This is why:
Picking a major is never easy. College majors have serious, long-term consequences and help prepare you for launching successful careers.
In my opinion, every one should major in History! 😉 History degrees prepare individuals for a whole variety of occupations. History majors have great jobs in a variety of sectors: jobs including medical doctors, geographers, college professors, librarians, teachers, store managers, museum curators, or independent business owners.
History degrees train people to think, read, write, and see many perspectives. History classes, as a rule, are thinking, reading, and writing intensive. By studying the past, you’ll learn how unique and similar each place is and come out a much more open-minded and accepting person. You will learn the why and how questions are far more important than the who and what questions.
History is probably the most interdisciplinary subject of all. Anything and everything can be examined in a History class. Regardless of what you enjoy, it fits in a History class. Courses examining the past look at poems, short stories, biology and chemistry, movies, sociological and psychological theories, as well as more traditional studies of “dead people.”
There are historians of medicine, psychology, food, sports, cars, fashion, as well as more traditional fields.
Having a degree with “History” as your major signifies you are ready to work hard, think differently, and accept unknowns and differences. It also means you are able and willing to quickly learn and adapt and place events and issues in larger historical contexts. And that you communicate with crystal clear analysis and prose.
I can’t think of any reasons to not major in History!
(Edit 4/16/15: See this excellent article, too.)
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 