The Department of Philosophy offers a major leading to the degree Bachelor of Arts. Some outstanding features of the Department’s B.A. program are:
All members of the faculty hold doctorates in philosophy. They are active scholars who are committed to teaching. All members of the faculty regularly teach lower-division courses, including general education courses. Feedback from students and graduates consistently praises the quality of teaching in the department along with faculty attention to and concern for students.
The department’s strong M. A. program attracts promising young teacher/scholars who carry out indirect instructional responsibilities under the direct supervision of faculty. Although graduate assistants are not assigned sole responsibility for an undergraduate course, their responsibilities do include grading, tutoring, maintaining regular office hours, mentoring, and conducting discussion sections. With the availability of teaching assistants, undergraduates have easy access to additional help with questions or problems that arise out of course assignments or lectures.
While situated within a large and diverse multipurpose university, the philosophy program is comparatively small. Undergraduates receive individualized attention from their professors, student/faculty interaction is frequent, and upper-division class sizes are conducive to in-depth discussion and dialogue. Surveys of current majors and of recent graduates indicate these factors as being among the program's greatest strengths. The B.A. program in philosophy was chartered in 1972 by Phi Sigma Tau, the National Honor Society in Philosophy.
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).
| 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 |
(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.)
NIU Career Services provides assistance with career decision making, career preparation, internships, job search, and graduate school admission. The Philosophy page of the NIU Major WebLinks provides a wealth of career-related information for Philosophy majors.
Prospective students with questions about the Philosophy program should contact the Department at askPhilosophy@niu.edu