<p>While ALL in OP are OK if one is planning to apply to Medical School, many will find out that combining these with UG Medical School requirements is not that easy. Many will end up with degree in Bio or Zoology or something related because these majors include Medical School requirements. In addition, while it is possible to have a very high GPA in engineering majors, again, many will struggle. So, in addition to above, engineering major may derail plan for the Medical School which might be absolutely possible for the same person if she chooses a different major. The min. college GPA that is needed when applying to Med. School is about 3.6. And again, being in CS (very time consuming since lots of time is required for debugging computer programs), person might find that not much time is left to complete all those medical ECs, again, required if one is applying to Med. School.
I am covering only one situation, I am sure very many are applicable for NOT boldly taking advise on some majors. It might not be very smart idea. One needs to evaluate what majors are more related to their plan. </p>
<p>…mamabear,
BTW, I am exactly in the same situation in regard to engineering, except I have worked for 11 years to finelly realize, there is no hope for me, hated it at the begiinning, hated it at the end. The only time I did NOT hate it was at school. So, I swithced in my mid. 30s and I am a very happy IT person (whatever we are called is not relevant, we are developing a new software, so old name - Computer Programmer - suits what I do very well). </p>
<p>“Will your education still have any value of any kind”
-Anybody can educate him/herself. However, many jobs require at least a 4 year degree. So, here you go. In fact, I told my D. (yes, she was pre-proffessional, currently in Med. School) to stay away / disregard any brainwash activities that are going on in many colleges. Thank goodness that for “humanities” she has chosen to have Music minor instead of many other classes that push various personal values on students. She absolutely hated her Honors English (required) class, it was very easy A with many boring (for her) novels to read, learned nothing…One of the best classes was Spanish. Well it is required by any major, and it is truly educational, bringing people closer, D. has used Spanish in many occasions. However, one do not need to go to college to learn a language as I just discovered myself. Without having any kind of talent and very little memory left in my brain, I can tell you that the easiest way to learn a foreign language is Rosetta Stone. In fact, while college classes are free for me, I would not trade Rosetta Stone for the college Foreign Language class.
So, what exactly in details you call value of education? Self-education has no value? </p>
<p>Well I, for one, am glad that there are still people in the world who can turn a phrase. The talent and importance are wildly undervalued in my opinion.</p>
<p>The art grads at my school might not be in the top 1% of all earners (although some are), but many are in the top 1% of all satisfied-with-their-lives people. That ought to count for something. (And they make my world a better place.)</p>
<p>My degree “should” have me in the top earner category, but life decisions became more influential than the name of my degree. I told both my kids that they should pursue a degree that interested them. My D has a liberal arts degree, and she earns a great living. My S just got a biology degree - many think that’s a waste - but that is what interests him, so that is what makes sense for him. We don’t all need to be rich … as long as my kid doesn’t live in my basement, all is good. :)</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole topic because I’m guessing most of it is the same crap you see each time this topic comes up.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that the best easily measurable proxy we have for the value of a person’s contributions to society is their income, and some majors yield higher incomes than others for the average person. One could obviously argue that it’s still not a good enough approximation, but I think that needs to be argued, it’s not obvious to me.</p>
<p>However, no one is average at everything. It’s better that the next <em>insert your favorite author</em> studies English than Computer Science. To say that everyone should just major in something that is lucrative for the average person is just silly. </p>
<p>There can easily be an argument that a particular individual made the wrong choice in major, but there’s no way to reasonably argue that a particular major is the wrong choice for every person who studies that major. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Drug dealers? Arms dealers? Pro athletes? Film actors? Really? </p>
<p>High pay is an indicator that you are able/willing to do something that most people won’t or can’t do. That’s all it means. Sometimes that “thing” is not worth doing from an ethical or cultural standpoint. The market rewards risk and rarity. It does not reward a person’s “contributions to society”. The most important contributions to society are, arguably, unpaid in part because they are beyond market values.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They provide a service, obtaining hard to obtain things, for people who want these things.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They provide entertainment and culture for the masses. </p>
<p>If something is worth doing, someone will pay for it.</p>
<p>Because people are willing to pay for something does not make it worthwhile. Do you really think that drug dealers are contributing to society? Even if you look at it only form a monetary point of view, drug addiction costs society much more than it will ever reap from drug dealers. And how is that “return” delivered to society? Are those drug dealers paying their taxes like the good citizens that they are?</p>
<p>No, in fact, Freakonomics showed exactly why drug dealers are most likely to live with their moms ! 
