1. Philosophers Excel on Standardized Tests1 Philosophy students have higher average scores on entrance exams for graduate and professional schools than most other students. This suggests that the study of philosophy develops a set of skills important for success in a very broad range of fields.

 

GRE scores from 1988-91 show that philosophy majors had:
	the highest mean verbal score of students in all majors
	the 2nd highest mean analytic score of students in all majors
	a higher mean quantitative score than ALL other humanities and social science majors
Mean LSAT score for philosophy majors is:
	higher than for both political science and non-philosophy pre-law majors
	the 5th highest for all humanities and social science majors according to a 1994 study
GMAT scores from 1991-96 show that:
	the mean score is higher for philosophy majors than for any type of business major
	outside of hard sciences, philosophy had either 1st or 2nd highest mean GMAT score each year
	including hard sciences, mean GMAT score for philosophy majors is tied for 4th among all majors.

2. Preparation for Diverse Careers and Occupations2 - The study of philosophy imparts the types of skills and capabilities that are clearly transferable to numerous occupations and employment settings. This study develops a quality of mind conducive to learning how to learn, to lifelong learning, and to an enriched personal and professional life. Consequently, a major in philosophy is excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers and occupations. Indeed, as the table below shows, philosophy majors average among the highest scores of all majors on standardized tests for admission to graduate and professional schools (including business and law). [In the chart below,] percentages in the table are the percentages by which the average scores of test-takers by major differ from the average score of all test-takers. Source: Chronicle of Higher Education.

 

MAJOR	LSAT	GMAT	GRE verbal	GRE quant.
Philosophy	+8.7%	+11.0%	+17.6%	+4.6%
Arts & Music	-.05%	-1.2%	+14.5%	-5.7%
English	+5.6%	+4.1%	+14.5%	-5.7%
Foreign Langs.	+5.7%	+3.3%	+7.9%	-4.2%
History	+2.9%	+4.6%	+10.8%	-5.5%
Gen. Humanities	+4.7%	+1.8%	+7.3%	-5.0%
Political Science	-1.6%	+.06%	+3.5%	-5.0%
Psychology	+0.9%	+0.8%	+3.1%	-4.0%
Sociology	-7.0%	-5.0%	-5.0%	-15.0%
Education	-8.7%	-4.2%	-10.4%	-15.8%
Speech	-2.7%	not reported	-6.0%	-14.3%
Biology	+4.0%	+3.3%	+5.4%	+8.0%
Mathematics	+12.8%	+13.3%	+2.7%	+26.3%
Chemistry	+7.6%	+7.5%	+2.1%	+18.3%
Business Adm.	-4.5%	-0.8%	-9.1%	-2.3%
Management	-5.4%	-7.7%	not reported	not reported

3. A comprehensive study of college students' scores3 on major tests used for admission to graduate and professional schools (LSAT, GRE, GMAT) shows that students majoring in Philosophy received scores substantially higher than the average on each of the tests studied. A study conducted by the National Institute of Education and reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education compared 550,000 university students taking the GRE (verbal and quantitative), the LSAT, and the GMAT. This study concluded that philosophy majors scored 10% higher than political science majors on the LSAT, philosophy majors scored 15% higher than business majors on the GMAT, and philosophy majors scored higher than all other students on the verbal portion of the GRE.  Only second to mathematics majors and science majors, philosophy majors scored higher than all other humanities majors on the quantitative portions of these standardized tests.

*Philosophy Majors received higher scores on the LSAT than students in all other humanities areas, higher scores than all social and natural science majors except economics and mathematics, and higher scores than all applied majors. Philosophy Majors scored 10% better than political science majors on the LSAT.

*Philosophy Majors outperformed business majors by a margin of 15% on the GMAT and outperformed every other undergraduate major except mathematics.

*Philosophy Majors' scores on the verbal portion of the GRE were higher than in any other major, even English.

*Philosophy Majors scored substantially higher on the GRE than all other humanities majors and were alone among humanities majors in scoring above the overall average.

Data from the Law Schools Admissions Test (LSAT) for 1996-1997 shows that, on the LSAT, philosophy majors outperformed all of the other most popular pre-law and humanities majors.  On average, philosophy students scored 157.0, while religion majors scored 156.6, with economics majors scoring 156.2, and history majors scoring 154.5. English majors scored 153.5, on the average, while political science majors scored 151.5. All in all, philosophy majors scored 4.7 points above the average, while religion majors scored 4.3 points above average, and economics majors scored 3.9 points above the average. Thus, of all the majors examined (which also included journalism, sociology, business, the arts, criminal justice, accounting, and languages), philosophy majors, on average, outperformed all other majors on the LSAT.

4. Data on LSAT performance by major4 can be found at the website of the Virginia Commonwealth University: