# Does your Liberal Arts Degree directly apply to your current profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2021, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860 "2021-09-18T07:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Somethingwitty1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/somethingwitty1/32/8899_2.png) [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/1 "2021-09-18T07:46:26Z")
I have a BA in Political Science. My answer would be no. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/2 "2021-09-18T08:05:39Z")
Is a “liberal arts degree” any degree obtained at a liberal arts college, or does it have to be in some smaller subset (like, only majors in humanities, arts and social sciences) to qualify? ---
**Author:** ![Somethingwitty1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/somethingwitty1/32/8899_2.png) [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/3 "2021-09-18T08:11:57Z")
define it as you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/4 "2021-09-18T08:13:42Z")
Scary! Mine’s a STEM degree from a liberal arts college, and yes, definitely applicable to what I do. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/5 "2021-09-18T10:04:49Z")
I have a BA in liberal arts too, and yes, it has zero relevance to my current job. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/6 "2021-09-18T11:51:54Z")
I have a degree in technical journalism which I never, strictly speaking, had a job in. I did use my writing skills a lot though. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/7 "2021-09-18T12:52:28Z")
BA in Political Science, two years in a PhD program in Political Science/International Relations (left without a terminal degree). My current profession requires a high school diploma, a drivers license, and a clean background check. My liberal arts degree doesn’t even indirectly apply. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/8 "2021-09-18T13:17:52Z")
My degree was ‘Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Ad Design’. It was the 80s, so everything was pencil, pen, paint. Not a computer in sight. After I graduated I worked as a graphic designer. After a few years I taught myself how to do graphics on a Macintosh. I was eventually hired as the manager of a graphics dept. I learned how to set up and maintain a Mac-based computer network. The company where I was a graphics manager took notice and made me SysAdmin of the entire company. I taught myself web design because it was now 2000 and the company still didn’t have a website. From there I got a job as a full time front-end web dev, because that is what I seemed to enjoy the best. I got to exercise my creative side designing and building websites. And that’s what I do to this day. So, in conclusion (also TL;DR version): my degree is tangentially related to what I do now, but the degree has little or no bearing on the specific job description, the tools I use, and the way I learned how to use them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/9 "2021-09-18T13:24:05Z")
I majored in philosophy, so — of course. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/10 "2021-09-18T14:05:29Z")
My “degree obtained at a liberal arts college” was in hard sciences. Ended up an art teacher. People say “Well, all those years of college were wasted in your case…” But what my tiny liberal arts school did teach me was HOW to learn. And instill a love of it. Oh, and the college was less than a thousand students, so I got a lot of opportunities\* I never would’ve at a “real” school. \*Walked in to the school newspaper office, said “I’ve always thought I’d like to try writing an article for a paper.” Chief Editor said “Okay, but we really need a Managing Editor. Take that position, and you can write as many articles as you want.” “Okay, why not?” ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/11 "2021-09-18T15:01:34Z")
The thing about being a librarian is that just about any undergrad degree comes in handy at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/12 "2021-09-18T15:29:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > People say “Well, all those years of college were wasted in your case…” > But what my tiny liberal arts school did teach me was HOW to learn. And instill a love of it. I suppose one could draw a distinction between the degree itself directly applying to your profession, vs. the things you learned and the skills you gained in the process of earning that degree applying to your profession. The latter would be far more common than the former—near-universal if you define it broadly enough. Anyway, as for me, my Liberal Arts Degree is in math. I teach math. So, yeah, it applies. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/13 "2021-09-18T15:38:57Z")
Before I retired it did. I had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/14 "2021-09-18T15:52:53Z")
I majored in Political Science and minored in History. Though I didn’t plan it that way, I worked for government for more than a decade and am now a historian. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/15 "2021-09-18T16:34:43Z")
My degree is in English with a history minor, and over the last 20 years, I’ve taught about 80/20 English/Social Studies. Ironically, though, the areas I’ve made a name for myself–Ap English Lang, and AP Economics, were not at all specifically covered by any of my coursework. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/16 "2021-09-18T17:45:31Z")
Absolutely. I use information and processes from my liberal arts degree every day I’m at work. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/17 "2021-09-18T17:52:59Z")
I’ve got a degree in set design, over the course of getting that, there was a lot of set building, props, etc. Now I design and build museum exhibits, so a lot of overlap. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/18 "2021-09-18T17:58:41Z")
I’m retired, but my BA in Social Sciences was merely a passport, and I never worked in the field. A lot of jobs use a degree requirement in a particular field as a culling tool to cut down on the number of resumes received, but quite often it doesn’t really matter all that much, especially if you have many years of experience in that field. I held two jobs that had engineering degrees as requirements. In one of them, I had three engineers working for me! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/19 "2021-09-18T18:41:16Z")
My degrees (both bachelor’s and PhD) were in math and I spent my entire career teaching and researching that subject, so the answer is certainly yes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860/20 "2021-09-18T18:47:50Z")
Sure does! My degree says Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (which meant a Major in Anthropology with dual Minors in Sociology and European History). I’ve spent the last 35 years teaching AP Euro, AmGovt and Econ. to high school students. I’ve also taught two different grades of English, Earth Science, World Geography, Modern World History and Debate. All(most) within the purview of my degree. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-liberal-arts-degree-directly-apply-to-your-current-profession/950860.md?page=2)