<p>NYULawyer, Are you a recent immigrant or the child of one from the Third World, because you sound like one of those (linear thinking) Third World parents? People are not as desperate for money (minute to minute) in the west like those in the Third World. There is always an opportunity waiting around the corner here. One has to wait, but it does show up. There is a reason the west does not want to turn all it’s children into CS and Engineering majors, most importantly, they can be lopsided and lack perspective. There is too much insecurity in your posts.</p>
<p>The girl in the video is hooked into the fundamentalist Christian network. They are powerful and have money. They know she is smart. She has proven it with her degree. In about ten years you might be working for her.</p>
<p>Some go up and down more than others. Chem E./Petroleum E. is tied to the oil and gas industry which went through a few down cycles, like in the 80s when the price of oil went through the floor. CS has been pretty stable for a long time - maybe a bit of a dip after the dotbomb era but not for long. Nursing is cyclic and hard work but with experience you can find work and the good thing is you can live anywhere and get a position. </p>
<p>I don’t agree at all with the viewpoint that we should just throw up our hands because we can’t predict the future. That’s why we have a brain so we can think about the future and make choices based on imperfect information. I’d rather take my chances on enginnering than hope that the market for Chief Philosphical Officers somehow explodes in the next four years turning my philosophy degree into a goldmine.</p>
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<p>Why the insults perazziman? In case you haven’t noticed the east (i.e., China Inc.) will soon own the west and we’re trading it to them for cheap clothes and electronics.</p>
<p>This is absolutely hilarious. Tell that to those 17 million Americans with a college degree who work in retail. </p>
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<p>Are you still in high school? I understand you are young and lacking knowledge in how the job market functions. Your theory is interesting, but I would rather be that guy who ends up with a great career-track job who is “lopsided and lacking perspective” rather than ending up waiting tables with a useless liberal arts degree. </p>
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<p>I am not insecure. I have a good job lined up. The path I’ve taken so far has been very high risk, high-reward path, but if I could do it again, I would play the game safe(r).</p>
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<p>I think you may be reading too much fiction. The real world is not a fairy tale. College is not the end game. It is merely a stepping stone to get to where you want to be. A rational person should consider how to maximize his chance of success given the available choice sets he has, and I do think the choice of college major falls into that equation.</p>
<p>As someone who is from the east who grew up, lived and worked in the east, I am asking a simple question. OP has expressed an anti-humanties education view that I had frequently encountered when I was there. I do not think it is insulting to inquire about the world op is from.</p>
<p>Parents also born and raised in the USA? I asked specifically about the parents, since most of us grow up in a world influenced by their ideas. Thanks.</p>
<p>Where I would agree with you is that even in CS or engineering, there are fluctuations in demand for labor. Where we fundamentally disagree is that at least there is always demand for labor with these skills, while the demand for BA in Psychology doesn’t seem to really exist regardless of economy.</p>
<p>Like I mentioned, even if economy goes sour, someone with BS in engineering/ math/ CS has legitimate Plan B options to work with. (such as riding out the economy and going back for advanced degree in eng/CS/math, etc) I’ve never heard of someone with a PhD in an engineering discipline not being able to find an employment. </p>
<p>One way someone can easily find out which college majors are in demand from many employers is to go onto a job search site and pay attention to the requirements that each employer imposes under ‘successful applicants’. You will see many employers listing “BA in accountancy, BS in engineering, BS in statistics, etc” under the requirements section for ‘ideal employee’. You will have hard time finding an employer listing “BA in Philosophy, BA in Psychology” as desired background from applicants.</p>
<p>It should be reiterated that, not all humanities degrees are equal, as mentioned. If you are a humanities student at a top institution such as Harvard, if you play your cards right, you can break into lucrative careers namely investment banking or management consulting. However, those jobs tend to go to very top students and middling students, even at top Ivies, can’t really touch those jobs and face the risk of graduating unemployed. Hence, my view that a BA in humanities at a top school entails high upward potential, yet high risk.</p>
<p>Yes. Btw, my personal background doesn’t have much to do with the issue in hand, as this issue is relevant for most American college students, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Also, my personal background should be none of your business.</p>
<p>From the tone of your previous posts in other threads (below), it sounds like you are terribly disenchanted with the choices you made. I’m not sure why you started this thread, other to beat the drums of warning for all others that seek to follow in your footsteps.</p>
<p>"Take it for what it’s worth. From my experience of meeting many students at my school (top 6 law), I’ve met dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals who went to colleges I’ve never heard of. Yet, they all made it to a top school.</p>
<p>In reality - it is all about your LSAT score, followed by your GPA. You can be a chemical engineering major from MIT with 3.8 GPA, but if your LSAT is 162, your application to HLS is most likely going straight to a garbage can, while that kid with 174 LSAT with a B.A. in history from Rutgers would merit a serious consideration in front of admissions committee at HLS. Fair? Perhaps not. But it is what it is.</p>
<p>One piece of advice - it is a terrible idea to treat your college as a mere stepping stone to get into a law school. Law industry isn’t very healthy now, and won’t be for a long time in future. Plenty of my classmates are jobless at the moment, despite having T6 law school credentials. What I am saying is don’t hedge 100% of your bets on law. Go to college and learn what would be useful to employers. Trust me, you will be thankful that you did."</p>
<p>"There are many people at my law school who went to Harvard or Princeton. Most of them came to law school, precisely because of lack of job options after graduation. Heck, my roommate is a Yale alum (government major) who was unemployed for two full years after college, and came to law school as a last resort - despite having no interest in practicing law. For him, it was either getting a job in a non-profit organization for 35-40k a year best case scenario, or go to a top law school to take a shot at a high paying corporate law job. </p>
