Hi! I'm a high school student in my last year (Canada) with some questions about potential career pathways in history, and what I can do to get there.
I have always found myself incredibly frustrated with the way history is approached in high school and in the popular mind, and I am thoroughly unsatisfied with the chain-of-events way that we popularly engage with history. I worry that we are not engaging with our past in a way which allows us to understand how our cultural narratives both then and now influence our perception and use of history, and I want to do something about it. I want us, as a population, to develop the tools to think critically and analyse the past through a variety of approaches, from gender to geography, rather than seeing history as a laundry list of dead people, stereotypes, and military battles.
In short, I am interested in delving deeper into history and hopefully using my future expertise to engage with regular people (I also kind of have a nerdy hard-on for society in Ancient Rome). Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how to go about it.
One of the more obvious pathways people talk about is moving into research and Professordom. While I am GREATLY interested in this pathway, I have heard again and again that the academic job market is pitiful and fiercely competitive. What is the experience, from graduation to landing the job, actually like? What can I do to get a leg up in this competitive atmosphere? How can I best access research/publishing opportunities as early as possible?
And how proficient do most grad programs want you to be in the languages relevant to your study? I know I'll likely have to squeeze in a ton of language classes during undergrad.
Another possibility I am thinking about is simply becoming a high school teacher. Teachers in my province are paid well (although the market is also quite competitive), and I was hoping that teaching history to adolescents could help provide these kids a solid, critical foundation for their future pursuits, whether in academia or something as simple as voting or buying the groceries. I guess I could also use my spare summers to go the popular publishing route and write some books or something.
Unfortunately, beyond those two options, I'm not sure what else is out there for me. What am I missing?
Thank you so, so much.
First of all: I think it's amazing that you want to dig deeper in history. I share your passion for the subject and can tell you that it'll get even better when you're actually studying it.
Second: the academical world is HUGELY competitive. I'm from the Netherlands and here it is fighting for academic positions. If you are serious about it, it'll be hard and difficult to get a position that is related to our field of study. As long as you perform well during classes and do as you're expected to (don't think you're going to write academically mind-boggling articles at first and don't expect to outsmart your teachers) and you will go a long way. Your grades will determine your options when you have to pick your masters degree. That in turn will determine job opportunities.
Third of all: I am a qualified teacher and for some reason history is by far the most popular subject in my country. Too many students not only mean limited job opportunities, but also not enough internships and thus a longer time you'll be spending at uni and thus a higher student debt. It is a wonderful subject to teach and shitloads of fun, since you will decide the tone of your classes. If you can, pick an extra subject and maybe even a third one. Since you want to study history, I presume you don't like exact subjects too much. In that case pick French and German or something, since European history is written mainly in those languages together with Italian and Spanish. Those options will give you the opportunity to live abroad, which is a huge bonus.
Finally: apart from being awesome, history gives you millions of other job opportunities outside of academics and education. Shitloads of European politicians have studied history (Dutch PM is a historian) and journalists often have studied history. History is the broadest study you can pick and get jobs. It'll teach you analytical thought, even though the subject is the least exact of all subjects, since there technically are no facts in history). So just study it and delve deeper. Keep an open mind and work hard. Be critical (also about what I said) and try to be objectivhave fun.
Edit: there is much more I can tell you, but this was what came to mind. So go ahead and ask!
History is a great undergraduate major. History majors tend to do well on the job market. It isn't obviously pre-professional like, say, accounting. But you really can do most anything with an undergraduate history degree. Lots of employers like to hire history majors and it's great prep for law school or other professional schools.
The job market for history PhDs is something different altogether. By the time you finished undergraduate and graduate school, there might not be any job market at all.
So you should major in history, but you probably shouldn't do a PhD.
In college right now for history, shit is super fun and really cool to learn about. History is Uber competitive though as some of the others have mentioned so you just have to keep on the straight and narrow, get good grades and you'll be fine. But if you don't want to get an education degree, you could just get your Masters and teach at the collegiate level (what I'm planning on doing) that way you can use your specialization and not have to get a second degree
If you want to do high school check the job listings in your province state. High School history is very competitive and you get paid the same as a professor (sometimes more) and you don't have to get a PhD (which could be fun but the average time is 7 years I think). Then those jobs have barely any job security, 10-15 years of no job security after completing your BA/BS. Or you could try doing popular history and start a podcast and see if you can get a following like Mike Duncan.
In short, go for education if that is where you (maybe) want to be. You could always transition into higher education through specializations down the line.
Glad you are interested in pursuing history as a field! As others have stated an undergraduate degree in history can prepare you for a variety of careers, from teaching to consulting to communications and policy analysis. I'm also Canadian, so hopefully I can provide some more specific advice.
Here in Ontario, you can use history as a springboard to teacher's college (your Bachelor of Education, or B. Ed.) in either the primary/intermediate or high school streams. To teach high school history you will need another "teachable" subject, which could be English, Biology, Music, or anything else - usually equivalent to a Minor as part of your undergraduate degree. For primary intermediate I dont think you need two teachable subjects, but it might look better. The teaching market varies from city to city, province to province. In Ottawa the market is very competitive and the ability to teach in French would be a huge asset. If you are willing to live in a smaller town, or to be placed in more remote areas of the province/country, things could get easier.
If you want to open doors to other careers outside of teaching, then I highly recommend finding a a university that offers co-op placements along with their history program. Every school is different, but the best will help place you in 3-4 semesters of paid work in your field (to a greater or lesser extent), a fantastic chance to earn some money during school, gain job experience, and gain contacts. I did History and Political Science at the University of Ortawa and worked for a couple of different government departments. Other friends worked for local consulting companies, law offices, and many different sectors of the government. I'm more familiar with Ontario universities, but can say that uOttawa, Waterloo, and the University of Toronto definitely have good co-op programs. This could get you into a lot of potential fields.
You mentioned you might be interested in using your passion for history to educate the public? Well as it happens "public history" is, in fact, a career! If you're interested in this try finding a local historical site and working or volunteering there. Could be a Parks Canada site, or a local museum. If you study history in your undergraduate degree, look for chances to work presentation skills, archival research, and communications into your degree. If you can, find a co-op job that hones these skills. Furthermore, several schools now offer a Master's in Public History which helps train you for jobs in museums, government, or other similar positions where you are doing research as well as outreach. They may even offer internships to help get a foot in the door. My friend is doing her M.A. in Public History at Carleton and is working at the Library and Archives of Canada. If this is a path you want to pursue (and dont panic, you have lots of time!), then I can vouch for Carleton having a great program.
Doing a PhD and looking for an academic job can definitely be challenging, as well as emotionally draining, but I don't want to put you off the idea! Graduate school is a lot of fun, you'll meet lots of other nerds and get to read and write about more interesting and specific topics than you did as an undergraduate. Grant applications, references, and publications are ever-present, and expect to have to do additional work and research (a post-doc) to have a chance of being employed as a professor. A difficult path, but an interesting and rewarding one if you have the drive and determination to make it work.
I hope that this gives you something to think about! Happy to answer and further questions here - or you can send me a PM. Best of luck :)