Help - To Major In Music... Or Not

bridgenail
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 15:52:15 +0000

@StacJip & @GoForth Yes, I agree with you two. There is a lot of pressure on students/parents these day to pick something “stable” with a “direct line” to jobs, meaning science or business majors (which is fine if that’s your interest). And yes, there are certain jobs that will pay more and we all have to come to terms with the fact that we are not what we earn. Yawn. The good thing about getting old is … these universal truths even get a bit boring.

BUT life is long and I agree, it must be hard doing gigs at 50+! But honestly it’s hard doing anything at 50+ particularly if you been doing it for 30 years!!! You had better like what you do a bit!! And having “enough money” is really a relative concept for most college educated individuals. You do have options. I decided in my late 20s to go into an area where I could make more money. It has a lot of flexibility and more creativity than I expected.

You have only one shot at college. My advice is follow your interests so you have no regrets. If you get a college degree there will be MANY doors you can open with a little hard work.

My D graduated this year, she came home and promptly got 2 jobs. One offers full benefits and has sent her to weekly one day training classes for the first month. She works 30 hours and just filled out her 401(k) info which she can keep when she goes part-time in the fall for grad school. She also wanted to waitress a few hours for the tips so took the second job on weekends. While this may not be everyone idea of “success” she is very happy to know that she could support herself. She’s 22 and I’m glad she doesn’t have it all figured out. My brother got his PhD from Stanford and he said a professor there told him “you should never have a serious job before you’re 27.” I think this is sound advice. Before you are 27 you should still be pursuing your interests if possible.

The company that hired my D was looking for people with college degrees. A friend of mine has a daughter who got a “women’s studies” degree and worked in advocacy for a few years. She just got hired by a company in their training department. Her mother said “she still wants to save the world but she decided she also wants to make a little more money.” She spent years in theatre and then got passionate about women’s rights. I’m sure she has great speaking skills and she’s not afraid to work hard.

Being a liberal arts major, I know people get hired with these degrees. If you wonder where they work look in any big corporation or the financial/insurance/banking/real estate industries. It’s full of liberal arts majors. And I have no regrets studying liberal arts in college. It enriched my world.

I hope students understand that you can find good jobs with these degrees. No one will hand them to you. You’ll have to work to find them BUT I suspect the same is true in the sciences.