I apologize in advance if this question breaks subreddit rules or should be on another subreddit.
Ever since I was little, I loved History. I always wanted to do something in the field. However, in my final years of High school, I am realizing that this may not be a viable career option for me. I do not wish to offend anyone, even though I am as I'm basically saying "I don't wanna be like you guys". I feel that majoring in History in college would limit what careers I can do in the future. I really want to pursue it, but I need to be realistic, and bills don't pay themselves.
Any advice? And yes, I know this isn't a question on a topic about History. Sorry.
I feel that majoring in History in college would limit what careers I can do in the future.
Not really -- if anything, it's kind of the opposite. A history degree is a step torward a wide range of potential careers, but not one that will lock you into a specific path. I have students that go to law school, join tech startups, go into civil service, etc. The same is generally true of most of the humanities and social sciences, and even the physical sciences to a large degree at the Bachelor's level. It's really only a select few fields (e.g. nursing or accounting) where a particular degree is strongly tied to a specific career path at this level.
But having said that, if you have a specific career in mind, you should certainly gear your education around that career. Some professions (e.g. medicine) are very difficult to break into if you aren't planning for them early.
B. S. In history here. Also not sure if it violates rules for me to answer the question but i can say from experience that a bachelors in history will not be sufficient to get a career in history. However, a bachelor’s and a teaching certificate will do. In Florida, any bachelor’s and a (multi-part) standardized test qualifies you to teach history at the middle or high school level. I imagine other states are similar but you should probably check. Before deciding what you want to study in college, you should really decide what job you want to be hired for, find some job postings for it, then work backwards and go to college for the degree listed in the job posting. I hope this is helpful advice, and that the mods count it as acceptable meta discussion.
BA and MA in history here. Again this is outside the normal scope and I do not normally post here merely read. But I have found many skills developed during my degree to be useful: critical thinking, persuasive writing, data analysis, project management, taking constructive criticism and the ability to research, build a narrative and present information as all useful skills that have helped me in my various non-history careers. There is an unfortunate stigma about the humanities as "useless" or "easy" when it just requires a different skillset and understanding of the evolving nature of the field. A BA means you finished college, picked up some skills and can hopefully complete tasks. You are ready for pretty much most office work and most other jobs that are not specifically technical and even then they will train you.