I am majoring in Urban Forestry at the University of Maryland College park. I heard degrees in Urban Forestry are worthless despite being a stem degree. Is that true?
My dad forced me into this. Remember back in August I wanted to play hooky over this?
I am now thinking about being a professional landscaper as my career.
I have done lawn work for neighbors for some quick cash and I enjoyed doing it. I now already have a business. It is weak because I am using my parent’s Honda fit and their weedwacker;
But I plan on buying a truck and my own mowers as soon as I can.
Should I switch majors to a more rigorous major such as engineering or should I stay in Urban forestry since I enjoy landscape work?
I need money to live in a suburban/rural house comfortably when I grow up so I want my degree to help me achieve that.
Is the landscaping industry flooded? i.e. too many people are doing it that the value of the work goes down. Mostly poor Hispanic immigrants do this kind of work for little pay in my neighborhood.
(Guys please don’t bite my head off I am just describing them I am not trying to be bigoted. I respect those landscaping guys. they work hard!)
If being a landscaper can be a worthwhile career. I need advice on buying the truck.
I can afford the truck itself ($2000 on craigslist) but the issue is I cannot pay for insurance, maintenance, gas ect. It would be over 8,000 dollars for 1 year of use. I do not make enough money by doing landscape work alone. My jobs are not everyday it is whenever my customer needs work. It can be once a week or even once a month. Should I get another job to afford the maintainance for the truck?
I have no skills besides gardening. I can cook. But not in a short order way. I do know how to oxythetaline weld a little, but I cannot afford a welding unit.
Thanks
-Beetleman
You can own a commercial landscaping business and hire legal immigrants … You can design landscape features for commercial and government buildings or residential developments that are innovative, beautiful, earth-friendly, and maybe even easy to maintain. You can likely make good money doing this.
You should explore other majors and ideas in college, UM-CP is not a trade school for aspiring landscapers. It is possible your dad was right all along and this is a perfect degree, and you will love being outside while your friends sit in their engineering cubicles, and your business will thrive and you will make your first million way before them.
Or … this is not the major for you …and you should be an engineer.
You are in college, so cooking, mowing lawns are really hobbies not careers. If you want to weld, consider trade school, you may also make your first million way before any engineer (other than the next Under Armour guy).
You also have to either be treated for depression or … just stop whining about how horrible a life you have. As a college student, you have a dorm, food, and a sea of 18 year olds to meet. You can even find someone of the opposite sex to talk to, and maybe that will lead somewhere. You don’t work 60 hours a week at Walmart to feed yourself and pay for a squalid apartment.
I don’t UMd-CP would offer this degree if it was worthless. You can at worst work as a park ranger or something, and that will also give you a roof and food.
@PickOne1 "You are in college, so cooking, mowing lawns are really hobbies not careers. If you want to weld, consider trade school, you may also make your first million way before any engineer (other than the next Under Armour guy).
You also have to either be treated for depression or … just stop whining about how horrible a life you have. As a college student, you have a dorm, food, and a sea of 18 year olds to meet. You can even find someone of the opposite sex to talk to, and maybe that will lead somewhere. You don’t work 60 hours a week at Walmart to feed yourself and pay for a squalid apartment.
I don’t UMd-CP would offer this degree if it was worthless. You can at worst work as a park ranger or something, and that will also give you a roof and food."
Post edited by PickOne1 at 9:55PM
1 What do you mean by a "career" chefs, and lawn care contractors make a descent living. Plus I do not want to be a park ranger.
2 I was never complaining in this post. I got over my depression. I was depressed over feeling like I would not fit in. I realized that life is too short to play the script and be like everyone else. I am now happy being me plus I do not think that I am a loner. I do not live in a dorm I live at home. I chat and hang out with a woman in one of my classes. Not dating of course just hanging out you know.
3 My parents won't let me go to trade school.
4 OHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO. There are plenty worthless degrees out there. Read "Worthless" by Aaron Clarey plus, there are plenty of articles online about worthless degrees.
I just wonder if there are better STEM(science, technology, engineering ,math) degrees for me to pursue.
-Not trying to fight.
Just trying to point out what my situation is.
Thanks for some of the insight though.
Cheers!
-beetleman
An urban forestry degree is not necessary to become a landscaper. However, it seems that people with this degree either go into landscaping or park ranger kind of jobs. You’re probably best doing the major you like best. I don’t really see why you need a more “rigorous” major. Based on experience, your better off doing what you like than what your parents/society thinks you should do.
The competition in small landscaping businesses probably would render it nonviable for you. Even if you could come out with a net profit, it would almost certainly pale in comparison with what you can get out of a sensible college education. Successful self-employment in the United States is rare, because most industries are sophisticated and highly competitive and because, where people do have great energy, ambition and reasonable intelligence, they can get better pay, benefits, hours, stability and protection through employment by others.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) claims the employment outlook for “Conservation Scientists and Foresters” (7% growth 2014-2024; “typically need a bachelor’s degree”) equates with the all-occupations average (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/conservation-scientists.htm). It anticipates better than that (11%; “need at least a bachelor’s degree in a natural science or science-related field”) for “Environmental Scientists and Specialists”(http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/environmental-scientists-and-specialists.htm). It expects just 5% growth 2014-2024 for “Landscape Architects” and, interestingly, for “Mechanical Engineers.” (To my great surprise) it now says 0% growth 2014-2024 for “Electrical and Electronics Engineers.” BLS reports the 2014 median pay for Conservation Scientists and Foresters as $60,360 per year, that for Environmental Scientists and Specialists as $66,250 per year, that for Landscape Architects as $64,570 per year.
Indeed.com lists $30,000/year as the average for self-employed landscapers (http://www.indeed.com/salary/Self-Employed-Landscaper.html). This basically agrees with https://www.payscale.com/gigzig.aspx#/US///Landscape+Gardener. BLS lists $24,810/year for “Grounds Maintenance Workers” (which people unsuccessful in self-employment are liable to become.)
I see from its website that the University of Maryland (located in College Park) has five Environmental Science majors, a Landscape Architecture major, and five Plant Science majors (which includes an Urban Forestry specialization). The Plant Sciences-Urban Forestry major includes courses in accounting, plant pathology, agricultural chemistry and biology of insects, which would be conducive to understanding horticultural business. However, it has little math and little of a science foundation. It looks like it only has one lab class. If you can handle more science and math, such as Environmental Science entails, you should have a better outcome occupationally. With Environmental Science’s electives in alternative energy, sustainable agriculture and geographic information systems, you can get additional attractiveness in the marketplace. The Environmental Health specialization is a good preparation to be an Environmental Health Specialist, which is a solid occupational track.
Also, there is value in avoiding narrow-sounding majors, which are likely to cause people to think you’re narrowly qualified - even when actually the education involved may be a lot broader than it sounds.