Does any Degree from UC Berkeley look good?

<p>Like, lets say your major for example is “Underwater Basket Weaving” will any degree from UC Berkeley help you in terms of job/employment? or lets say if you want to go to Grad school at an IVY University?
Also will UC Berkeley impress the world more? Even more then UCLA or UC Davis?</p>

<p>Really depends on what type of frame you mount it in</p>

<p>I think major and how closely the prospective employee’s education matches the requirements of the job is probably more important than the university they attended. For example, if Exxon-Mobile needed someone for their petroleum exploration department and they had applications from an English major at Berkeley and a Geology major from CSU Sacramento, I think it is pretty obvious they would choose the Sac State graduate over the Berkeley graduate. If the Berkeley graduate was also a Geology major, he or she would definitely have the edge over the Sac State graduate on the basis of UC Berkeley’s reputation. If Exxon-Mobile was looking for a Geologist with strong quantitative skills and the Sac State Geology graduate had taken a lot more advanced Math and Physics courses than the Berkeley Geology graduate it is probably not that obvious who they would hire.</p>

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<p>The following may help you find your answer:
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>One of the worst questions ever. You will not be successful in life thinking going to a prestigious school (this isn’t hyps level by the way) with a useless/easy degree will bring you success.</p>

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<p>It is also very important to hang it on a wall where people will see it. If you’ve got it you’ve got to flaunt it.</p>

<p>If you’re going for “regional assistant manager” or something, yea.</p>

<p>33% of Philosophy majors unemployed… ouch. </p>

<p>I’m sure there’s a lot more behind just the statistics. I’d also like to think some of those 33% are the kind that ask whether Berkeley will impress the world more.</p>

<p>Still, for a college graduate to be working as a server or in customer service is kind of jaw-dropping.</p>

<p>@Salmos you realize that only 1/3 of the phil. grads responded to the survey, right?</p>

<p>Well yeah it’s right there on the page. Most of the majors I looked through didn’t have over 50% responding, with many of those being nowhere close to 50%.</p>

<p>With 1/3 responding though, I wonder how much the stats would deviate if all graduates were surveyed. Have you looked through the previous years for Philosophy? Here’s how they look: </p>

<p>2009 - 20% (22/109) surveyed, 40% seeking employment.
2008 - 45% (43/95) surveyed, 17% seeking employment.
2007 - 32% (27/84) surveyed, 30% seeking employment.</p>

<p>So maybe 1/3 really is too unstable a percentage. They don’t really bother me anyhow, there’s more to these numbers than just what the page shows, and I’m sure that good philosophy students who get the most they can out of their education will do fairly well in whatever they choose to do.</p>

<p>Seems about right because they should be attending school right? You’re pretty much set for a higher education if you’re a philosophy major AFAIK…</p>

<p>Btw, the actual unemployment numbers are probably higher for all the majors because people tend to respond to surveys when they can reply positively (i.e I have a job and I will reply because I am proud of that fact, as opposed to I don’t have a job yet).</p>

<p>your major only takes a single line on your resume and employers look at GPA more than major.
your goal should be to have an A+ resume by the time you graduate.</p>

<p>pick up a solid major(statistics, applied math, business/accounting/finance, economics, etc) and take on relevant internships and leadership positions in relevant clubs.</p>

<p>GPA may be more important than major for jobs that do not require specific skills and knowledge or require only skills and knowledge that can be easily acquired from the prospective employer through a training program.</p>

<p>As I posted above, if an oil company is looking for employees to explore for oil and you are applying for one of the openings, under major your resume had better say Geology or Geophysics if you want to be seriously considered for the job. English, Business, Accounting or Economics majors, even with A+ GPAs from the most prestigious universities would not be considered qualified or even trainable to work as a petroleum geologist.</p>

<p>It depends on your career goals. I work fulltime for a private business that owns print and digital magazines. I sit next to two sales guys; both make 100k+ a year. One has a bachelor’s degree in Sports Broadcasting (major is no longer offered) from USC and the other has a bachelor’s degree from UCSB in English. I only know what their major was because I asked. They told me that employers never ask, employers only care that they have a bachelor’s degree. They also said the prestige of USC and UCSB has helped a lot.</p>

<p>I asked them and other friends if I should attend UCLA for Anthro or CSUN for Business or Comm. Every single person said the UCLA name will take me further. They also said employers have never asked about their GPA, research, clubs, etc.</p>

<p>This is just one example, if your goal is education, government employment, etc… then the game is different of course.</p>

<p>Success at selling magazines probably depends a lot more on personality and and the ability to interact well with other people than it does on having a certain body of knowledge and technical skills. Therefore, it is not surprising that a Sports Broadcasting major and an English major can make a good living doing it.</p>

<p>However, there are many jobs that can only be done by people who have knowledge and skills that can only be acquired through years of study in a particular college major. These would include Engineering, Geology and other occupations in the Sciences. All else being equal, an employer would certainly prefer the graduate of the more highly regarded university. However, if an employer needs to hire an engineer or geologist they would certainly not consider hiring a Sports Broadcasting major from Berkeley over an engineering or geology major from a CSU.</p>

<p>^ I think that’s why SMCguy said firstly that it depends upon your career goals.</p>