Philosophy Careers

Primum vivere deinde philosophari. First live, then philosophize. Though you love truth, the truth is: you also need to eat—not to mention care for yourself and your loved ones, as well as (hopefully) enjoy some of the finer things in life. Is the philosophy major a good investment? According to PayScale’s annual survey of 1.4 million college graduates, philosophy and politics majors earn more than any other humanities degree through all stages of their careers. Moreover, philosophy majors outperform business majors in earning power later in their careers, and they outperform biology majors at all stages of their careers. So, on top of everything else, it turns out that a philosophy major is a great investment! 

   
 
Does a philosophy degree pay off?

bridgetInterested in grad school?

See what courses prepared Javier for law school. javier

graceLearn what Grace studied for her business career.

How did philosophy prepare Martin for medical school?
martin

What exactly can you do with a philosophy major? Or, more specifically, what exactly have UD philosophy majors done? The following are just a few of the diverse careers paths taken by our philosophy alumni.

  • Medicine
    • Daniel Fiedorek, ’12 — completing M.D. in Arkansas
    • Martin Sentmanat, ’17 — studying medicine at Texas A&M
  • Business and Finance
    • Eddie Accomando, ’92 — Principal Consultant at Anthroconsulting
    • Grace Hernandez, '17 - Assistant Broker for Burns & Wilcox Brokerage
  • Law
    • Robert Weisenburger, ’12 — completed J.D. as University of San Diego; working for Golub & Associates Law Firm in San Diego
    • Cody Combs, ’15 — studying law at UT Austin
    • Mike Woodrum, ’17 — studying law at UT Austin
  • Clergy
    • John Stein, ’16 — seminarian for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
    • Charlie Archer, ’16 — seminarian for the Archdiocese of St. Louis
    • Connor Rhodes, ’16 — seminarian for ...
    • Four former philosophy majors are currently Cistercian monks at Our Lady of Dallas Abbey across the street from UD!
  • Academia
    • Michael Hayes, ’12 — completing Ph.D. in philosophy at Kansas
    • Juan Solares, ’12 — director of Michael Polanyi College (Guatemala)
    • Camille (Pecha) Kennedy, ’14 — completing Ph.D. in French at Rutgers, named a Lilly Graduate Fellow
    • Andrew Shafer, ’15 — completing Ph.D. in philosophy at Fordham
    • Bridget Safranek, ’17 — completing Ph.D. in philosophy at Catholic University of America, named a Lilly Graduate Fellow
  • Teaching
    • Michael Reardon, ’15 — teaching for Great Hearts Irving
  • Politics
    • Emily Wilson, ’16 — aide to U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kansas)

And so the real question really is: What can’t you do with a philosophy major?

News

UD in Service: Ph.D. Students Share 'Confessions' in South Irving

UD students not only read St. Augustine's Confessions in Rome, traveling to Ostia to marvel at the place in which, according to Book IX, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, had a joint mystical vision of God -- they also travel 4.4 miles from the Irving campus to read the text with residents of South Irving.

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How to Build a Shortwave Radio

As you know if you’ve read even some of our first UD Reads book, "All the Light We Cannot See," it’s possible to build a radio from random, scavenged parts, as long as you can find the necessary random, scavenged parts, as Werner does in the book. This is also essentially what Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Physics Jacob Moldenhauer did as well: He scavenged parts from the Physics Department, and built a radio.

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Thomas S. Hibbs Appointed President of University of Dallas

The University of Dallas Board of Trustees announced today that it has unanimously selected Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., BA '82 MA '83, to serve as the university's ninth president. The first alumnus of UD to be president, Hibbs has served as dean of the Honors College and distinguished professor of ethics and culture at Baylor University since 2003.

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