Students with majors in Philosophy and Religion have among the highest post-college employment rates of any major, including in the sciences. They earn among the highest lifetime salaries. They go on to a variety of careers, including the following:
- Graduate work leading to university teaching and research
- Law (one of the most popular opportunities)
- Management and business
- Medicine
- Ethics advisory boards: business, medicine, law, environmental policy
- Politics
- K-12 education
- Journalism
- Public relations and communications
- Software development and computer programming
- Publishing and editing
- Information science (librarians & archivists)
- Policy analysis and research
- Activism, non-profit Work, and fundraising
- Counseling, social work, or ministry
For more information on the application of philosophy and religion degrees to post-graduate opportunities check out our Why Study Philosophy? and Why Study Religion? pages.
What Skills Do Philosophy and Religion Students Develop?
- Critical thinking, including argumentation, problem solving, and analysis
- Reading and interpreting complex and significant texts
- Exploring significant philosophical and religious ideas and questions
- Writing and communication skills
- Open-mindedness about diverse and global perspectives
- Ethics training and civic-mindedness
- Ability to conduct independent and in-depth research
Will I Be Well Prepared for Graduate School?
Philosophy and Religion majors consistently rank among the highest scorers on graduate school entrance exams:
| Rank | LSAT | GMAT | GRE Verbal | GRE Quant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Math |
Math |
Philosophy |
Physics |
|
2 |
Economics |
Philosophy |
English |
Math |
|
3 |
Philosophy |
Chemistry |
Anthropology |
Engineering |
|
4 |
Engineering |
Economics |
Foreign Lang. |
Chemistry |
|
5 |
Chemistry |
English |
Physics |
Other Science |
|
6 |
Other Humanities |
Computer Science |
Other Humanities |
Economics |
|
7 |
Foreign Lang. |
Foreign Lang. |
Journalism |
Biology |
|
8 |
English |
History |
Political Science |
Philosophy |
Will I Become Famous?
A few famous philosophy and religion graduates, besides academics:
Film and Television
- Wes Anderson (filmmaker – Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, etc.)
- Steve Allen (writer and comedian)
- Woody Allen (filmmaker, writer and comedian)
- George Carlin (comedian and actor)
- Ethan Coen (filmmaker – The Big Lebowski, Fargo, etc.)
- Stephen Colbert (author & host, The Colbert Report)
- Wes Craven (filmmaker – Nightmare on Elm Street)
- Luc Dardenne (filmmaker – The Promise, The Child, Darkness, etc.)
- David Duchovny (actor—The X files, Californication)
- Harrison Ford (actor)
- Ricky Gervais (comedian and actor)
- Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons)
- Jay Leno (host, The Tonight Show)
- Peter Lynch (filmmaker)
- Amy Madigan (actress)
- Terrence Malick (filmmaker – The New World, The Thin Red Line, etc.)
- Steve Martin (comedian & actor)
- Dennis Miller (comedian)
- Bill Murray (comedian, studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris)
- Joan Rivers (comedian)
- Susan Sarandon (actress)
- Wallace Shawn (actor, playwright)
- Gene Siskel (movie reviewer, Siskel & Ebert At The Movies)
- Steve Thomas (host, This Old House)
- Dave Thomas (one of the “Mackenzie Brothers” on SCTV)
- Alex Trebeck (host, Jeopardy)
Journalism
- John Chancellor (journalist, news anchor)
- Ivan Frolov (editor of PRAVDA)
- Mark Hulbert (financial columnist for FORBES magazine)
- Stone Phillips (broadcast journalist)
- Eric Severide (a contemporary of Walter Cronkite)
- George F. Will (journalist and commentator)
- Juan Williams (former host of National Public Radio’s “Talk of the nation”, writer for the Washington Post)
Law
- Justice Stephen Breyer (US supreme court)
- Carol Heckman (first female US magistrate in the Western district)
- Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin (Canadian Chief Justice)
- Justice David Souter (US Supreme Court)
- Judge Joseph A Wapner (host of The People’s Court)
Politics
- William Bennett (former Drug czar & NEH leader)
- Jerry Brown (former governor of California and presidential candidate)
- Pat Buchanan (Reform party nominee in 2000 for President of the United States)
- William Jefferson Clinton (former President of the United States)
- Angela Davis (social activist)
- Rahm Emanuel (Clinton White House Political Advisor)
- Rudi Giuliani (former mayor of NYC)
- Gary Hart (US Senator, former presidential candidate)
- Vaclav Havel (former President of Czechoslovakia)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader)
- Robert McNamara (former Secretary of Defense, head of the World Bank)
- Richard Riordan (former Mayor of LA)
- Aung San Suu Kyi (Human rights activist and Novel Peace Prize winner)
- John Silber (former President of Boston University)
- Pierre Trudeau (former Canadian Prime Minister)
- Elie Wiesel (Human rights activist and Nazi hunter)
- Dr. Stephen Younger (director of the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Agency, established after 9/11)
Business & Economics
- J. Paul Getty (industrialist and founder of Getty Oil, endowed the famous Getty art museum)
- Carl Icahn (CEO of TWA, corporate raider)
- Carly Fiorina (CEO, Hewlett-Packard)
- Gerald Levine (CEO, Time Warner)
- Michael McKaskey (owner, Chicago bears)
- William H. Miller III (mutual fund manager, oversees the Legg Mason Value Trust)
- Lachlan Murdoch (media magnate, son of Rupert Murdoch)
- George Soros (money manager, billionaire founder of the Soros Foundation)
- P. Michael Spence (economist and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics)
- Moses Znaimer (owner of CITY-TV and MUCH-MUSIC, Toronto)
The Arts
- Pearl Buck (writer, Pulitzer prize and Nobel prize winner)
- Philip K. Dick (science fiction writer)
- Paul Draper (winemaker, Ridge Vineyards)
- T.S. Eliot (author)
- Ken Follet (author)
- Phillip Glass (composer)
- Randall Grahm (winemaker, Bonny Doon Vineyards)
- Jay McInerney (author)
- Moby (musician)
- Neil Peart (drummer for rock group, Rush)
- Steve Reich (musician, composer)
- Jeff Smith (chef also known as “The Frugal Gourmet”)
- Susan Sontag (essayist)
- Alexander Solzhenitsin (political dissident, writer)
- David Foster Wallace (author and MacArthur prize recipient)
Sports
- John Elway (quarterback, Denver Broncos)
- Phil Jackson (NBA coach, LA Lakers)
- Bruce Lee (martial arts & actor)
- Mick Schmidt (former Philadelphia Philly)
- Aaron Taylor (offensive tackle, Green Bay Packers)
Some information here is taken from similar websites at Clemson and Rowan Universities.