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<p>You should have titled your thread differently if you didn’t want to know what the most marketable major was.</p>
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<p>You’re right to a certain extent. People took it to mean, which major makes the most money has high current demand.</p>
<p>I was thinking more along the lines of flexibility, ability to move from one field/area of work to another…Also move into surprise good paying unexpected areas of work…</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>While Engineering/Nursing/Accounting is great right out of college, an English major with relevant work experience can be just as employable, and might have greater flexibility.</p>
<p>In those terms, I really think a liberal arts degree can prepare you for many different types of work. Being able to communicate, critically think, and write is extremely valuable in all sorts of workplaces, and liberal arts degrees are excellent for teaching those. You will need other types of skills, but a liberal arts degree is by no means worthless, especially if you do something like Philosophy or Poli Sci which really forces you to write quality papers, which forces you to think.</p>
<p>[PayScale</a> - Bachelor of Arts (BA/AB), Philosophy Degree Salary, Average Salaries](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Arts_(BA%2FAB)%2C_Philosophy/Salary]PayScale”>http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Arts_(BA%2FAB)%2C_Philosophy/Salary)
[PayScale</a> - Bachelor of Arts (BA/AB), Political Science Degree Salary, Average Salaries](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Arts_(BA%2FAB)%2C_Political_Science/Salary]PayScale”>http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Bachelor_of_Arts_(BA%2FAB)%2C_Political_Science/Salary)
[Popular</a> Jobs for Political Science Majors](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/jobs-for-political-science-majors.asp]Popular”>http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/jobs-for-political-science-majors.asp)</p>
<p>I mean, those jobs/salaries are fairly widely varied (though with a slight law bent), and they don’t look bad paywise either. </p>
<p>Liberal arts degrees are not bad to have. It’s going to be extremely rough right out of college, but while knowing how to read, write, and think doesn’t “seem” like much, it does count for something out in the real world. And once you start getting “hard” skills, those soft skills above are going to be great. </p>
<p>There is no major where your starting median salary is going to end up at $30k/year or less. There are very few majors where your mid-career median salary is going to be lower than $50k/year. </p>
<p>On the other hand, technical skills are extremely valuable. All of the majors which require Calculus (Econ/Stat/Math/Phys/Chem/Engineering) make $80k a year mid-career, and most of them make a median of at least $90k.</p>
<p>But most liberal arts majors hover around $60-$80k a year mid-career, which just doesn’t suck. You really have to pick something completely useless or something that has no chance of advancement (see: Education/Drama/Fine Arts) to make less than $60k mid-career with a degree. It’s useful ****.</p>
<p>For the above, I’d say Economics is probably the most useful. Real jobs are in the business world, and they look kindly upon people who have taken Econ, because it teaches one to quantatively analyze in a business setting. Other degrees which teach general technical and Math skills like Physics, like Math, like Stat are also great. And other than that, you just want to learn to write, communicate, argue, and sell yourself as best as possible. And maybe add in business skills to that combination.</p>
<p>The thing is, it isn’t just BS. College really is about teaching you how to think, and that’s valuable in the workplace. As long as you can write a half-decent essay, the Bachelor’s is generally worth it, finanically, and in terms of having flex.</p>
<p>And yes, it’s going to suck to not be an Engineer or Nurse right out of college, but that’s what having work experience is for. :/</p>
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<p>You know the answer to this . . . </p>
<p>It’s because you can’t learn how to be an engineer by taking one online course.</p>
<p>I don’t see how the difference in the utility of the two degrees is debatable at all. If you plan your engineering bachelor’s coursework right, your upperclassman coursework will consist of learning the science behind whatever you are interested in designing, studying successful designs of that thing, and gaining experience in the laboratory using tools that those in the industry use for designing that thing.</p>
<p>If you study some subject in the humanities, you spend 4 years studying something most likely totally unrelated to your future career, and maybe pick up a few skills that are useful in getting a job.</p>
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<p>I don’t see why not. </p>
<p>If it can’t be taught in an online course (or be conducted in a lab), then it’s part of the hidden curriculum.</p>
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<p>There is no such thing as “intrinsic worth”. </p>
<p>That’s all I have to contribute…</p>
<p>accounting.</p>
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<p>I find it hilarious, not really irritating, though I do lose some faith in humanity. These are the same people who tell you they study psychology because it’s the study of the mind, and then tell you they think math is boring. They somehow think you can learn “life skills” and “deep secrets about the mind” in a book.</p>
<p>I think the best are those who major in what they like, but are sure to keep what’s marketable in mind, and learn those skills too. Ultimately, you need to show that you’re capable at a baseline level to employers, after which they will check if you’re a good fit for skills they need, and it’s up to you to develop those. This is, however, a tough balance to draw, and people shouldn’t underplay that.</p>
<p>I vote for majoring in math, computer science, economics, particularly Math-Comp-Sci. A Math-Comp-Sci who can deal with people is pretty set to be able to enter a variety of careers.</p>
