<p>I’m currently a 3rd year student at McGill University, specializing International Development Studies and East Asian Studies as my major and minor, respectively. I’ve been deeply aware of the inconvenient truth that liberal arts/humanities subjects, relative to other subjects such as science/engineering/business, are not “bankable majors” in terms of theirs payoffs in the real world after undergrad. I’ve been considering to aim for lawschools to maximize that payoff within the boundary of arts/humanities, but having learned from numerous threads that lawschools are not worthwhile if it is not T14, coupled with the fact that my cumulative GPA being 3.3 at the moment, I realize that lawschool is not a viable option.</p>
<p>My knowledge in other fields, such as science, math, or business, is very limited with only highschool education; this is because I devoted all my highschool classes into liberal arts subjects, such as geography, history, and literature, without realizing that this path would be all-or-nothing. I’m now looking into MA with GRE as possibly the only alternative, keeping mind that my scope of knowledge in other fields is very confined, but from reading these discussions, liberal arts students who just simply can’t find employments after undergrad choose to go to gradschool for MA in IR, for instance, and find themselves unemployed even then. What are some viable options out there that I can embark on? Should I rather focus on boosting my GPA, or should I build on work experience/internships and such extracurricular assets to render my profile look attractive for employment? Some recommend a business minor of sort, such as marketing, as a plan B to compensate for a potential situation where I would find myself unemployed for a prolonged period due to desolated job market in arts/humanities. </p>
<p>My future outlook seems opaque as I’m caught in this huge dilemma in regard to the trajectory of my future programs/career. I’m posting this thread out of genuine desperateness of my heart to seek some academic advice from this community about what would be possible. Thanks colleagues!</p>
<p>I’m really tired of the myth that you can’t get a job with a humanities major. First of all, the sciences are liberal arts. Second of all, the unemployment rate is actually pretty low for college grads overall; the vast majority of those English and history majors are employed doing SOMETHING. It’s true that those degrees don’t lead a direct path to a specific professional field, but if that’s what you wanted, you’d have majored in a professional major anyway. Actually, there are probably more unemployed and underemployed lawyers than there are BAs in English.</p>
<p>Second of all, you shouldn’t get an MA just because you think you can’t get a job. Actually try to find a job first. An MA or other masters program is best for some kind of specific purpose; you don’t just get one without deciding what you want to do first. You decide what you want to do, and then you get a master’s in order to do that thing. Adding debt to get an MA when you’re not sure what you want to do isn’t a good idea.</p>
<p>Focus on keeping your grades up and getting an internship or two if possible. People go into marketing all the time without a business minor (I had a market research internship and a job offer with an undergrad in psychology) so don’t feel compelled to pick up a minor unless you actually want to.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, juillet. I want to claim that this hesitation and uncertainty about what I want to do as a career itself in part results from the fact that humanities in fundamental aspects is based on self-enriching, interdisciplinary teaching that is rather broad and abstract, than professional. I’m still quite not sure yet, however, my instinct does lend some interest to human rights & development issues, so possibly Human Rights Foundation, Amnesty Int’l, and such UN institutions would be ideal. </p>
<p>In terms of job and internship, what are some credible online sources that I can look into, other than craiglist? I’m currently in Vancouver for two months before fall semester starts in Montreal, and restlessly looking to find an appropriate internship opportunity, either specific to my field or not, but I highly doubt that the opportunities would be humanities-related, and rather more accounting/business-related (please correct me if I’m wrong). This would be my first time to acquire an internship/job (other than retails/restaurants); I feel the urgent need to enhance my academic profile other than my highschool degree. Secondarily, what may be some possible unique assets and extra skills that I can start honing to supplement my forthcoming BA, and to render myself more well-rounded as an appealing employee? Would learning languages (esp. Chinese) or possibly graphic design, or even mastering excel be sufficient options?</p>