Humanities at Emory
Forge your path to the future.
Forge Your Path to the Future
When you study the humanities at the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, you forge a bold and ambitious path to the future.
You say yes to possibility, both now and for a lifetime. You will prepare for your future with confidence, knowing that your humanities education equips you with the broad knowledge and skills to embrace a variety of professional and academic opportunities after graduation. No matter what pathway you pursue, the curiosity, creativity, and flexibility at the core of your studies will give you an edge in a rapidly changing world.
Curious about what you'll learn and accomplish as a humanities student at Emory? Feeling pressure to choose a "practical" major, or concerned about graduate school and career outcomes with a humanities degree?
Keep scrolling to discover what it means to study the humanities at Emory and how to forge your own path to the future.
Say Yes to Possibility
The humanities create opportunities—now and for a lifetime.
When you study the humanities at Emory, you explore how humans have experienced and documented their world—across time, space, language, and culture.
A humanities education takes place within and beyond the classroom, as you apply your knowledge and skills to research projects, internships, service, study abroad, and public scholarship on the Emory campus, in Atlanta, and throughout the nation and the world.
When you pursue the exciting possibilities of your studies in the humanities, you forge a distinctive pathway for intellectual and personal growth during your years as an Emory student and beyond.
Academic rigor and intellectual breadth prepare you for success.
With over 40 majors and minors to choose from, humanities students explore everything from the origins of nations and the role of digital media in activist movements to the powerful narratives that shape our understanding of bodies, health, and medicine. You study art, language, and knowledge from many critical perspectives and examine the histories and undercurrents that shaped their creation.
From your first introductory course to your last advanced seminar in the humanities, you undertake this learning within a vibrant intellectual community of more than 25 departments and programs as well as interdisciplinary centers like the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry or the Center for the Study of Human Health.
Prepare for Your Future with Confidence
Meet the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Not only will a humanities education create pathways to possibilities during your time as an Emory student—a humanities degree prepares you to meet the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond.
A growing body of data suggests that the skills at the center of a humanities education—effective communication, critical reasoning, collaboration, ethical judgment, and complex problem solving—are ones that employers in all sectors seek.1 Experts also forecast that the need for these skills will only continue to increase in an age of constant technological innovation and a rapidly changing world.2
At its core, a humanities education instills in you the ability to be agile and learn new things quickly, regardless of the pathway you pursue—giving you a clear edge in the job market of the future and careers that haven't even been invented yet.
[The humanities] provide a more reliable foundation for. . . an uncertain future, equipping students with the capacities they need to learn, grow, and adapt to changing realities throughout their lifetime. . . The humanities provide students with the tools they need to rise to the challenges of 21st century leadership.
A humanities degree will take you places.
Our alumni are living proof that a humanities education will take you places in your years after Emory.
Leaders with a background in the humanities at Emory pursue successful careers in many fields and sectors. Across the nation and the world, Emory graduates translate their study of language and storytelling into careers in digital media marketing, medicine, and public health. Our alumni leverage their analytical acumen to develop apps and software, and they communicate effectively across lines of difference to solve dilemmas and drive sound strategy in nonprofits, law, policy, and businesses.
Considering graduate school? Humanities majors excel on graduate school entrance exams—and not just the GRE or the LSAT but the MCAT and GMAT, too. They are accepted and matriculate at higher-than-average rates to medical and law schools.3
Regardless of what the future holds, you can be certain that with a humanities education from Emory, you're prepared to boldly embrace opportunities that come your way—today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Forge Your Path
Ready to forge your bold and ambitious path toward the future through the humanities at Emory?
Discover. Browse Emory College's 40+ humanities majors and minors and explore how Emory students have said yes to possibility in the humanities. Check out Emory Edge, Undergraduate Research Programs, and the Office of International and Summer Programs to see how to connect your humanities coursework to internships, research, service, study abroad, and more.
Contact. Meet with your advisor to discuss opportunities in the humanities, and reach out to faculty to learn more about what it means to study the humanities at Emory.
Connect. Hear directly from Emory humanities alumni about their pathways after graduation by attending an Alumni Connections event or viewing recordings of past conversations in English, Music, Religion, German Studies, and more. Sign up for a Career Discovery Day or reach out on Emory Connects to see the humanities at work in all kinds of professional pathways.
To learn more about how Emory is changing the conversation about the value of a humanities degree, visit Mellon Humanities Pathways or contact humanities.pathways@emory.edu.
In addition to the sources cited below, we are grateful to the following resources for supplying information, infographics, and images for this digital story: National Humanities Alliance, Study the Humanities Toolkit; National Humanities Center, "Some Fast Facts about the Humanities;" and the Emory Source Book. "Employers Prioritize Innovation and Transferable Skills" infographic republished with permission from How Liberal Arts and Sciences Majors Fare in Employment by Debra Humphreys and Patrick Kelly. Copyright 2014 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
1. "Employers Actively Seek Humanities Majors' Skills," Study the Humanities Toolkit, National Humanities Alliance, 2021, https://www.studythehumanities.org/point_1_valued_skills.
2. "Demand for Humanities Skills Will Increase in the Age of Automation," Study the Humanities Toolkit, National Humanities Alliance, 2021, https://www.studythehumanities.org/point_1_future_of_work.
3. "Humanities Majors Outperform Their Peers on Several Measures" Study the Humanities Toolkit, National Humanities Alliance, 2021, hthttps://www.studythehumanities.org/majors_thrive_point_1.
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