be filled with odd jobs that wouldn’t interest me.

And had I just stuck to my undergrad I would just be bored out of my mind at an entry level corporate job since most of my jobs were in IT before and that is what sticks out on a resume rather than history.

So the military might be something worth considering if you want to do something atypical with an education in History. PM me if you are curious on some routes you could take.

BA in History, now a lawyer. It was a good fit for me. I'd add that an undergrad history experience is good prep for law school. You're already arguing a point of view and backing it up and subjecting it to critique.

I like the kind of law I practice, but I do sometimes wish I'd gone on in history to a professorship. But the horror stories of academia were enough to convince me I should be my own boss. If you could be your own boss as a historian, I guess that would be the dream.