Career Options After MA in India in 2025: What To Do After MA?

A Master of Arts or an M.A. degree in India is among the most common higher education specializations. It often attracts undergraduates from different streams as well. It is quite well-reputed since this degree qualification indicates a mastery of the subject.

Social Science is among the top subject areas for master’s degree aspirants in India. This indicates the popularity of social science courses in India.

A series of specializations are offered in an M.A. degree course leading to a variety of career options after MA. Some specializations are English, history, political science, psychology, economics, and sociology.

Curious to know what's next after an M.A? Read along to find out the best job roles after an M.A in India

Top 10 career options after M.A in India

The real question that often comes after graduation: "What’s next?" With the job market in India expanding across diverse sectors, there’s no shortage of opportunities for M.A. graduates to build successful careers. From academia and research to corporate roles and creative industries, the options are as vast as they are rewarding.

Let's explore the top 10 career paths that M.A. graduates can consider:

JOB PROFILE	AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY
Teacher	2.9 lakhs
Website Content Writer	2.9 lakhs
Historian	4.6 lakhs
Policy Analyst	7.1 lakhs
Social Worker	2.9 lakhs
Manager (PR)	7 lakhs
Counsellor	3.7 lakhs
Content Strategist	7.7 lakhs
Archivist	9.89 lakhs
Journalist	4 lakhs

Now, let’s discuss these career options in detail:

1. Teacher

As a teacher, you work as an educator to facilitate the teaching and learning process, encourage critical thinking, and support the growth of students.

Key Role

• Creating lesson plans and delivering lectures
• Partake in classroom Mana 
• Assess the progress of the entire classroom 
• Work in collaboration with other entities involved, parents and teachers to enable all-round support for students 

Where do you work?

• Primary, secondary, and senior secondary schools
• Tuition centers
• Vocational centers
• Online education platforms

2. Website Content Writer

A website content writer works on producing interesting, educational, and SEO-friendly content. The focus of a web content writer is to inculcate creative writing that is easily understandable and persuasive.

Key Role

• Researching and writing high-quality articles and blogs
• Inculcating SEO practices to rank websites on search engines
• Reviewing and editing content to make sure it is coherent and devoid of errors
• Performing audience analysis to customize the content as per consumer 

Where do you work?

• Marketing agencies
• Content agencies
• Freelance/self-employed 
• E-commerce websites
• NGOs and NPOs
• Startups 

3. Historian

A historian investigates, enquires, and interprets historical events, societies, and civilizations to advance historical knowledge.

Key Role

• Partaking in in-depth research  using primary and secondary sources like historical archives and libraries
• analyzing historical data to find  the impact of past events on present and future 
• Working on publications and writing papers to record historical study results 
• Act as an advisor to government agencies, museums, and organizations by providing expert knowledge 
• Get involved in community engagement initiatives to attract public interest in history studies

Where do you work?

• Schools
• Colleges/universities 
• Museums
• Publishing houses
• Consulting firms
• Government agencies and think tanks

4. Policy Analyst

A policy analyst works on assessing, evaluating, and creating policies and laws to assist public, non-profit, and commercial sectors in making policy decisions.

Key Role

• Researching the impact of ongoing policies
• Working on preparing reports for research findings 
• Developing new and modified policy ideas 
• Track the performance of policies and programs and suggest improvements

Where do you work?

• Think tanks
• International organizations 
• Universities 
• Non-profit organizations 
• Government agencies

5. Social Worker

As a social worker, your work entails enhancing the quality of life and well-being of people by norms of social justice and empowerment.

Key Role

• Devising support plans to the needs of the client
• Ensuring the provision of community resources to people in need
• Working in crisis situations 
• Maintaining records to monitor work progress
• Providing support and counseling assistance to individual or group

Where do you work?

• NGOs
• Schools
• Government agencies
• Healthcare organizations 
• Private practice 

 

6. PR Manager

As a PR Manager, you are involved in maintaining a positive public image for your organization and working on strategies to improve the same.

