
After 10 years, those with a Philosophy degree out-earn those with degrees in IT, Business etc. - nickb
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html
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petercooper
Higher than IT, but not higher than MIS or Computer Science. "IT" can mean a
lot of things - much of the pure IT sector covers everything from being
someone who plugs in the cables through to authorizing multi-million dollar
purchases of equipment - not necessarily development or engineering.

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viggity
(from History of the World, Part I)

Bea Arthur: Occupation?

Mel Brooks: Stand-up philosopher.

Bea Arthur: What?

Mel Brooks: Stand-up philosopher. I coalesce the vapors of human experience
into a viable and meaningful comprehension.

Bea Arthur: Oh, a _bullshit_ artist!

Mel Brooks: _Grumble_...

Bea Arthur: Did you bullshit last week?

Mel Brooks: No.

Bea Arthur: Did you _try_ to bullshit last week?

Mel Brooks: Yes!

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tokenadult
By these data, "information technology" must mean computer-industry
technologist (non-college-graduate) skills dressed up as a college degree
program, because the computer scientists and the computer engineers surveyed
here still comfortably outearn the philosophy majors.

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rms
Out of those philosophy majors that get jobs... Clearly there is another
variable influencing the results here, probably a higher tendency for
philosophy majors to get graduate degrees.

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mwbrooks
Philosophy is a degree that is often taken by people going into Law. So my
guess is that a lot of the Philosophy income is from lawyers.

International Relations (noted in the article) also sounds like a degree that
would be popular for pre-law.

My guess.

~~~
Zev
FWIW, I'm currently double majoring in Computer Science and International
Relations. As far as i can tell, a majority of the students who plan on going
into law stick with Political Science as their major instead of going IR.

Skimming the required courses for the prelaw program my college offers, the
requirements for that are much more aligned with what's needed for a polsci
degree then an IR degree. Theres only two classes from prelaw that overlaps
with the IR requirements and one of em's not even being offered anymore. Also,
the polsci half of the department offers scholarships aimed at prelaw students
specifically. (Technically Political Science and International Relations are
the same department here, though they have pretty different requirements and
different people in charge of the programs)

To generalize the courses, polsci is more "American political science meets
history meets business with a dash of criminal justice" while IR is more
"Global political science meets history with dash of anthro".

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ekpyrotic
"After 10 years, those with a Philosophy degree out-earn those with degrees in
IT, Business etc."

What are you implying? I'm a student of philosophy, and I don't take kindly to
the insinuation that philosophers aren't worth the money they get paid.

A philosophy degree is one of the hardest out there.

~~~
jodrellblank
No it isn't - you just define "out there" as being imaginary!

;)

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bvttf
Notice that Math shows a higher starting salary, and as much of a percent
increase as philosophy.

~~~
justindz
I like the idea of learning to live within modest starting means and then
getting a significant increase over time to build a luxurious retirement. Math
and Philosophy would fit well with this approach, getting more relatively
significant increases after a modest start.

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vlad
I think there are only 10 philosophy grads per year, and the Paul Graham data
point heavily skewed the mean salary. :)

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giardini
Other factors?

E.g., philosophy majors are usually native English speaking whereas IT/science
are not. This may be advantageous in the long run.

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mkanemoto
Um. If you actually look at the numbers they still earn less than computer
engineering and computer science. Their overall percentage of change is higher
but earn net less across the board for the 4 year college compatible technical
degrees. I think IT here means ITT Tech, etc?

I wish they compared years of education in each space - Masters or Doctorate
to each other...

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RK
Now I know why everyone claimed they were a chemical engineering major my
first semester of college. Most of those people ended up switching, but those
that stayed had the reputation of being the most pre-med-like of the
engineering world.

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DaniFong
There was another study where I read that the one degree that correlated best
with success in business was philosophy. Additionally, for what it's worth,
philosophers have among the highest GRE scores.

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time_management
No surprise. In the US, smart people tend to major in academic subjects rather
than "get-a-job" majors, which the best colleges don't even offer (although
economics at top colleges can perform that function _de facto_ , much to the
chagrin of professors and serious students within the field).