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<p>You are changing your tune. You first asked ‘why can’t i learn how to be an engineer by taking a 21-day course’? </p>
<p>My answer: because it takes a fair amount of training and background knowledge to become an engineer. You can’t even learn the background mathematics you need to be able to intelligently talk about engineering problems in one course.</p>
<p>What are you even arguing?</p>
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<p>I stated that the value of any education is in the hidden curriculum, then you said that the information you pick up along the way is the more valuable, and then I said if it is so valuable, then why don’t they have online courses to teach that information, and then you said because you can’t teach engineering online, which is essentially agreeing with me that the hidden curriculum is most valuable and not the information they teach.</p>
<p>what is this “hidden curriculum” you are talking about? Is that another word for “life skills”?</p>
<p>That’s not the way I thought the argument was going. </p>
<p>You first made the statement implying that it doesn’t matter what you study in college–the important stuff is learned outside of class.</p>
<p>I replied, saying that yes, what you learn outside of class is important, but in technical majors, what you learn in class is important too. What you learn in engineering class is more useful to your career as a future engineer than what an english major learns in class for his future career. It certainly is an important factor. </p>
<p>Going back on what I wrote, I realize that what I wrote could be interpreted some other way, but this is what I meant.</p>
<p>Then you said something like, well, if what you learn in engineering class is so useful, then why aren’t there books like ‘learn engineering in 21 days’. I said that engineering is difficult–the science behind it can’t be learned in 21 days. </p>
<p>At this point I got confused because you started attributing to me things I didn’t mean to say, mischaracterized what you had written previously, and kind of ignored what I wrote.</p>
<p>what vocation does econ major lead to?</p>
<p>I triple majored in Actuarial Science, Statistics, and Economics in college and every single interview I had out of college, employers told me how much they value the analytical majors. In my humble opinion, the following majors are all excellent choices.</p>
<p>Top Tier (very highly valued)</p>
<p>Engineering
Computer Science
Applied Math
Statistics
Actuarial Science
Economics</p>
<p>Second Tier (still highly valued)</p>
<p>Finance
Accounting
Pure Math
Biology
Chem
Physics
Biochem</p>
<p>Third Tier (decent value)</p>
<p>Marketing
General Business/Management
Operations Management</p>
<p>^^^I included the Actuarial Science partly because of personal bias, and partly because I think it will make big strides in the future, as it is still a very new major. I was required to take numerous math, statistics, finance, and economics classes which have all proved to be incredibly useful in my career. Also, the only thing holding the major back is that the older employers, many who have plain math degrees, think that a math degree is the best way to go because that is what they did, which is not the case. It is much like when the Computer Science degree first came out, the first programmers were all math majors. Math majors just don’t want to be stuck with only teaching. Just my two cents. ^^^</p>
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Stop being obtuse. A major value of virtually all engineering programs is the lab work. Hard to do that over the internet.</p>
<p>Many schools have online engineering <em>masters</em> programs. Very rarely do they have online undergraduate programs.</p>
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<p>I don’t think he or she meant information as much as knowledge/experience/wisdom. The difference being that most of what is important in fields like engineering is what you realize and learn through the process that is an engineering program. You cannot make this process into a self-help book.</p>
<p>At the same time, engineering students et al., need to know certain information because it provides context. If doesn’t matter if you have a computer that has the hardware to carry out a trillion operations per second, if that computer has no software to understand inputted operations and to allow for interface.</p>
<p>I made it about halfway through this thread. What if, god forbid, you’re just not great in math? Should you just shoot yourself now? Is there any place in the world for those people? Daughter is majoring in marketing, hr and spanish. I hope she gets something when she gets out.</p>
<p>I think that finance still seems to be hiring the most people and I don’t know why. Didn’t we just realize that these people aren’t actually producing anything? Just repackaging things to sell and rip people off with? Is everyone eventually going to realize this - sending all the finance people packing?</p>
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<p>There’s more to finance that simply repackaging bad loans. For one, there an are of finance that is heavily reliant on math.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of a quant?</p>
<p>[Watch</a> Out For The Quants - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/06/croesus-chronicles-darkpools-oped-cz_rl_0207croesus.html]Watch”>Watch Out For The Quants)</p>
<p>I agree that these people don’t really produce anything, therefore aren’t a real value add to society, but they earn a great deal of money. People chase the money.</p>
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<p>The thread is about major marketability, looks like these majors are the most marketable/flexible, but that doesn’t mean they are the only majors that can earn money. The trick is finding a job which has enough demand in the area you’re interested in pursuing. </p>
<p>However, note that these other fields will be more competitive; theoretically demand for those jobs should be lower.</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>History if you are good at it</p>