Worst College Majors for Your Career

[Canuckguy]

I guess the moral of the story is this: Students do not choose their majors as much as their majors choose them.

[xelink]

These are all excellent majors. They supplement studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Economics/Business VERY WELL.

I would argue that the skills developed by these fields are sorely lacking in many industries.



Now if you make any of these your primary major for the sake of fulfillment, you might need to double minor in unemployment and pan handling to prepare for your future.



This goes out the window if you go to HYPS though, graduate from the top of your class and have substantial work/internship experience.

[kayf]

Havent read all. My sister was a sociology major. Got an MBS years later. Now has 60B under management.

[MOM1006]

I still have not gotten an answer... What about Political science???

[LoremIpsum]

What about Political science?

That's an oxymoron if I ever heard one, right up there with jumbo shrimp and Microsoft Works.

[ChoatieMom]

What about Political science?

Perhaps your kid will end up in government or President; that's just a risk all parents face.

[MOM1006]

I have twins-- both totally different. My daughter who is at college is following her path-- researcher. One of my son wants to go into Political science and other is thinking of civil engineering. The Pol. Sci has a higher GPA....

[LoremIpsum]

The Pol. Sci has a higher GPA....

It's easier to get a high GPA in pol sci and related humanities classes than in engineering and related math and physics classes.

[Catria]

Anthropology and sociology could be useful in a security, a marketing or a communications department...

[lastminutemom196]

When I went to college, the first wave of my parents' friends were starting to divorce. Many of the wives had no skills and nothing to land on. My mother had a masters degree and had worked on and off through most of my childhood, because she wanted to, not because she had too. Both my parents had a strong sense, well before it was the norm, that women had to be self sufficient and able to support themselves.

My parents required that I major in something that led to employment. No English degree for me. I was lucky because I was easily able to double major and got one professional degree and one liberal arts degree. I have done a whole host of things, including graduate school, where both degrees were essential to the task at hand.

My college student is majoring in a professional field because it is his passion. I am lucky because we haven't faced those discussions about what comes next. He knows his direction and his compass only points one way.

[Consolation]

The world is full of people with English degrees that led to employment.

[cromette]

Lastminutemom - I was taught the same thing. Whatever you do, you HAVE to be able to support yourself, and whatever children you decide to bring into this world, independent of anyone else.

That lesson served me well.

My parents were both educators. Elementary Ed. and Secondary Ed - English major. They told me they would send me to school to be anything I wanted to be EXCEPT a teacher. LOL. The truth was, they were not at a place in their lives where they could afford to send me to school at all. I got a 2 year technical degree which led to a very lucrative technical career.

[ThereseR]

Well said, Classof2015.

[SteveMA]

lastminutemom196--I agree with Consolation, English is a very good springboard to a lot of careers. A couple friends were English majors and are now MD's. Some family friends were both English majors and now own a multi-million dollar publishing company after starting their careers as high school English teachers, etc. As people have said, it's all in what you DO with your degree, not so much what your degree is in.

[lastminutemom196]

SteveMA

There is some truth in what you say, but if you need to work straight out of school, have a professional earned during your undergraduate years may make things easier. I graduated during a regional recessional and it was harder for those with liberal arts degrees to find any work in the area than those who had earned business degrees, etc. (In some states, you have to have a education degree or a teaching certificate to go along with that English degree to teach. In my state, you absolutely have to be certified to teach. It may not be right, but it is what it is.)

For parents who want their kids to easily be able to support themselves, after earning an undergraduate degree, it is something to think about. If you are truly ok with the living in the van concept, than that is great.



To the poster who has asked about political science degrees, your student needs to be working and doing internships in their field of interest. In many areas, work experience is as important as the degree you earn.