Linguistic degree? Worth it? Linguistic students and graduates

Hi there! Looking from advice from linguistics graduates or students currently studying linguistics. I want to study Linguistics next year (2025.) I completed my A-levels in 2023 and went to uni to study criminology but dropped out because I hated it.

I just wanted to ask what jobs you can get with a linguistics degree that isnt teaching. What jobs have you got/hoping to get? I also would like to do a placement year, so what are some placement year ideas for Linguistics?
Thank you!

Reply 1

University of York

Official Rep

Hi rhixgreenwood,

It's great to hear you're thinking of linguistics, it's a fascinating subject. Here at York we have a linguistics department and some of our recent graduates have gone into the following fields:

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Marketing and communications

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Publishing

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Broadcasting and journalism

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Local government and public service

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Finance and accountancy

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Voice recognition and natural language processing software development

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Social media analyst

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Clinical linguistics (Speech and Language Therapy)

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Teaching (primary and secondary)

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Forensic linguistics (Forensic Speech Science)

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Interpreting and Translation

Personally, I'd also add the civil service as a potential career path two.

Good luck with your studies 🙂

E.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by rhixgreenwood

They could go into any generalist grad scheme role, same as any other graduate. So grad schemes at large corporations across a variety of business functions (finance, marketing, communications, operations, etc), the civil service, investment banking and/or management consulting (if you go to a target uni at least, less likely otherwise perhaps), accountancy and other financial services roles that don't require a numerate degree, various roles in NGOs and charities, the media etc.