Be blunt: Is Marketing a useless major?

College Life
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<p>So, there was, once, upon a time, a little boy, named EpicBacon. He wanted to be an Anthropology major. Then, oh so sadly, the facts killed his desire to do so. Later, he thought, ‘Huh, instead of that silly degree, I’ll go for a B.A. in Psychology!’ Unfortunately, once again, the truth killed that passion. </p>

<p>Later, he looked at Film. “Hey, I’ve produced some pretty funny videos! Why, I could make great money with this as a career!” The employment and salary rate for this major, once again, broke his hear.</p>

<p>A few months passed, EpicBacon discovered he had a genuine passion for languages. Specifically, French and German. However, he, once again, cried upon facing reality. </p>

<p>Much time passed, Sir Bacon looked at Journalism. He loved the media, and everything about it. He loved writing and he loved expressing himself and being relevant in the present. </p>

<p>Once again, sadly, that desire also was a failure.</p>

<p>Finally, Bacon is looking at Marketing. Is it a good decision? Tell Bacon the truth, please!</p>

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<p>You get a job in fields with “soft” job requirements like marketing by either attending a name-brand university or thru having had internships (paid or unpaid). It would be nice if we lived in a world where everyone was looked at fairly, but we don’t. Kids from Stanford, Ivies, etc. are going to have a leg up for jobs in areas like Marketing because employers feel like they’re taking less of a chance when they hire someone already certified as being at the top by virtue of getting accepted to schools like that (and heck, they might have even learned something while there!). For the rest, resumes with Marketing majors are a dime-a-dozen. To stand out you need to have practical experience so that they think that you know what the job really entails, and so they can call your internship supervisor and have them rave about what a wonderful job you did.</p>

<p>If you want to work in Marketing, don’t think that if you simply complete the required classes then the day you graduate employers will be lining up to hire you. Unless you build the demand. Haunt the career center. Talk to alums in the field (at many colleges they have lists of alums willing to speak to current students), join the marketing club, get internships, run a campaign for some club or social cause on campus. In other words you need to invest the time and effort to show future employers that you are someone that can do the job and that if they don’t grab you someone else quickly will.</p>

<p>There is no reason you can’t combine your passions and get it all. Fluency in a foreign language would be a plus for many multinationals that would love to have you spend time at an overseas site; they want managers that know the entire operation, not just the US-based one.</p>

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<p>If job prospects are so important to you then just bite the bullet and get a “hard” major where you can easily find employment if you’re on the ball with internships, grades, etc.</p>

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<p>Agree. I have been a marketing communications professional for 25 years, for technology companies. When there is a corporate takeover, merger, or downsizing, the FIRST fired are the marketing people. Choose a “hard” major.</p>

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<p>Would Business Administration be a better decision?</p>

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<p>Major in communications, get internships and an entry level job in marketing or similar for a couple years. Go to a top MBA school and profit.</p>

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<p>Isn’t Communications one of those majors with a dangerously high unemployment rate?</p>

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<p>I would suggest looking to something else other than marketing…unless you go to a top tier college. I’m currently a management major concentrating in operations and supply chain and finance. Lots of opportunities out there for those fields and companies need us! I just got an internship with an amazing company and I go to a pretty decent school.</p>

<p>I would even try to add multiple majors if you go into business. Business, for the most part, isn’t too hard. A lot of it is common sense and most majors in business will have the same class requirements. I know, atleast in my school, it doesn’t take much to be a management major and an accounting major, it’s like 2 more classes to get that accounting major so a lot of kids do that here. What I’m getting at is…open up your options so you just aren’t focused in one area. This way companies will have a hard time firing you too because you’re too valuable to them.</p>

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<p>clearly the only useful major is engineering and everything else is trash</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Of course this is NOT true. </p>

<p>Engineering is, however, a more dependably employable & reasonably-earning major, as compared to marketing, anthropology, journalism. But there are no absolute guarantees of employment for any major…</p>

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<p>[URL=&lt;a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/234846-dont-major-engineering.html]Nope[/URL”&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/234846-dont-major-engineering.html]Nope[/URL</a>], Engineering’s out, too.</p>

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<p>Don’t you guys get it?</p>