Key Role

•  Planning PR strategies in alignment with company goals and motto
• Maintaining media relations to maintain a positive image
• Handling crises and issues at hand 
• Overseeing quality content creation
• Planning and executing press events
• Handling internal communications 

Also Read: PR Salary in India

Where do you work?

• PR firms
• NPOs
• Corporate companies
• Talent agencies
• Healthcare organizations 

7. Counsellor

As a trained professional, you work on ordering assistance and guidance to people going through emotional or psychological turmoil. They provide complete assistance towards the oath of personal development and well-being.

Key Role

• Provide counseling support to individuals 
• Assessing the client needs to devise a plan of action
• Brainstorming with clients to work on small yet impactful goals
• Taking charge in crises 
• Tracking client progress and improvement 

Where do you work?

•  Hospitals
• Schools
• Drug addiction rehabilitation centers
• Corporate setups
• Mental health clinics                                

8. Content Strategist

In this role, you are responsible for ensuring effective content creation that appeals to target groups and blends with set marketing objectives.

Key Role

• Taking charge of planning content 
• Performing SEO analysis 
• Conducting audience analysis and research to enquire about target group needs
• Working in collaboration with designers, creators, and writers 
• Collaborating with another team to ensure content alignment with organizational goals 

Where do you work?

• E-commerce companies
• NPOs
• Digital marketing firms
• Freelancing
• Media organizations 
• Corporate marketing teams

9. Archivist

As an archivist, you are in charge of gathering, conserving, and supervising historical records.

Key Role

• Assessing available material to check if meets the criteria to be considered historically important 
• Performing techniques to conserve and protect documents and other historical materials 
• Organizing exhibits and assistant in management 
• Working on digitization initiatives and projects 

Where do you work?

• Museums 
• Government agencies 
• Universities 
• Libraries
• Corporates 

10. Journalist

A journalist is entrusted with being the public’s voice, who works on gathering, verifying news, and informing the public about current events and findings. They are responsible for promoting informed citizens through their service in journalism. 

Key Role

• Deeply investigating news stories
• Conducting interviews of public and prominent figures along with audience
• Ensuring fact-checking, accuracy, and truthful information 
• work in unpredictable work settings with adaptability skills

Where do you work?

• Television broadcasting stations
• Newspapers
• Radio stations 
• Magazines
• Freelance

What are the top specializations within M.A

SPECIALIZATION	AVERAGE BASE PAY(annual)
M.A in Political Science	3.72 lakhs
M.A in Economics	6.26 lakhs
M.A in History	4.94 lakhs
M.A in Sociology	3.13 lakhs
M.A in English	4.36 lakhs
M.A in Psychology	4.85 lakhs

You can also read: 

• Salary of MA Political Science: Top Career Opportunities & Salary Details for MA Political Science
• Scope of MA in History: Top Ranking Jobs For Freshers & Experienced
• Scope of MA in Sociology: Career Opportunities & Top Job Roles [2025]

Future trends in M.A studies in India

The higher education market in India is huge with being second highest in the world. Higher education and job prospects after MA course in India are manifold. 

Exploring future trends becomes crucial to better predicting the job market and working on improving skills. We can predict the following trends in MA studies in the future:

• Inculcation of global perspectives
• Rise in interdisciplinary studies
• Technological integration
• Strengthened university collaboration with industries
• Importance of development of soft skills
• Sustainability education and measures
• Digital education and learning

Also Read: Scope of MA in Political Science: Top Ranking Jobs [For Freshers & Experienced]

Conclusion 

India offers a diverse range of job opportunities after MA, which students can leverage to align with their preferred area of specialization. Gone are the days when humanities and liberal arts had limited career scope in India.

As the job market advances, traditional study programs must reform their curricula to be at par with current events and needs. Moreover, importance should be given to cross-disciplinary studies in academia.

In order to prepare graduates to take on today's challenges and make significant contributions to society, MA programs are changing to suit the demands of a changing labor market.

In case you want to further explore your career options, you can book a free counseling session with upGrad and you will be mentored by our seasoned counseling experts!