Can a history degree actually lead to a good job?

[Jon1970]

Hi, I'd be grateful for an opinion on the merits or not of doing a history degree. My youngest daughter is currently in A1 doing History, Geography and Economics. She was considering doing Law at Uni (still is, to an extent..) but I think she is gradually drifting away from that, which is fine...at 17 I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. She has always loved History, and still does. There is a narrative out there on careers pages etc that History teaches you great analytical skills, problem solving and so on, the argument being that a degree in history can lead to "so many" careers. But I'm worried....in the real world, is this actually true?

I'm curious to know if you either did History yourself or someone you know, and did it lead to good opportunities further down the line? I really want to support her in doing what she wants to do and in something she enjoys, but just trying to sanity check that she won't say to me in 5 years time something like "Dad, why on earth did you let met me do a History degree?". I know that she could do a history degree and then a Law conversion course if she does want to go into law, but if she doesn't want to do law, what then?

I am probably slightly haunted by doing a music degree, and then switching later to IT and business.

I think it echos what a few of us have said. History: aim high. Don’t be picky about modules because employers won’t care. There are jobs north of London but of course there’s huge competition for the best ones.

Neither are grads a shoe in with a law degree of business degree. We have around 18.000 law grads each year but 6000 training places. Half of these places will be taken by non law grads. So again it’s competitive even with a vocational degree. Stem is more likely to lead to a job but degrees like environmental science are not well paid and often competitive too! So you really have to decide what uni works best and get the best degree you can.

I don’t think this is true. The AQA Business A Level is very difficult, particularly the 25-mark questions that require a lot of analysis and evaluation. It’s a myth that Economics is more academic; I believe they are equal.

They may be but the perception amongst many is that economics is better, that being the case why do the potentially less well regarded one if they are equally difficult?

My dd has just been head hunted for 3 potential promotion corporate jobs. Her theology degree is not, apparently, holding her back.

All my kids did - and loved - history at undergrad. Two are Barristers and youngest is currently doing GDL. DH and I didn’t go to University and they are first and only lawyers in our family.

It’s such a great degree as pp have said. Requires analytical, written and interpersonal skills in a way you might not think. Other friends have gone on to journalism, marketing, investment banking.

In my experience the choice of Uni is of equal importance to the degree.

Solicitor here - and I am regularly involved in the recruitment of trainees and paralegals and I manage a team. Some of the best staff I have had did history. It really does offer good transferable skills. When recruiting, I look for a good degree (preferably a first) from a good uni. Both those aspects are more achievable if the student really loves the subject because their passion will get them on the course and then make them work hard at it while there.

Just to add, none of them were even considering Law when they started.

It’s definitely cheaper (£9k ish for GDL) to do the Law degree at undergrad but I know a couple of people who struggled with it as an undergrad degree and ended up doing something entirely different.

Uni can be tough and having a subject you enjoy is a big plus.

But she is being headhunted for her skills and experience, not her degree.

Everyone with a few skills and experiences on their Linked-in profile gets headhunted these days.

@obleek "
But she is being headhunted for her skills and experience, not her degree."

Of course. But she wouldn't have been in that position in the first place if her degree was a drawback.

If she's going to do history, she needs to do it at a very good university, and she needs to get a minimum 2.1.

Yes to the analytical skills, the writing, etc.

People I know who did history are now in:
Law (both barristers and solicitors)
Accounting (graduate entry CPA)
Civil service
Foreign service
Consulting (international firms and local ones)
NGO leadership
Education at all levels
Arts management
Journalism
But so are people I know who did econ and geography...

If she wants to keep her options a bit more open, I'd do econ or geography instead. Both involve more maths and data analysis while still teaching analytical skills and requiring writing.

Agree.

Or history and econ, history and geography...

