Fourtyrulz

I don't know if this is even the right place to put this, is it "general" enough?

I am majoring in hsitory (minor in political science) up here at the university, and the career option are pretty slim. Teaching sounds wonderful to me, and if I get certified to teach government and sociology like I'm planning I could be able to teach a good handful of classes. But my advisors and other people never talk about the other things to do with a history major. Would I work in a mueseum? Be a civil war re-enactor ? What could I do besides teach?

__________________
the·o·ry - a working hypothesis that is considered probable based on experimental evidence or factual or conceptual analysis and is accepted as a basis for experimentation.
faith - Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
- Merriam-Webster's dictionary

Mojo_PeiPei

Degree's don't matter much these days, as far as job placement. You want to be a lawyer?

__________________
To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.

Thermopyle

Isn't this something you should have thought of before you picked major?

Personally I love history. I'm a huge consumer of history/fact-books. But honestly, I've got no idea what to do with a history major besides teaching and research. To me, the solution would be combining it with another science. Journalism maybe? Anyway, knowing your history also means understanding your present. Use that!

"My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack."

- Ferdinand Foch, the optimist.

__________________
Live life like you're gonna die, beacause you're gonna!

- William Shatner.

Charlatan

What pei-pei said... doesn't matter what your degree is in just that you have one...

That isn't to say it wouldn't be an added bonus if you wanted to get a job that somehow involved history (i.e. historical board, museum, etc.).

What most employers are looking for and what you should have learned in University (Arts degree anyway) is how to research, synthesize the research and expound upon that reseach (typically in a written essay). Of course tied into this the discipline needed to accomplish this...

Other than that, it isn't all that important what you studied.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

wolf

Teaching, research, work at a museum (though you'll probably need more degrees), many jobs don't require job specific degrees these days, just the fact that you have a degree will get you in

__________________
Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as Gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

M.T. Promises

Having graduated with a History degree and Sociology minor 7 years ago, I've never had my degree be anything other then something my employer was happy I had. In those 7 years I've been Sales Support, Coordinator of Customer Service and a Financial Analyst nothing at all to do with history. If nothing else a degree proves that you can deal with 4 years of bullshit; something other people have failed to do.

You're going to need to go to graduate school to do anything terribly interesting in the field of history; i.e. teach at the college level or be a museum curator.

Suave

One job that is almost tailor-made for history majors is paralegal work, since it involves a lot of researching specific topics, actions, and such (which is what history is all about ).

__________________
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato

Coppertop

Hey, wasn't Dr. "Indiana" Jones a history professor? His exploits didn't seem to be mundane!

Seriously though, is archaeology a reasonable thing to get into or would that require too much more additional schooling?

Powderedmaggot

History/poly sci, exactly what my wife took. She ended up becomming a probation officer. Just having a degree (usless or not) opens doors.

Livia Regina

According to the councillors here, you can work for the government in intelligence services or the foreign service, you can work in teaching at any level or in museums. Then there's always law and retail. I'd advise picking up a second language too. Personally, my degree is going to be in history with an emphasis on mediaeval studies and I'm planning on looking at the Department of State for a job.

__________________
Rule 37: There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'

appleseed

My best friend has a B.S. in history. He's a carpenter, but he's a very happy carpenter.

younggunz

i got a B.A. in economics and then floundered around for a year doing a fundraising job for a nonprofit organization and was really unhappy with the degree and the doors that were open to me. I applied to law school so I'd feel more confident about my educational accomplishments supplementing what i have to offer personally and professionally. I am only in my first year at law school but i already feel inifinitely better about myself and my future.

Fourtyrulz

Even Jesus was a carpenter eh?

Don't get me wrong, I love history and really don't want to do anything else career wise (unless it involves producing music, for Metal Blade preferably) I originally went into it hell bent on teaching government classes, but for some reason doubt has entered my mind as to wether or not I'd be a good teacher, even though I am going to arguably the best teaching school in the country. Research to me really is a bore, I'm more attracted to the impact of history on how it shaps today and the great stories history tells. Some profs have recommended being a ____ Historian...like Political Historian, Music Historian, etc. It is a sad world when employers don't care about specialization, then again they are probably desperate for educated employees.

__________________
the·o·ry - a working hypothesis that is considered probable based on experimental evidence or factual or conceptual analysis and is accepted as a basis for experimentation.
faith - Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
- Merriam-Webster's dictionary

Chupes

Well, if you don't really wanna teach apply to a professional school. Try law school or even medical school if you feel like being a doctor. It doesn't matter what your degree is in for prof. schools. In fact, they tend to like people with degrees not pertaining to things like law or medicine, so long as they have the required credits (like bio, chem, o chem, physics for med school). Get through a prof. school and you're set for life. I dunno what else to tell you though, I'm biased toward med school as that's where I'm hopefully going in 2 years. :P

viejo gringo

Come to the valley---come to paradise...we need good teachers
so very bad....there are so many young minds here that know of
little else than their present environment...most had never say snow,until this Christmas..the first time in 109 years...just think of the things YOU could tell and teach them...VG

Fourtyrulz

That is sort of what inspired me to become a teacher, it was really a spontaneous thing. I was reading about how uneducated Americans are when it comes to their own history and government, and it really struck a nerve with me. Government isn't something you can just know either, like math or science, you either have it taught to you really well and you retain what you've been taught or you tune out and become apathetic to politics (which ultimately shape the world you live in). I remember in high school having an awesome government teacher, it was one of the classes I really loved and learned a lot about and that applies to my life, and probably the only A I ever got in high school . THAT's what I want to do, end this trend of apathy and laziness that has slowly worked it's way into the masses. Woooo, teachers rock!

