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What careers would be open for a History degree?

Im thinking of taking History as a degree (although I will most likely change my decision a billion times in the next year or so). So yeh question is the title
Reply 1
Original post by southerrnorth


Do you have an idea of which career path you want to take? Are you certain that you want to go to university, perhaps taking a year out and thinking about your options could be valuable to your future.

I wouldn't go to university just for the sake of getting a degree in anything, you should plan how it relates to your long-term career goals. It's a lot of debt to get into over something that perhaps you weren't passionate about, and which potentially has little career prospects.



I would agree with this point. I would urge you to make sure you're not more concerned with 'going to uni' than you are with actually getting a good, worthwhile degree. Think carefully about what's best for you long-term, including being honest with yourself about whether you're up to at least three years of self-motivated study, as history has very low contact hours but you're expected to put in full-time hours regardless.

That being said, I think history is a brilliantly accessible degree which will be very helpful in pursuing a multitude of career paths. Of course, I'm biased as a third year history student!

History is a discipline. You'll learn skills you didn't even know existed which you'll find are considered completely invaluable in many sectors of work. By way of example, research is a central skill of a history degree. It may sound silly, but the amount of time history students spend in the library and searching for information online makes them kings and queens of Fact Checking - I could tell you where to find the answer to an obscure biology question before any Biomed student could remember where the library even was. Knowing how to understand library classmarks, sift through archives efficiently, tailor online searches succinctly, and find a specific sentence in a 1000 page book quickly, etc, are all things that seem unimportant and that most people just aren't ever taught how to do but in careers like Law, Teaching, Journalism and so many others those skills are critical. And that's just one example - I could go on for days about the many ways in which history is completely transferable, but you get the idea. If you genuinely love history and are committed to putting in the hours of research then you'll learn enough to do any career you choose - after all, literally everything that's ever happened is history and you need to understand law, economics, languages, sociology, philosophy and everything else in between to study it!
Reply 2
Original post by southerrnorth
To become a lawyer, banker or account for example, you would need to undertake substantial studying after you've finished your history degree. Which begs the question, why not study one of these subjects in the first place, and get a more direct path to that sector instead of spending 3 years extra to get there.


I'm actually currently in the process of arranging my conversion to law and the subsequent study required to receive the necessary qualifications to become a solicitor - In fact, I'm sitting at my desk at my legal internship in London as I type this, and have also worked in Chambers. I've spoken to hundreds of solicitors and barristers and every single one has told me that having a law undergrad is of zero advantage nowadays. Of the people I've spoken to at least 50% didn't study law at undergrad and a big proportion of those did study history. Subsequent to my BA I will need to take a one year conversion course to Law, after which the process is exactly the same for everyone. Obviously if you are interested in a career in law and don't want to wait an extra year to get into work then you should take straight law, but for me it was a case of getting to spend 3 years studying a subject I had a genuine passion for (and giving myself the option to become a teacher one day, as I've always wanted to do this as well!) whilst still being on the right path to get into law.

Of course I can't speak for any other career, and perhaps my perception is skewed as I'm receiving a consistent first and am on an Academic scholarship which may have made employers more receptive to my applications but no ones given me that impression. Work experience, internships and good interviews seem to seal the deal.

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