I have a young relative who did theology too, at a top tier uni. She got a 2:1 and is very bright and charismatic with lots of "extra-curricular" and work experience. She tried to apply for law, and for civil service fast stream, and various other graduate schemes, with no success. Eventually she went into teaching. She will be a very successful teacher, and will undoubtedly then be headhunted for her skills and experience too. Her degree is not a drawback for teaching, and probably wasn't a drawback for any of the other schemes she applied for either, but there was just a huge amount of competition. This is the nub of the issue. Nobody is saying that history, theology or other humanities graduates can't ever get jobs, but the reality is that the competition is greater for the sort of "any degree" jobs that are open to them than for some other degrees that are highly sought after by a wide range of employers.

It's simply supply and demand. Buyer beware.

This, with bells on.

Fellow History grad here. I’ve ended up going down the academic path - MA and funded PhD, with plans to take a side step into social science postdoc research. My twin similarly did a history degree, then PhD too. Now has a fantastic job as a museum curator and consultant for documentaries. My uni friends have ended up doing all kinds of training schemes - law, social work, teaching, consultancy. It’s one of those degrees that you can genuinely leap frog off from, and has equipped me with analytical and research skills I will use for life.

Should also say that I did go to a top uni in London (not to brag, but just to suggest that the reason so many of my friends have been successful career wise may have been because they stayed in London and mostly got 1sts).

40 years ago hardly anyone got a first. There’s possibly as little as 1% difference between a first and a 2:1. Very often not a gulf of 25%. The person with a 2:1 might be better in so many ways it’s unfortunate if they get overlooked. Being good at uni doesn’t necessarily equal being great in a job. Definitely not in teaching! So much more matters at work. A first doesn’t mean you get on with clients or have the collaborative skills needed in some jobs. I think most employers look beyond the degree classification but do not like a 2:2. Years ago the vast majority got a 2:2 though and it never held them back!

@MujeresLibres can I ask what you mean by “an IT conversion course” please? Do you mean coding or something else, and what level of qualification?

Not MujeresLibre, but I did an MSc conversion in Computer Science, which covered coding, networks, databases, project management, formal logic, hardware, erm... it was a while back, can't remember all the modules.

Thanks. Why is it called “conversion”?

Because you can't apply if your first degree is computer science or something related. We had histians, linguists, philosophers, psychologists, biologists, chemists... It's designed to convert from a non computing degree.

Some conversion courses are funded by the UK Government to help fill skills gaps. Currently they are funding universities to provide Masters-level conversions courses in AI and Data Science, and also providing student scholarships for them: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/planning-to-study/study-artificial-intelligence-and-data-science-as-a-postgraduate/funding-and-scholarships-for-postgraduate-conversion-courses-in-ai-and-data-science/

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/2500-new-places-on-artificial-intelligence-and-data-science-conversion-courses-now-open-to-applicants

The government are also funding conversion courses for CyberSecurity, though they are aimed at level 3 (equivalent to A Level), not masters-level.

There's general info about postgraduate conversion courses in a variety of subjects here: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/postgraduate-study/conversion-courses

@JellyOnAPlateJellyOffThePlate I mean it isn't a CEO job but I think a £45k a year job in the civil service is perfectly respectable career outcome. You are in your 40s, plenty of time to get promotio or move to othet sectors.

Careers are not linear and some of us take the more roundabout route. No shame in that.

My family (me, 4 siblings, 3 partners) are all history or very similar (Classics) graduates. Two of us are accountants on decent salaries - but we could have achieved exactly the same going straight from school onto an ACA apprenticeship (and I've had more senior colleagues at my previous big 4 firm without degrees) . One is an archivist, which required a degree and postgrad study, but isn't particularly well paid although she really enjoys her work. One has had a great career in the civil service and now works independently as a counter-terrorism specialist. But he's recently confirmed to me (looking for post-sixth form jobs for ds) that the GCHQ training scheme he joined after uni is now open to 18 years olds as well as grads. One is involved in charity marketing; I've no idea whether she needed her degree for this. The other three are church ministers! They've had to do conversion courses in theology, so the initial degree wasn't directly useful and they could have gone straight into theology training later.

Bottom line is that for all the things we've ended up doing there was probably another route (except for archivist) and the degree wasn't directly helpful. Having a history degree certainly didn't hinder anyone though, and the training in research and writing was probably useful for most of us too