Where Do Liberal Arts Grads Land After College?

More pursue advanced degrees than those in other majors

Where do liberal arts and humanities graduates go after graduation?

Three in five liberal arts bachelor’s degree graduates (60.5%) from the Class of 2014 landed full-time jobs or a place in graduate school within six months of graduation, according to results of a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Class of 2014 First-Destination Survey found that 42.2% of liberal arts and humanities graduates were in full-time positions while 18.3% were in graduate or professional school.

Those results are in line with overall outcomes of the survey, which found that two-thirds of the class had a full-time job or was accepted into graduate or professional school within the same time period.

However, the employment/graduate school mix differs between liberal arts grads and the class as a whole. Liberal arts and humanities graduates were more likely to pursue an advanced degree than the class overall (18.3% versus 16.4%), and less likely to have a full-time job (42.2% versus 55.4%).

Within the liberal arts disciplines, the preference for further education is more striking: Philosophy (27.8%), foreign languages (25.1%), history (24%), area studies (21.5%), liberal arts/general studies (21.2%), and English majors (19.8%) all exceeded the overall average handily.

Only visual and performing arts majors bucked the trend. In fact, just 12.3% took the path to an advanced degree, falling below the overall average.

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