I'm Canadian and I have my BA in history and am currently getting a graduate certificate in career development (so I can help people find employment they are content with) and here are my thoughts.

Pros: - You'll have strong skills in research, reading and communication which are versatile and are sought after by employers in a variety of sectors. - History is a fascinating subject and can open your eyes to a variety of different topics and cultures. Personally I've found this has made me more empathetic, understanding and tolerant. - You will actually understand what is happening in the news and why it is happening. This is also why I'd personally recommend taking courses on Middle Eastern, African and Asian history. - You will meet a lot of passionate and interesting people and constantly have your perceptions and world views tested. - On average you'll likely only have 15-20 hours of class time a week. - You can go to pretty much any university which means you have more flexibility for where you want to live and dealing with tuition and living costs. - Having a BA is a great degree to have because it is so general and it can be a great jumping off point into a wide variety of fields. Despite what people say, you can get a good job (though what classifies as a good job for people is very personal) with a BA if you know how to market yourself and your skills properly. There are also a wide variety of additional programs you can look into.

Cons: - Having a BA in history is often just a starting off point to further education, depending on what you want to do. This can mean graduate school, teachers collage (and teaching is a troubling profession to get into currently - at least in Canada) or college. If you only want to do the 3-4 year minimum then this might not be a good fit. - There are so many different options it can be daunting to pick what you want to do, plus most recommendations are actually pretty limited in scope so you have to do your research. You can do more than be a history teacher or an archivist. - People are going to look down on you for having a history degree - just look at the comments. Everyone will either tell you they hated studying history in school or ask what you plan to do with a degree, implying that you will end up in a low wage, low skilled job. - The work you do while in university is reading, researching and writing. If you hate having to do a lot of reading for school or writing essays then this is not a field to get into.