<p>I would venture to guess that 99% of ppl at my law school (a top 6) would drop out of law school in a heart beat, if they can get an offer as an analyst at Goldman or McKinsey. Yes, that would include me."</p>
<p>I am not “disenchanted” with the choices I made so far, since I am very lucky to be one of those few winners that scored a 160k starting job straight out of law school. However, I will be the first one to admit that the choice of major that I pursued back in college was indeed a very high-risk one, and I don’t recommend others to make the same choice. If I majored in a super marketable degree back in college, I wouldn’t be in law school to begin with, incurring 250k in debt.</p>
<p>Also - I do believe that starting a discussion like this could be beneficial to more prospective students in their future endeavors, more than 99% of other threads I’ve seen around here.</p>
<p>You may not want to admit it, but this issue merits serious consideration for many, as 17 million Americans with a college degree work in jobs that don’t require a college degree, and many more who are straight up unemployed despite having a college degree.</p>
<p>Lastly - I hope you have something better to do than to look up someone’s post history. (and quite frankly, come across as creepy)</p>
<p>“Lastly - I hope you have something better to do than to look up someone’s post history. (and quite frankly, come across as creepy)”</p>
<p>Sorry, but when someone with just a few posts on CC repeatedly beats the drum on a thread time-and-time again, something else usually is going on.</p>
<p>Hardly. Since you seem to have some free time, I encourage you to watch the replay of presidential debates. The biggest pressing issue that both Obama and Romney talked about are jobs, especially for those who are coming out of school.</p>
<p>Why do you think the politicians are so focused on this issue. Well, that is because this issue impacts the lives of millions of Americans. </p>
<p>Those entering college, especially in this economic climate, should go with eyes wide open, and quite frankly, should pay close attention to how to best maximize their employment potential in future. College is not the end game. It is means to an end.</p>
<p>“Tell that to those 17 million Americans with a college degree who work in retail.”</p>
<p>Corporate retail positions are extremely lucrative, well into six figures. You won’t land that kind of salary right out of college, but it can happen surprisingly fast with the right retailer, which is any retailer worth their salt, Target, Disney Consumer Products, etc.</p>
<p>Just like I told you, if you had been an engineer you would not have had the 250k debt, but probably would not make the $160k salary either. Unfortunately, it is not enough to retire on, so you will have to keep your nose burried in it and pray you don’t get fired … If you are lucky you should be able to score a $1 million one of these years like I did) and things will become comfortable for you and you can play with your computer like I do everyday.</p>
<p>By the way, no, I am not in high school. You are not applying for a job that I cannot ask you questions about your background on this board or that people have to mind their own business. It is time to grow up.</p>
<p>This isn’t true, or at least hasn’t been true in the last few decades or so. In 2012, for example, the cutoffs were:</p>
<p>Magna Cum Laude in Field [i.e. with thesis] – 3.756
Cum Laude in Field – 3.484
Cum Laude [i.e. without thesis] – 3.756</p>
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<p>As you say, it is probably because she did not write an honors thesis. I am guessing you are not a Harvard student if you believe Cum Laude is “just merely passable” and you phrase not writing a thesis as “failing to write” a thesis. Unless you’re going to grad school, theses and Latin honors are worth about as much as the change in my back pocket. Students write theses because there’s a very specific research subject that interests them. Not all students have that. I don’t have that, and my GPA kicks ass.</p>
<p>One interesting thought that comes out of this thread is why are US colleges and universities teaching what they are teaching? If US universities were held more accountable for the results they are producing, then they might shift their ossified programs to better serve students rather than the self-serving approach taken today</p>
<p>One idea: make universities 100% liable for the defaulted loans of their ex-students. Then they would be more interested in making sure what they teach has lasting value.</p>
<p>Listen, dude. I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation at large. I was very lucky to come away with an offer from a law firm. Last four months were probably the most stressful times of my life and I probably lost few years of my life as a result. I interviewed for 60+ law firms and barely walked away with just two offers, and I had above-average grades at a top 6 law school.</p>
<p>I feel extremely fortunate to have attained an offer. That being said, I realize that, had I score just 4-5 points lower on LSAT (and thus not end at a top 10 law school), or had I not ‘clicked’ with those two law firms that gave me offers, I could’ve been easily screwed without any legitimate fallback option, loaded with six figure school debt. In fact, I know too many people in that situation, just within the group of people I know. Think of it this way, if my major back in college was super marketable, 1) I wouldn’t be at law school to begin with, 2) in case things didn’t work out at law school, I would still be able to leverage the marketable degree from college to get me a non-law job.</p>
<p>The point is, it never hurts to leave options open, and it never hurts to be cautious about the employment prospects and the returns on your education. Education is an investment, and a very expensive one at that. Students reserve every right to be told of true employment prospects, and be given sufficient knowledge and opinions on which to base their decisions.</p>
<p>Rather than just having these cheerleaders who brush off the news of the difficulty that many young people face in job market, I think it doesn’t hurt that more young students are given more realistic accounts on what to expect and how to avoid the worst.</p>
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<p>The more grown up you are, the more you should mind your own business.</p>
<p>parazziman, Are you not the man who keep wanting the ‘black world’ to be considered more favorable? Why are you now “from the east who grew up, lived and worked in the east”? I found many dishonest claims you have on cc.</p>
<p>My advice to my kids has always been to study what you love in college and get a good grounding in writing and reasoning (plus some practical computer and stats skills), learn how to network with people and make as many friends as possible, and then decide in college the career you want to pursue and go to grad school, if necessary to achieve it. I worry that kids who study fields in college primarily for jobs, not love, will be the ones more likely to hate their jobs and ultimately will do worse in their fields.</p>