Worst Paying College Degrees

BusinessGuy
Tue, 11 May 2010 04:05:26 +0000

I don’t think it’s only English classes that provide training in writing skills. History, philosophy, and religious studies (specifically, seminars requiring essays, not lectures requiring multiple-choice tests) have the same effect. I’d argue that foreign language courses (above the introductory level) would also apply – another area where the rigidity of engineering makes it quite difficult to take 16 credits (the equivalent of intermediate level study required for humanities majors).

To be fair, I think the ability for a humanities major to only take a simple “math for non-majors” type of course, a couple similar “science for non-majors” courses, and never touch a quantitative course again is a huge problem. However, for the interested student, it’s quite possible to take advanced quantitative coursework, resulting in either a minor or a second major – a positive aspect of having less major requirements.

What I find unfortunate is prospective engineers being kept from a comprehensive liberal arts education, while those planning to become lawyers, doctors, businessmen, or research scientists may pursue exactly that.

Referring to the original topic: I’ve found that putting the focus on developing specific skills and areas of knowledge is a rather good way to go about planning one’s own education. And for myself, I’ve found upper division humanities courses to be the best path for improving my writing, and upper division social science courses for my quantitative skills (once I take into account areas of knowledge that I’d like to be familiar with). As for the major(s)/minor(s) listed on my resume/transcript, I chose those that best-encompassed my learning objectives and their associated courses. When comparing majors, the focus on salary is misleading, but so is the choice of career: one should be concerned with what one learns above all else.