No, this is not about humanities majors, even though you may have thought so from the title.
Would the least valuable majors be those which:
aim for a narrowly defined job and career direction, and
are not preferred or advantageous over other more generalized majors by employers (or applicable professional schools or professional licensing exams)
?
In addition, some of the targeted job and career directions may be small, or highly competitive and selective to get into. But what happens if someone with such a major does not get into the targeted job or career direction – will employers in other areas question his/her commitment to the job in the other area, possibly thinking that s/he will leave as soon as an opportunity in the targeted area opens up?
Examples of possible candidates for this category:
Computer game design (instead of computer science).
Actuarial science is actually a good major- there are jobs that also pay well. It’s a business school major, not like the liberal arts math and statistics majors.
Criminal justice is good for those who want to work in corrections and related fields, especially those who want to advance in future decades to management roles.
Premed is an intention, not a major.
I agree that doing a subset of a major such as computer science may a problem unless the student takes a fair number of other courses and is prepared for other CS skills jobs.
There are niche fields, such as actuarial science, that don’t appeal to the masses and require the skill set learned that our society needs.
A college degree teaches much of the same regardless of the major chosen. So many people are not doing something they majored in years later. Using this logic any major can be a good one. It all depends on the student.
Supply and demand rules come into play. I definitely like the phrase" majors du jour", the popularity makes for too many for the number of available jobs. Neuroscience seems to have become many premed students preferred major- fun to learn but no thought about it as something with practical uses for the college grad with a bachelors degree only.
Preparation for actuarial exams and careers does not require any specific major, though it does require course work in a number of topics including math, statistics, economics, and finance. Many people go into actuarial work with a major other than actuarial science.
Regarding criminal justice, police and corrections department educational requirements for recruits tend to be either high school diploma or some college, not a bachelor’s degree.
Regarding pre-med, some colleges like Notre Dame actually do offer a pre-med major (called “preprofessional studies” at Notre Dame).
In the engineering forum section, there have been occasional threads about engineering + business double majors and such. Some working engineers consider such students to be less desirable to hire as entry level engineers, since the second major in business is a signal that engineering is a stepping stone to management for them, rather than something they inherently like for its own sake.
It seems as if every other kid I know is majoring in International studies/relations. Yet many of these kids have never traveled abroad, do not have a strong enough interest in a another language to become proficient, etc. I wonder what attracts them to this major.
@FallGirl International relations is seen as a glamorous major. Also there is the “everyone is doing it” mentality. Without living abroad and being at least bilingual it will not lead to a career in the field.
Also biomedical engineering is another of the 'hot" majors. It can lead to many careers but usually after graduate study.
And this is the problem with the IR major at my daughter’s college. It’s very popular, but the requirements are so onerous that it’s almost impossible to study abroad.
I know a kid that did International Business, and then fell in love with cooking/restaurant business. His UG degree will help him. Working long hours with restaurants and also learning a lot, but friend says he is happy.
Some students are UG ready for their career, others have to ‘find’ their career by looking harder introspectively and also opportunity wise. Some find they have to get more creative to earn the living they want.
Why single out Anthropology as a least valuable major? Yes, employment as an anthropologist may not be lucrative, but I don’t see how understanding people and culture could be detrimental in other areas of employment. I don’t see it as any different than any other liberal arts and sciences major that develops critical thinking skills, writing skills, communication skills, etc. From what I’ve heard, tech companies like to hire anthropology majors because they can offer insight into what works and what doesn’t as the companies develop their marketing plans.
The least valuable major is the one that a student pursues because they think it is the best path to gainful/lucrative employment without having any actual interest in the subject material. The most valuable major is the one that really stretches the student and teaches them to think for themselves, to dig deep to discover the cause and effect, to find the necessary information and draw reasonable conclusions. Those are truly marketable skills with broad application and can be gained in almost any major at a reputable school if the students put in the effort.
@SOSConcern - You are 100% right! My middle son entered college as a music major and now realizes that he doesn’t want to work in the music business. He wants to work in sports. Since he is halfway through his music degree he has decided to stay in school as a music major and pursue a career in sports (not as a player). He is going to make it happen by working in sports/athletics. He worked for a minor league baseball team this summer and is doing an internship in the athletic department of his university.
We discussed having him change to sports management and he was told (by someone in the business) that sports management is not required to work on the business end of sports. He was told to just continue with his liberal arts degree.
A low value degree is a major in the humanities undertaken not because of an interest in the major but rather because they were the only majors that didn’t require math and statistics.
What’s the real point in dismissing some majors? What’s it prove? A lot of kids interested in IR have a great curiosity about others, branch out into classes in the allied fields and come out better observers and thinkers for it. They don’t have to want a profession dealing with international whatever. Same for anthro and soc. Many language majors aren’t looking to work in a foreign country, they have a love of the lit and culture.
The end result is what matters- and to me, that’s still how the individual takes on challenges and processes, how broadly they can view issues, and their inner ability to freaking move forward. I worked alongside you-name-it majors in my tech industry.
Yes, I also know engineering kids without “good” jobs. But, sorry, I do think those kids have limited experiences and, to some extent, vision. And I do know plenty of bio majors who do have science jobs.
“What’s the real point in dismissing some majors?” Funny, you then go on to make generalizations and dismiss engineering majors–“Yes. I also know engineering kids without “good jobs.” But, sorry, I do think those kids have limited experiences and, to some extent, vision.”
Not okay to dismiss IR and sociology and anthropology majors but okay to dismiss engineering majors? I’m confused.