</p>
<p>The only thing more ridiculous than the original post is all the people wasting their time arguing this same point over and over and over … I guess some people have nothing else to do.</p>
<p>That would include you too annasdad, then… </p>
<p>If person achieved his/hers personal goal thru education, then the major that was pursued in UG was worth for this person. Another person in the same major may have not achieved his/hers personal goal, then the major was NOT worth for this person. Both have happened to me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Empirical evidence suggests that some majors do a better job of teaching critical thinking than business, but most do not:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/06/16/connor_essay_on_why_majors_matter_in_how_much_college_students_learn#sthash.hBw6l36x.dpbs”>http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/06/16/connor_essay_on_why_majors_matter_in_how_much_college_students_learn#sthash.hBw6l36x.dpbs</a></p>
<p>I suspect the “pedigree” of the student is most important, not the major:</p>
<p><a href=“http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2014/05/02/wharton-undergrad-job-market/?iid=SF_F_MPM”>http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2014/05/02/wharton-undergrad-job-market/?iid=SF_F_MPM</a></p>
<p>" critical thinking " has to be developed in middle - High school. It is not true for the USA k - 12. College is the time to use this critical thinking, a bit too late to develop (if possible at all). That is why some profs complain that in few last decades they are getting student who is not capable of writing computer programs. </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Why are these always assumed to be mutually exclusive? I challenge the notion that a business major will inherently lack critical thinking and holistic views. Every business major requires a liberal arts core. Why is the person who goes on to advanced business classes assumed to be a lesser thinker than those who take advanced history?</p>
<p>Not to feed the ■■■■■■, but OP apparently doesn’t think much of electrical engineering (talk about critical thinking–they’re dealing with invisible forces). Nor does he/she believe in accounting, a vast and highly paid career that generally requires that specific major for entry.</p>
<p>How do you get that quote in the grey box? I thought they did away with that function.</p>
<p>@Chardo (quote) what you want quoted (/quote) - but use square brackets.</p>
<p>I was not going to comment anymore but I base my opinions solely on statistical evidence: data, trends and research, it is undeniable that some majors will give you much better career options, </p>
<p>I am not even speaking about higher salaries strictly but also about how marketable you are going to be after you graduate.</p>
<p>Secondly, I am not picking on one major in particular but what is the point of majoring in something like Women’s Studies? </p>
<p>I used to work part time at the university bookstore and all these people do is buy a bunch of books at the beginning of the semester, I am not talking about anything remotely academic, books that can be bought on Amazon.</p>
<p>Why pay thousands of dollars to read books you can read on your own? You can’t learn to be an engineer or a doctor simply by reading books at home and that is where the value of education is, IMO.</p>
<p>Finally, I understand Engineering or Medical School is not for everybody but there is value in studying something challenging. I spend a lot of time studying in the library but there is a sense of accomplishment when you are done that is undeniable, being challenged is not always fun but it is definitely what real life is going to be about- Isn’t college supposed to prepare you for “real life”?</p>
<p>I see a lot of kids that study easier majors and I am not kidding, they step into the library, “study” for 30 minutes and go back to hanging out, wasting their times on Facebook, Snapchat, etc. </p>
<p>I feel sorry for the parents financing this ridiculous lifestyle, yes some of them live in “upscale” student housing, do not work at all and drive brand new cars.</p>
<p>Sorry but with the state of our economy and how the economy is essentially changing to a more technology-science-specialized knowledge society, there is a whole lot of kids on this campus just wasting their times and their…or better yet, their parents money.</p>
<p>
I have to laugh at this. How could you possibly know how challenging or unchallenging any particular major is to any particular individual. Could you get a BFA? Or a degree in music? Would you be challenged by either of those majors? I’m guessing you would. When I was getting my BFA, I didn’t spend a great deal of time in the library but I did spend a lot of all nighters in the studio. And I experienced a great deal of satisfaction when i succeeded with my work.</p>
<p>You don’t know what you don’t know and your posts are just demonstrating your ignorance of a world that is broader than you can begin to imagine.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if you are as secure in your chooses of what to study as you claim. Maybe this thread is a way of convincing yourself that you made the right chooses.</p>