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University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Why Philosophy

Graduate School Preparation
Graduate School Preparation

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  1. A comprehensive study* of college students' scores 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Philosophy Majors outperformed business majors by a margin of 15% on the GMAT and outperformed every other undergraduate major except mathematics.
  4. Philosophy Majors' scores on the verbal portion of the GRE were higher than in any other major, even English.
  5. 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.
    • The study compared the scores of 550,000 college students who took the LSAT, GMAT, and the verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE with data collected over the previous eighteen years and was conducted by the National Institute of Education and reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

    These study results are affirmed by a recent publication (2005-06) of the Educational Testing Service on the GRE.

      *This text is adapted, with a few changes, from Careers for Philosophers, prepared by the American Philosophical Association Committee on Career Opportunities, and from The Philosophy Major, a statement prepared under the auspices of the Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association. These texts are available from the APA online at the following address: http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/index.html.