I was chatting with a friend the other day about the ideal undergraduate major. A cousin of theirs was about to apply to college as a freshman (fun times!) and, naturally, he urged him to go for an applicable major—something in STEM, something that made a lot of money; something that basically guarantees a job at the end of the graduation rainbow. And while I don’t necessarily fault this type of logic (after all, we’ve all heard it before; it is, quite seemingly, the logical thing to do), it did leave me wondering: what if… the logical choice is the the opposite? What if majoring in a non-technical field is the move right now?
If you are already: 1) Well aware that your interests and talents lie in critical thinking and expository analysis; 2) If you are already 90% sure that you and math can have a collegial relationship at best, then why not go straight for the humanities degree as a freshman?
Think about it: In the U.S., when you go to college for the first time, you are almost always eligible for a Pell grant if you can demonstrate financial need. Oftentimes, the Pell grant covers some—if not all—tuition costs at a community college (or, depending on where you live or go to, the entirety of an undergraduate degree, especially if you go to a small-time, commuter university). No special applications are required for this grant, meaning that competition is not a major factor in receiving financial aid. It covers all majors, so you are free to choose a humanities major that most appeals to your interests and skills, and you would be good to go.
Now, this is important, because—if you already know that you are passionate about, say, English literature, but you go for Accounting “because it’s more practical,” then you major in something that is more likely to get you a specialized job, sure. But then, you realize that you are extremely unhappy with your career choice, and decide to go for a master’s degree in English lit. Then… you will probably find no impediment to doing so, but you would have to take out student loans for it, when you could have just majored in English in the first place (with a minor in Accounting for good measure). You would be taking on debt that you could have avoided in the first place, to acquire a level of scholarship only slightly more advanced than you would have earned through the bachelor’s.
Second, there is something to be said about interdisciplinary innovation. Say that you are on the fence about either English or Computer Science, which is always a relevant degree, especially in today’s increasingly digital world. Well, you could major in Computer Science, and you would likely have no trouble finding a job in computer science once you graduate. But you would also, in a sense, cap at that. But, if you major in English (bonus points if you minor in Computer Science), you can go for a master’s (or a Ph.D.) in Computer Science just the same, and then develop applications or programs with an understanding of what a writer would benefit from, or whatever need you identified while majoring in English. So, in a sense, a major in a Humanities field would make you more creative; better suited to pursue a graduate technical degree for research or entrepreneurial purposes.
And what about financial aid? Well, STEM fields are always in demand—you are more likely to get financial aid for a STEM field than for a Humanities one, which generally have more stringent or competitive requirements. So, if you major in the Humanities while financial aid is available, you are more likely to find non-loan-based funding for a graduate degree in STEM than you are for the arts, reducing global cost of tuition overall.
So, something to think about while you weigh your options. And if you don’t want to go to graduate school or don’t have any particular ambitions, you would still technically win with a Humanities degree: you could always apply for a clerical job if it so suits you, and which are known to hire across disciplines (because the focus is the level of education itself, not necessarily the degree). Of course, there’s always tutoring jobs and such in the Humanities sector, so there’s still a chance to work in your field, so to speak. But if you don’t gravitate towards education, then you have plenty of options to make the Humanities degree work for you, regardless.
P.S. It also occurs to me that graduate programs like law or medicine often don’t require a particular degree. What matters are the pre-requisites needed and your level of interest or motivation for a particular program. So yet another point in favor for the Humanities bachelors. In fact, for medicine specifically, an application from a Humanities major would stand out favorably (or intriguingly) against a sea of Biology of Chemistry bachelors. Basically, it seems that, if there is ever a time for pursuing a Humanities degree, it would be as a college freshman.