“I find that in the adult world people seem to ‘get’ (majoring in philosophy),” she said. “They view it as challenging and important, while students don’t really know what they can gain from it.”

For the past three years the philosophy department has been compiling data from their senior capstone courses. Surveys given to graduating philosophy students are used to determine how philosophy courses have prepared students for future career opportunities, and whether they have a clear vision of what they want to do for a career once they leave university behind.

While they haven’t been compiling data long enough to form any concrete conclusions, philosophy professor and department chair Matthew McKeon said those who go into the general labor market after graduation aren’t going to go into direct employee disciplines.

“You’re not going to use your direct knowledge of Plato in contrast with, say, engineering,” McKeon said.

The tools that come with a philosophy degree are often unknown by incoming students, and McKeon said it typically isn’t the degree employers look at when going over resumes — it’s the skill set the graduate has previously acquired that catches their attention.

He said philosophy degree holders typically possess transferable skills for “soft fields” such as public relations firms, non-profit organizations and consumer relations positions.

“There really isn’t a niche for them,” McKeon said. “If you look at skill sets of a philosopher in terms of creative and critical thinking, communication skills, the ability to think outside the box and look at different data sets to pull what’s needed to solve particular problems, it doesn’t lend itself to one particular profession opposed to another.”

Philosophy Undergraduate Program Director Debra Nails said there are a number of careers that philosophy majors can find themselves happy with. Those who focus more on women’s studies might take more classes in feminist philosophy, while political studies students might take more political philosophy courses.

She said philosophy majors are not limited simply to teaching, and in the long run, philosophy courses can help students pursue careers in nearly everything out there.

“Philosophers go into the things they value, from the family business to landscaping. Whatever the family does, because that’s valuable to them,” Nails said. “It’s the belief that whatever you do or whatever interests you or whatever you think is valuable or worth living for, you do more deeply, richer and better all around. ... I think students are attracted to that, and do better in whatever they do after university.”