If you love the liberal arts but aren’t sure which field to dive into, consider getting a bachelor’s in humanities degree.
This degree allows you to keep your focus on the liberal arts but doesn’t require you to narrow your interests to a single subject or craft. It’s a versatile degree choice for people who like to keep their options open while avoiding careers more laden with mathematical and scientific requirements.
What is a Humanities Degree?
A bachelor’s degree in the humanities emphasizes your interest in the broader aspects of the English language, literature, and the human condition. Rather than focusing purely on the English language and its application for writing construction, a humanities degree draws its focus from many aspects of liberal arts. Different universities may study different variations or concentrations in the humanities, which are often defined as the stories and arts produced by cultures all over the world.
A bachelor’s degree in the humanities is a great choice if you enjoy many aspects of liberal arts but don’t want to narrow your career field down to a single occupation. A degree in the humanities can allow you to become many things, ranging from an artist to a teacher to a social worker.
Above all, a degree in the humanities emphasizes understanding humanity in our art and our cultures across the world.
How Much Can You Earn with a Humanities Degree?
Because a bachelor’s in humanities degree can lead you down so many different career paths, there isn’t a single salary range that you can expect to earn after you graduate. Instead, your salary will be determined by the exact career you choose and how well you leverage your college experience and connections.
Still, you can look at some of the most common occupations for those with humanities degrees and see what they are to get an estimate of your own potential salary. Writers and authors have a median pay of about $62,170 per year, according to the BLS. Teachers at the high school level have a median pay of $60,320 per year. Social workers typically make $49,470 per year, and those in the media and communication occupations can earn salaries between $30,000 and $70,000 depending on their exact position.
What is Required for a Humanities Degree?
To earn a bachelor’s degree in the humanities, you’ll need to take courses across a broad range of liberal arts subjects, in addition to more generalized education classes. While pursuing your degree, you’ll frequently take classes focusing on:
- English
- Writing
- Communications
- Sociology
- Art
- Psychology
- History
- Alternative Languages
Because there is no single definition of what constitutes a humanities degree, the exact requirements for your degree program will be determined by your university. Most of the time, a lot of reading and writing is needed to fulfill the class requirements for any given program.
What Are the Best Humanities Degrees?
OSR uses six data points: three school-wide and three program specific. For school-wide, OSR uses Student Satisfaction, Admission Rates, and the number of programs the school offers online. For program-specific, OSR checks the Median Debt of graduates from that program, how many degrees are offered within that program’s umbrella department, and what percentage of students at that school graduated from that department.
The six statistics are displayed by each school. The sliding bar under each statistic represents how that school compares to other US institutions. “Not reported” means a school did not release that information to the US Department of Education. A more detailed description of the OSR process can be found on the methodology page.
For a ranking based solely on how much each program will cost you, check out the Most Affordable Online Humanities Degrees.