__________________
the·o·ry - a working hypothesis that is considered probable based on experimental evidence or factual or conceptual analysis and is accepted as a basis for experimentation.
faith - Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
- Merriam-Webster's dictionary

duck0987

The obvious answer is to continue until you get you Ph.D in history, then you become a college history Prof, and teach more people history. Poly sci and history are actual pyramid scams.

But seriously Degrees and grades don't make a difference, you can go into pretty much any management field you want to quite easily. All a degree shows now is that you have the abilty to learn, and this is what business are looking for today.

__________________
"I've got a lot of friends who don't know how to cook, which I could never understand because not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to fuck." --Robert Rodriguez

vorpal_rabbit

I'm reminded of the song from the musical Avenue Q, "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?"

That being said... what the hell am I going to do with a BA in Linguistics when I graduate?

__________________
The door flew open. A Mongol warrior surged into the hut like a savage wind. Two children ran screaming to their mother who was cowering wide eyed in the corner of the tiny room. A dog yelped.

The warrior hurled his torch on to the still glowing fire, and then threw the dog on to it. That would teach it to be a dog.

Charlatan

Everytime I see this thread title: What the hell to do with a History major?!

I keep thinking... well they taste great braised...

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

roachboy

what is your concentration within your major?

there are quite a few gigs that you could apply for reasonably that would spin out of the research element of the major....the famous "consulting" gigs to working for think tanks to reserach for tv/film production/writers for example. career councellors are pretty good at helping you figure out how to think about your major field in terms that are not those you get from folk who work in your department. i would see one, if you havent.

more directly:
teaching at the high school level can be ok.
there is a company called history inc. in washington that does research for hire.
the claim usually is that history gives you a fairly well rounded undergrad training that also would put you in a good place for law school (whatever)....

if you are thinking about grad school, i would seriously recommend that you take a bit of time off from school altogether before you do it...cast about a bit, do stuff, figure out what you might want to do.

my undergrad advisor told me when i was at the same point (more or less) as you are, 40rulz, that a phd outfits you to teach at a university and not much else, so you should be sure that you want to do it before you put yourself into the mill. i remember that he told me this during a conversation that got started because i found out that he had been awarded a large fellowship to study carnival in rio de janeiro. i liked that idea.

i have a phd in european history and teach at a university.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Cynthetiq

woah...

reminds me of the Avenue Q song:

What do you do with a B.A. in English,
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,
'Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake,
The feeling I might make,
A difference,
To the human race.



------

Most people don't do anything related to their degrees... there's a thread somewhere here about people who have a degree and aren't even working in a related field.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

drakers

You could always do research or write books, but usually you need to be fairly familiar to the time period your writing about for it to be considered worth reading (obvious). You could always work at McDonalds.

Just Kidding!! Do what makes you happy, that's what I always say.

Fourtyrulz

I don't know if I'm far enough down the path to have a main concentration yet. I love to study ancient civilizations (Rome, Norway, Greece), but modern political history is also a passion of mine, as is music. I'm only in my second semester of my freshman year, but I'm also pretty ambitious and driven, not to mention insanely passionate about my education right now. I'm gobbling up practically every book I see, regardless of topic or relevance to anything, in addition to my required texts.

In regards to research, the thought of researching for the rest of my life doesn't particulary interest my young, naive, ideallistic freshman mentality right now. I want to influence people and get them riled up enough to change things themselves (screw cliches!).

Roach,
How did you get involved in your fellowship study, was it like an internship? I am totally interested in traveling and taking in other cultures and societies, get me out of Iowa hahaha. As a university prof you are a huge resource, what kinds of things could I do to realize my goals of traveling and learning and eventually entering the job market?

Edit: I'm freakin' crazy now!

__________________
the·o·ry - a working hypothesis that is considered probable based on experimental evidence or factual or conceptual analysis and is accepted as a basis for experimentation.
faith - Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
- Merriam-Webster's dictionary

roachboy

only have a minute right now, so:

i wouldnt worry so much in your second semester about what might be possible at the far end of your ride through uni...i would just explore what seems interesting to you, and work out a direction from within that process. seriously. by the time you get toward your senior year, your interests will probably have changed a bunch of times.

on the other hand, its not so bad to try to have the lay of the land up front. i just wouldnt stress so much about it yet: you have plenty of time to do that later.

as for research--there are different types of history, each of which comes with its own understanding of what constitutes resreach etc. the stuff i mostly do is closer to philosophy than straight history--archives are ok, but i dont want to have to live in one.

fellowship stuff will have to wait for a response until i have more time to sit and try to think about things. most assume that you are a junior i think, but i'll defer until next chance i get to post here saying more

as for being a "huge resource"--while that's flattering----mostly it is a gig, you know? just dont build me up in your mind as i might not know everything you might ask about.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

nickynicole

As a very recent college graduate, this is my advice.

Even if you decide you want to do something else, get a teaching credential while your still in undergraduate. It's faster than doing it post-bacc, and you won't have to spend months worrying about finding a job. You can decide what else your degree is useful for while your friends are trying to figure out how to get health insurence.

uncle_el

a good friend of mine in medical school with me was a history major in college. just need to take the necessary pre-requisite courses.

i suppose you could also do law school and business school as well.

teaching, as you have already indicated, sounds good. people who want to teach can make a big difference. one of my favorite professors in college was a history teacher... but i digress.

__________________
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of inprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses. - Malcolm X

ally

I'm an anthropology major. I'm not qualified to offer any advice about careers as careers in anthropology don't really exist...

greytone

You avoid repeating it.

__________________
I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"