Majoring in philosophy: bad idea?

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Currently I'm about $10,000 in debt and am working to pay it off within the next few years, after which I plan on going to community college and then transferring to a university to get a bachelor's degree. I've been considering my options as far as what I want to major in, and it seems that pretty much everything I'm interested in doing is one of those majors that everyone says is useless when it comes to finding employment after college.

This isn't as huge of a factor for me as it may be for some, as the main reason I want to attend college is just for the learning experience and not really to make a ton of money. Preferably I'd be able to do both, but while I find science and math interesting to an extent and have always been very good at them, I just can't see myself having the motivation to do the work required if money is the only reason I'm doing it.

I'm interested in music (singing has been my main interest for a long time), and more recently I've thought about majoring in philosophy. If I didn't have to go into tons of debt to do it, it wouldn't really be as much of a question for me, but unfortunately that is not the case. It's possible that I could double major with philosophy and something else since the number of required classes is not many, but I'd still be in the same situation of not knowing what would get me a decent job and be a realistic choice for me.

I'm not really sure what I'm asking here, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know I have a while to decide, but I figure the sooner I figure out what I want to do, the sooner I can plan and take steps to doing it.

I personally wouldn't pay for a philosophy degree, doesn't mean it isn't worth learning or that it is impossible to find a job with it altho you might struggle to actually use it. I've been told that any college degree is better than none and a lot of jobs just require a degree regardless of what it is in.

Philosophy is a very fine subject, but you should not borrow money or go into debt to study it. It can be a good major for a career in law, for example, but if you have to borrow money to go into the program, don't do it. If you can get by with part time jobs or grants (scholarships), then go ahead, but not loans.

Philosophy makes for a great minor subject as an adjunct to a major degree in Engineering, Law, Maths, and Science.

But if the person is seeking a career in Philosophy, he'd be better off working on his skills as a stand-up comic.

I'm not seeking a career in philosophy. Something I'm wondering is what I could double major with philosophy. Preferably something that would be more marketable to employers than philosophy. I may not even do it, apparently I change my mind a lot. I just want to weigh my options.

You could major in computer science and philosophy.

That's a very good combination. Philosophy and math, and philosophy and physics also go together well.

I found that my internships and my job experiences were far more valuable than anything I learned in the classroom. Also, if I could do it over again, I would've taken more internships, because internships our way easier to obtain than jobs. Also, it sounds like you aren't really sure what you would like to do. Maybe some informational interviews or job shadowing or something like that? I found those things helpful.

I feel like I could be happy in a lot of different careers, as long as I had time and money to pursue my other interests. I've never done job shadowing and I don't know how it works, and I've never heard of informational interviews, but I suppose it is worth looking into.

As far as college though, if it wasn't so expensive, what I want to study wouldn't really be a huge question for me. But I feel forced to study something like computer science or math. I don't have a particular interest in them. I'm not sure I'd enjoy the work.

So I'm in this annoying position where I really want to go to college, but I have to study something I don't want to study because I need the money to pay for the cost of learning it in the first place. To me that feels kind of pointless, and I'd almost rather not go to college at all if I can't study what I'd like to. I'm more interested in studying music or philosophy, but both of those are not great options when it comes to finding jobs.

I want to go simply to learn about things I'm interested in and to improve myself. I'm not interested in making lots of money, or even necessarily finding a job in the exact field I studied.

That's why I like the idea of studying philosophy, because it teaches logic and critical thinking, but there's more to it than just that. It just feels a lot more to me like something I'd be interested in. And music too, because my main interest for a while has been singing, and I am also quite interested in learning more about how to play, write and understand music. Not because I plan on getting famous for it, but just because it's something I really enjoy learning about.

Speech Pathology, in some ways, is closely related to music. It's also a practicable major.

If you have to study something you don't want to in college, then it is better not to go to college and study that on your own.

Or you could take a chance on majoring in philosophy in college, despite there being few jobs in that field.

Or you could go to college without a very fixed idea of what you want to study (like most freshman), and discover there what you want to do.

You may not really enjoy a subject now, but chances are you haven't had real exposure to that subject yet, so you may find that you like it when you study it in college.

Or you may think you like a subject now, but when you study it, you discover it is not what you thought.

So the choice seems to be go to college vs. not go to college.

But if you save money for a few years to go, you must succeed and get the degree.

Perhaps you could take classes in different subjects at a community college to see if there is one that you really enjoy.

People ask for informational interviews in college, or when they are considering new careers. An informational interview is when you find someone who is working, or has worked, in the field you are considering. You asked them lots of questions about their day-to-day activities, what they like, what they don't like, to trying get a preview of what it would be like for you. I just told people I was exploring career options and asked if I could do informational interviews.

Job shadowing is usually done through some kind of career exploration program. Or it could be something like a take your son or daughter to work day. You actually accompany someone at their job for a day. I never got the opportunity to try that, but I know it helps many people.

I can totally relate to wanting to just learn new things, regardless of what job they might bring you. If only college didn't cost so much.


Why do you feel you are stuck with only certain majors you don't like? Also, do you think you might enjoy being a music teacher, a music therapist, or perhaps audio editing or video production?

Because no matter who I talk to they always say I need to take a STEM major, or basically anything that will get a good job after graduation.

I could see myself doing audio and video production, or maybe being a teacher.

If that's the case, maybe you could talk to people in those fields, or whatever other careers you can think of that you might like. Perhaps ask them what the job prospects are, instead of believing all these people who tell you you have to go into a STEM major. That being said, STEM is really in demand.

There is no such thing as a philosophy store.