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Education

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary

Typically requires Doctoral or professional degree

What is this page & how do I use it?

This is a research report for one career — the kind an analyst would write for a stock. The rating at the top is the neutral baseline (same for everyone); below it come the cases for and against, how the last official forecast for this career actually aged, and what the education path costs and pays.

How to use it: read the bulls-vs-bears case, then hit Score this career to weigh it against your other options with your own interests factored in.

CareerStar rating
RiskyMedium uncertainty

Analyst take: Decent prospects — -0.2% projected growth, moderate AI exposure (53/100).

38
/ 100
low riskhigh
top row = high reward

Moat (borrowed from investing — the water that defends a castle): how shielded this career is from AI. Narrow = some shelter, but AI can reach a real share of its tasks.

The small grid is a style box (borrowed from Morningstar’s fund reports): the blue square places this career on reward (top row = high) versus risk (left column = low), against all 730 careers. Medium uncertainty means the score leans partly on forward-looking bets like AI exposure, so treat the exact number loosely.

🐂 Bulls say
  • +High pay — above 72% of careers ($77,010).
🐻 Bears say
  • Projected to shrink (-0.2%).
📜 Reality check — how the last forecast for this career fared

In 2014, the U.S. government projected +11% growth for this career by 2024. What actually happened: -29%. Reality fell short of the forecast — a reminder that every number on this page is an estimate, and this is how the last one aged. Full back-test →

Was this rating fair?
Projected growth
-0.2%
Median pay
$77,010
AI exposure
53/100
share of tasks exposed to AI — not job loss

Education & ROI — how to get here

Real outcomes for the college majors that feed this occupation, across 3,495 bachelor’s programs.

Median earnings
$33,430
1 year after graduating
Typical debt
$25,000
median federal debt
Pay-to-debt
1.3×
first-year pay ÷ debt
Feeder majors
Physical Education Teaching and CoachingApplied LinguisticsRomance Languages, Literatures, and LinguisticsGermanic Languages, Literatures, and LinguisticsClassics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
Selective schools offering these majors
Stanford University
CA · 4% admit rate
$87,833/yr
$124,080 grad pay
Harvard University
MA · 4% admit rate
$85,540/yr
$101,817 grad pay
Yale University
CT · 4% admit rate
$88,300/yr
$100,533 grad pay
Columbia University in the City of New York
NY · 4% admit rate
$89,472/yr
$102,491 grad pay
University of Chicago
IL · 4% admit rate
$90,360/yr
$91,885 grad pay
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MA · 5% admit rate
$82,730/yr
$143,372 grad pay

Earnings & debt from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard; majors mapped to this occupation via the NCES CIP→SOC crosswalk. A grounded ROI snapshot, not a guarantee — pay varies widely by school and specialty.

What this work involves

teachingeducationpeoplecommunication