NorthWestLover

Go to that website, and click on "Alternatives To College". The first thing on the list is to "Join the military."

I might be politically biased, but I think there's something wrong with that. Well, maybe not wrong. But I just thought that was kind of funny that that's the first thing they mention in their article.

shawbridge

With some fields, you learn a way of thinking even if you don't apply the specifics of what you learned. I've never studied Classics or Celtic Literature, so I don't know if that is the case with those fields. You do find people who've become successful in life "despite" majoring in those fields. One of my college roommates majored in English and specialized in Irish poetry. He worked after college at a not terrific job, went to business school, and became the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. I doubt the experience of parsing Byron and John Millington Synge directly helped him, but he was/is a bright, effective guy. Another roommate also majored in English, I think, and runs a major non-profit. An engineer became a utility engineer. I'm sure that they both have higher incomes than the engineer and are definitely not homeless. So, who's to say that choosing an impractical degree will harm you economically.

SamK

The original site owner's message is that students should be careful of falling into a financial aid trap:

"Some graduating high school seniors have a passion for a certain career path or an area of interest. But many are just not sure what they want to do. Our message is this: When in doubt, pursue a practical education or an alternative to college. If you are considering borrowing a bucket-full of money in order to attend college, be even more practical!"

"The availability of student loans, grants, and other financial aid has made college education possible for many more people than ever before. However, the availability of this money has created a large group of people who borrow carelessly with little or no planning, and without setting realistic goals or objectives. We believe that students, parents, guidance counselors – everyone involved in career planning needs to conduct a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of pursuing a specific college degree."

"Allow me to personalize the message here: I have a passion for drinking beer and watching professional football on television but I have yet to find a way to earn a living at it. When it came to college, however, I studied Mathematics, Computer Science, and Business – hoping to be able to utilize my degree to launch me on a satisfying and profitable career in business , thus affording me the free time and resources to occasionally drink beer and watch sports on television."

Emlie

"Yale doesn't have a major in agrarian studies... or anything remotely close to it.
That's 100% made up.

We do have Classical Civilization and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies... both of which are pretty good departments. Yale's classics department is more or less the best you're going to find in the country."

Um... Agrarian Studies Front Door

Yale does so have an Agrarian Studies major. o_o

arbiter213

Finally, a list of useless majors that doesn't include Philosophy

al6200

This guy's point is definitely valid, and whether he's bitter or not is completely irrelevant to his message. One should think about going to college and do a cost-benefit analysis, rather than blindly assuming that it's the best path for them, or that they should do it for status.

For example, I made the decision to go to a school that would put me 30-40k in debt, but I know that the school is pretty average for the field I'm going into, and majors from that field start at 50-60k per year, which would allow me to pay off the debt in reasonable amount of time.

Also I know that my alternative career, which I would be able to enter into with only one year of community college, would only pay 30-40k a year, and would be much more vulnerable to outsourcing.

MBP

okay, yes I think that the list of majors is ridiculous. However, the main point of the site that has taken so much crap, I think, is a very valid one.
I think what you guys don't realize is that many of your sons and daughters (or yourselves) are going to some of the best colleges in the United States.
I am taking classes at a mid-sized state college (not even the flagship U), and there is an astounding number of students that are taking classes and wasting their parents and their own money because they didn't know what to do after high school, and college seemed like a way to put off making a decision.

The point of the website is a good one. If you don't have a real clear idea (or even at least a vague idea) of what you want to do while in college, take some time to consider it. Yes, it may be unfortunate, because this will be the time when you will get the best financial aid and othe scholarship offers, but if you end up paying 20K a year anyway for a degree that you chose because you were running out of time, will it really do you any good?

oops, cross posted with the one above.

MolSysBio

Finally, a list of useless majors that includes Women's Studies

bananaslug

I'm sorry but for a lot of people, doing what's practical won't make them happy in the long run. Even if going into Computer Engineering is what will make me unbelievably wealthy, my heart isn't into it. You should do what you love and then mold a career into that, not just follow what you think is where the money's at. People who do that end up regretting what they've done with their lives.
And I think Agrarian Studies would be facinating!

2collegewego

Corn guy probably chose that dissertation topic with an eye toward biofuels.

Mombot

The mother of a peace studies major says who cares--I work in IT and the analysts on my team have degrees in 1) Italian Literature 2) Early Childhood Education 3) Engineering (gotta wonder about that one LOL) 4) mathematics 5) no degree-career Navy 6) Economics

It ABSOLUTELY does not matter what your undergrad degree is in if you can think logically, communicate fluently and have a basic statistics grounding. Math through calculus is helpful as it is good mental training, but these kids get that in high school.

It's true--businesses do hire all kinds of people and ability tends to manifest itself.

I had the opportunity to work with a group of McKinsey consultants on a big project recently and I was amazed at their cluelessness. They are all brilliant and they all went to the very best schools and all have stellar credentials. But they have never just had a job. None of them ever had to meet a sales quota or deal with an angry customer or had to produce a certain number of widgets within a set budget. They are all really really good at taking tests and going to school and they do that for 18 years and then they are somehow deemed to know about how we should run businesses.

I am all for business schools--I think they are important in many ways. It is a lot easier for me to get people with business training to see the big picture, but the details are really, really important too and that is where the Italian Literature guy is invaluable. Nobody else notices the misplaced comma or the fact that the typo on the call in number is sending our customers to a porn line.

bananaslug

Wow did that actually happen? Good save eh?

jkojkl

I majored in Medieval Studies at Vassar. This was quite a few years ago and, at the time, this course was an independent major and separate from Renaissance Studies. Having been unexposed to Renaissance thinking, I suppose that I am lacking enlightenment and, therefore, must qualify as the most uselessly educated person on the planet. At least I've been able to eek-out a meagre existance as a portfolio manager for the last 25 years.

paying3tuitions

Ha, arbiter!
I was celebrating not seeing Art History on the list.

Roll over Beethoven and tell Tschaikovsky the news.

kwijiborjt

"Um... Agrarian Studies Front Door

Yale does so have an Agrarian Studies major. o_o"

Yale does NOT have an Agrarian studies major. Look at the web page. That is not a major at Yale college. It's a program offered by the university. Look at the programs... it offers a colloquium, a grad program, and a postdoc program. Yale offers lots of programs that have nothing to do with the undergraduate college. If there were a major, it would be included in the Yale College Programs of Study and would have a list of 10-14 courses required for a degree. And as far as i can tell, the grad 'program' is just a seminar and a colloquium... i doubt they'd even grant a degree for that. Maybe a certificate.

Given other questions in this post, this list obviously wasn't very well researched.