Consider how highly philosophy majors score on the most common standardized tests for graduate school admission: the LSAT, the GRE, and the GMAT.
The LSAT
The LSAT, or Law School Admissions Test, is the standardized test required by most law schools for admission. Unlike other admission tests, however, the LSAT does not examine the student’s knowledge of any particular body of information; instead, it tests the skills of reading comprehension, argument discernment and evaluation, and logical reasoning, skills that can be developed only over an extended period of time by an appropriately challenging course of study. A major in philosophy, therefore, is an ideal preparation for success on the LSAT.
Over the years, the numbers have confirmed this conclusion and the latest available data (2002-3) is no exception. Philosophy majors that year
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ranked SECOND out of all majors taking the exam and
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had an average score of 157.4 on the test, 5.2 points higher than the overall (weighted) mean and
At the same time, philosophy majors are traditionally some of the rarest majors in the applicant pool, thus giving them the double advantage of both scoring highly and standing out from the competition.
For more information, see: LSAT Report.
The GRE
The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is used in applications for graduate schools in the arts and sciences. Like the LSAT, the GRE tests the ability to read complex passages, to identify and evaluate arguments, etc., but it also requires test-takers to demonstrate the breath of their vocabulary and their skills in mathematics. Here again philosophy majors excel. According to the latest report from ETS, the designer of the exam, philosophy majors ranked:
For more information, see: ETS Report
The GMAT
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) does for graduate study in management what the LSAT and GRE do for their respective graduate programs. What does philosophy have to do with business? Quite a lot it seems, if we attend to the statistics. In 2003-2004, philosophy majors scored the FOURTH highest overall on the GMAT with a mean score of 580, trailing only the majors from physics, mathematics, and engineering. For a complete table of scores over the past five years, see: GMAC Five Year Summary.