As a new crop of college students arrive on American campuses this fall, many will be forced to consider whether to major in a more creative, "softer" discipline like English, or begin charting their career path with a "hard" major like business or physics.
While the liberal arts are often bemoaned for offering few post-college job opportunities, the truth is that a great many of our nation's most successful business executives and political figures spent their undergraduate careers studying things like classics and psychology.
Here are 29 extremely successful people who prove that it's possible to climb the ladder without a bachelor's degree in business or science.
Carolyn Cutrone and Max Nisen contributed reporting to this article.
Mitt Romney, former Bain Capital CEO, majored in English at Brigham Young University
Mitt Romney acquired a multimillion dollar fortune running private equity firm Bain Capital. His success in business was a popular selling point during his 2012 presidential campaign.
But he didn't get that background from an undergraduate degree. He actually graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in English before going on to Harvard to get his M.B.A. and J.D.
Peter Thiel, PayPal cofounder, majored in 20th century philosophy at Stanford University
Peter Thiel was the cofounder and CEO of PayPal, later becoming the first outside investor in Facebook and a managing partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund.
Despite his well-publicized criticism of higher education, Thiel got his undergraduate degree in 20th Century Philosophy at Stanford in 1989, and a law degree in 1992. He also cofounded a conservative campus newspaper, The Standford Review, in 1987.
Ken Chenault, American Express CEO, majored in history at Bowdoin College
Ken Chenault has been the CEO and Chairman of American Express since 2001, and is a director at IBM.
Studying history at Bowdoin College helped him decide he wanted to change the system from within, rather than working outside of it.
"I was a history major at Bowdoin and as I looked at different movements in different stages in history, it was clear to me that it was important to have some segments of any particular group work within the system," he says in an interview with Bowdoin Magazine. "These people could bring an enlightened view or a different set of perspectives. I thought to work totally outside the system was destructive and counter-productive in the long term."
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