Is the thought of choosing one major stressing you out? Majoring in humanities allows you to take a multidisciplinary approach to education. Programs combine the study of languages, literatures, art, music, philosophy and religion.
Education
Most humanities majors receive a bachelor’s degree. You’ll be doing a lot of writing, reading and discussion in this program. In the program you’ll learn about various civilizations and their cultures. You’ll take courses in rhetoric, theory, literature and art. It’s common to take gender studies courses, math courses and sociology courses. The goal of a humanities major is to teach students how to communicate effectively. Through the wide variety of courses, you’ll learn how to use concepts you learn in classes when communicating. A senior project is required for this major and it’s often a long paper. In high school, it helps to take courses such as music and art history, world history and religions, philosophy, AP English Literature and AP English Language.
Questions to ask before deciding
Humanities is a mix of many disciplines – does the major have its own department or does it come from different ones? You will be interacting with professors quite a bit in this major, ask about their backgrounds and interests. If the major is too broad for you and you decide to switch, is the transfer process difficult? Learning about other cultures is a major part of the major – will you be required to learn a foreign language? Will you have the chance to study abroad?
Salary
Since a humanities major encompasses many things, there are many different career paths. With a bachelor’s degree, you could become an editor, a reporter or a writer. Respectively, they make $53,880, $37,090 and $55,940 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2012. With more education, you could become a high school teacher making $55,050 or a postsecondary teacher making $68,970.
> For more information about majors and finding a career visit NextStepU.com.
