As a history major, I’m used to hearing the refrain of, “Well, what are you going to do with that after graduation?”
I usually grit my teeth, bite my tongue and respond, “I’m not sure, but does anyone really know?”
But I do know.
I, a “useless” history major, am going to get a job.
It will most likely not be as a historian. Though, don’t get me wrong, getting paid to increase the world’s historical knowledge through painstaking analysis of primary and secondary sources would be awesome.
While some majors provide a clear-cut career path, the beauty of being a history major is it doesn’t strictly prepare students for one field.
So when I tell people I have no idea what field I’m going into, it’s not because I don’t have options. Frankly, it’s the opposite.
I don’t know for sure because there are so many options.
Communications, law, politics, administration, museum work — the history discipline and skills you use as a history student are valuable to all of them and more.
Beyond the explicitly applicable fields, a history major provides universally marketable skills. Historical study and analysis refines one’s critical thinking, increases cultural awareness and essentially forces one to gain massive amounts of writing experience.
In April 2013, the American Association of Colleges and Universities surveyed more than 300 employers about what qualifications would get a graduate hired. The results were clear — 93 percent agreed “a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major.”
History and the skills students use to understand what history means are valuable.
Check out this year’s volume of ARCHIVE, the University of Wisconsin’s undergraduate history journal, to see just how talented and skillful history majors can be.
Madeline Sweitzer ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in history, political science and journalism and a member of ARCHIVE’s editorial board.