What to Expect

In philosophy's strict discipline, students learn to think critically and logically, analyze information and solve problems -- skills that transfer to many occupations and studies.

Steve Martin, for example, majored in philosophy at California State University at Long Beach and now enjoys success as an actor, comedian, humorist and playwright.

Joe Hwang took graduate studies in philosophy at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). "I enjoy both the formal education of philosophy as well as partaking in discussions with other students," he says. "I felt that graduate studies in philosophy would be more intensive."

Hwang says it takes four to six hours of study during the week "in order to get straight As" and about three to five hours on each day of the weekend. "I read not only assigned material, but also other material pertaining to it," he says.

"Invest in a good philosophy dictionary," he recommends.

Jenny Settle graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College. "I stumbled into philosophy. I took one philosophy class, liked it, took another, and another, and fell in love without ever knowing what had hit me," she says.

"It is difficult to see how your philosophy major will directly help you out in the real world. People hear 'philosophy major' and think, 'What in the world are you going to do with that?' But you learn to write, think, analyze and argue. You gain incredible skills that can be applied in a variety of settings. I am only now beginning to realize what a valuable major I had."

Jeremy Zigman studied philosophy at Columbia University. He chose his major "because I liked the discipline of understanding and following a line of argumentation. I 'get high' on truth and clarity."

Zigman says philosophy requires patience. "Sometimes I don't initially understand the overall point of a treatise, even after lectures from professors. In the beginning, it was difficult since almost nothing I read made any sense."

But he kept at it. "It takes a lot of dedication and there are no real right answers like there are in math."

How to Prepare

Settle suggests taking "a wide variety of classes in different disciplines and subjects," including Latin or Greek, science, English and languages.

Hwang recommends mathematics, physics and natural sciences, too. "Any courses involving critical reasoning would be great. Entering the debate team may help," he adds.