<p>Business is a worthless, “soft” degree. Pre-med takes too long and doctors, well, most doctors aren’t paid nearly enough for the long hours they put in. Engineering is horrible because of the weed-out classes and then you have very shaky unemployment options, according to rumors. Law school? Don’t even joke about that.</p>

<p>What I’m getting at with this VERY sarcastic post is that every major in college is getting criticized. This recession is proving that even with the traditional Medicine/Law/Engineering propaganda we’ve been taught for years, everyone is on a very shaky playing field. Don’t let that limit yourself, but do know that marketing is a field where a lot of people end up and you need strong talent to prove you are useful. Bjunior92 has the right idea when it comes to majoring in business, double-major and minor where possible. Prove you;re an asset through internships and academics. If you can’t separate yourself from the pact it will be a rough run.</p>

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<p>I agree that every college major is completely useless. Engineering, business, science…none have a single bit of relevance to anything in the real world. The average engineer these days is only going to use their degree to fix their kids bike. Chemistry? Might be helpful when you’re making another mix drink to feed your raging alcoholism that developed as a result of the lack of employability. Physics? Med school? All of them are dead fields. College is pointless…everyone should drop out.</p>

<p>If you insist on staying in school, I recommend majoring in basket weaving and quilting. At least it gives you a product to sell. I think that’s going to be my new major.</p>

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<p>Underwater basket weaving is the hot new minor.</p>

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<p>@Epicbacon,</p>

<p>Nope, where did you hear that? It has a higher employment rate than many other degrees that are perceived as more “practical.” If you’re reading those articles on Holytaco or some weird joke site, you might get the wrong impression. It’s a quality major, at least for those who know what they want out of it and have a plan for their life. Those jocks or idiots who just want a degree might find it useless though.</p>

<p>EDIT: I just realized the entire topic is full of trolls so just ignore this.</p>

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<p>@that1guyy Others may have been ■■■■■■■■, but I, truthful to my heart, was not.</p>

<p>Here’s my source for my little claim: [8</a> College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment - Salary.com](<a href=“8 College Degrees With the Worst Return on Investment | Salary.com”>8 College Degrees With the Worst Return on Investment | Salary.com)</p>

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<p>Coste’s tongue-in-cheek post is pretty much my feelings.</p>

<p>What were the “facts” about anthropology, psychology, languages, and journalism that made you change your minds?</p>

<p>It seems that you are particularly focused on salaries and average employment rates of majors, which can be misleading. For example, a psychology major who wants to work in the psychology field with only a BA is not going to make much money. But a psychology major who parlays that into market research or educational research can stand to make more. And what if that psychology major goes on to get an MBA? You can’t go just by averages in majors; you have to look at what your goals are. The other thing is that average salary and employment rates can’t be the determining factor in your major - you need to like what you are studying, too. Otherwise it won’t matter, because you will fail.</p>

<p>If you want a major that easily leads into high pay with little thought about what kinds of careers you will do next, major in engineering, or nursing, or accounting. However, most other job fields don’t lead that neatly into a job. You do internships, you volunteer, you find out what you like and start to make decisions.</p>

<p>Successful people have all kinds of majors. You’ve asked this question in several different formats about a lot of different majors in differenf forums. Only YOU can decide what you want to major in. There’s no magic major that’s a formula for success and a high salary. A philosophy major with good business sense could start a multimillion-dollar corporation; an accounting major who doesn’t want to do summer internships could be unable to find work after college.</p>

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<p>That link shows a sample of entry level jobs possible.</p>

<p>It says marketing coordinator as a sample job with a communications degree. That is a fine entry-level job that pays on par with most other entry-level jobs ($30-40k). That job requires 0-2 years worth of experience. What the article assumes however, and incorrectly, is that there is no room for promotion and pay increase. I know quite a few communication majors and after working entry-level jobs, they move up. A mid career salary is much higher, at least $70-80k. </p>

<p>Additonally, I mentioned getting an MBA. That is my strategy. Get an entry level position, get some experience in the advertising/marketing world, attend a good mba program, and work in marketing. After the MBA, the salary shoots up to 6 figures.</p>

<p>Lastly, what the above poster says is also true. Someone who sleeps through their undergraduate degree will not go far. But someone who is much more involved on campus with clubs, has relevant internships, and manages to network will obviously be more successful.</p>