Ancient history degree - worthy??!!

[bamboowarrior]

Is ancient history degree a quality degree??!!

In that it will discourage you from using too many question and exclamation marks? Yes, it is worthy.

In that it will lead to a high paying graduate job? Less likely.

Yes, why wouldn't it be? It's like any other degree in the Arts and Humanities. You learn a lot of specific information about a subject you're interested in, but over and above that, having the degree indicates that you have all sorts of useful transferable skills:
Time management - prioritising tasks, managing and meeting competing deadlines
Communication skills, especially written - writing clearly and accurately, collating and organising large amounts of written material
Nowadays often group projects are required, so contributing to that and learning how to deal with others is another skillset
IT skills - knowing your way around Word and PowerPoint, for example
Research skills
Able to evaluate sources and think critically
Coping with stress, resilience

That's just off the top of my head. I have a Classics degree, so related, and I found it was very highly valued when I was looking for next steps after graduating.

Depends on the uni, but yes, in general. Like a PP, I have a classics degree and the transferable skills it taught me were invaluable. I used to work in consulting (qualified as an accountant originally) and I always preferred working with juniors who had humanities degrees rather than maths/business etc as the generally had far superior writing skills (not always, but generally).

I think these days, it's the vocational masters you choose afterwards that makes all the difference. There aren't many careers in ancient history! And there aren't any jobs in academia at the moment. But ancient history is fundamentally a fantastic subject - it's so interesting and varied.

Possible paths might be:

BA in AH -> PGCE -> teacher

BA in AH -> MA in Heritage Management or Curatorship -> career in museums, heritage, National Trust

BA in AH -> MA in Archaeology -> career in archaology

BA in AH -> MPhil in International Development (you could spin the application alongside whatever specialisation you take in the BA for the thesis, i.e. Ancient Near East, Egypt etc.) -> career in government

Or after BA you (or your child if you have child who wants to be an ancient historian?) could do a MA in whatever or go straight for any one of the many many careers in the civil service - https://www.faststream.gov.uk/diplomatic-service/index.html

A first class honours degree, particularly in a decent uni will take you far, no matter what it is in in, so long as the NEXT step is chosen carefully.

Why on earth wouldn’t it be?

A lot of people have the view that learning about the past is useless and frivolous. It isn't.

Ancient history is a fascinating subject. It could lead to a career in teaching, further study towards PhD and an academic career, a career in archaeology... further study in a specialist area...
Studying arts and humanities is always worthwhile.

😂😂😂😂

I agree with the huge array of transferable skills.
DD2 about to go study history with a view to study post graduate law.
It's a subject that interests her but skills will be learnt will be in writing, evaluation and analysis.
If your DC isn't driven toward a particular career I'd say it was a safe option

someone I know has an Ancient history degree snd they are incredibly successful. Went onto Accountancy and Financial regulation.

Thankyou for replies - DC has a real passion for the subject - yes thinking there are many post grad options that are more vocational if they do not stay within history/ ancient history field ❤️💕 - and not a single exclamation or question mark 😀

Worth it in what sense? Is it interesting and worth studying? God, yes. It's a wonderful, fascinating thing to study (one of my big regrets in life is that I never studied classics).

But is it worth it with regards working and earning money? Probably not. Then again, neither is literature or philosophy or art history or lots of other wonderful, interesting things, not unless you want to be a teacher.

Things have changed since I was at university in the early 1980s, I know, but surely it's not just graduates in Economics, Finance, Business Management, STEM subjects and so on going on to careers in finance, accountancy, consultancy, management trainee jobs in blue chip companies, and all the other higher paid careers? (I exclude Law because I know there's a clear career path there, which doesn't necessarily start with a first degree in Law, given how easy it is to do a conversion course at postgraduate level.)

When I worked in accountancy, Accountancy degrees were still quite new and rather looked down on. Probably snobbery, but one reason given was that it was good to have people with a range of knowledge, interests and skills.

If it’s a 2.1 or above from an RG+ university it’s as likely to lead to a “high paying graduate job” as as any other humanities degree is.

Not really. It is easier to get into Ancient History and recruiters know that.

I’m not saying there is no value to doing it for itself. There is lots of intellectual value.

It’s just not very sought after from a graduate recruitment point of view. It’s worth facing that from the start.

If she has a passion for it then let her go for it. I chose a history degree based on my passion for it. I am a high earner and love my job. It's not history related though. I got a 2.1 and was 3 marks off a first for my thesis.

It’s just not very sought after from a graduate recruitment point of view. It’s worth facing that from the start.

Most generalist graduate schemes don’t really care what your degree is in IME. It will exclude him from some of the more specialised ones, but then if he was aiming for those he probably wouldn’t be considering a degree in Ancient History.

Yes.

Although if anyone did want to do archaeology I would start with a degree in that and then do a specialized MA in it.

It won't lead to an easily identifiable graduate salary job at the end of it. That doesn't mean your dc couldn't get one if she wanted one just that she would be competing with other arts degree students.

From a good university a 2:1 or above shouldn't be a disadvantage in anyway.

Most people I know have MAs anyway regardless of their first degree arts or science.

This would be my view too.

What a lot of rubbish is talked on this and similar threads.
My DS has a 2.1 in Ancient History from an RG uni and currently works for a city merchant bank. The grades required to get on his course were the same as normal history. It wasn't an easy entry option.
I too studied history and worked in retail marketing my whole career. Neither DS not I ever felt that teaching/research/librarian were the only career options.

As a long time graduate recruiter myself, I would say that’s not the case. What specific industries are you referring to?

Ok then.

The OP is being modest here. She has another thread asking whether AH is a feasible option for her DC. It’s a good question, because the A Levels are Maths, FM, CS and CC. DC has just finished Y12 and fallen passionately in love with AH, presumably because of the CC.

In this thread, OP has omitted the information that DC is predicted 4 A stars. Writing as a former STEM admissions tutor I think the future is looking awfully bright. There is much good advice above.

Okay with this additional information your ds could probably find a smoother path to a well paid graduate job with a STEM degree.
But if your ds won't engage as well with a STEM degree then it might not work out as well for them.
Also how important is a high flying career for your ds.
What is their motivation level for doing a degree to get a job afterwards?

The striking originality of this DC’s thought processes have me firmly on their side. I think they will do best when fully engaged and they will probably engage most fully when following their heart, intellectually speaking. This is subject to confirmation of good writing ability, which is likely being downplayed given the AL curriculum.

I say that reluctantly because I would love to have them in STEM. However if the PGs materialise, they will be striking enough to mention on a CV and can be useful towards a vocational Master’s degree, if desired.