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Amazed that there are some people out there that actually think that Studio Art or English are easy majors!
They could be very difficult majors, I am sure. Some people, however, think they are an exercise in futility.
With out a portfolio, you will not be accepted into a BFA program. So there are accountants, and allied health majors who are good artists? Good enough to be accepted into an ACAD accredited art program???
I have met pure Math Majors who think writing a paper is anything but easy. In fact, they have come to me for help and attempted to find out ways to "get out of classes that required reading?"
Statistical justification is warranted here. What is your sample size?
It doesn't mean they are stupid or slackers - it only means that they are gifted differently. As a member of an honor society a certain amount of tutoring was required.
Are you in Phi Beta Kappa, like some of us here?
Liberal Arts or Arts degrees with a Supportive Major work well! We don't have a math major or an engineer in my home.
We don't have a Liberal Arts major in our homes. That is one reason we no longer have to work, and can spend all our time volunteering to help others, and pursuing interests in any field.
DH and I were both UG Sociology majors and we work in fields that we love.
I have had the opportunity to work fields as diverse as adoption, writing, college teaching, child advocacy, and educational counseling.
I have the opportunity to pursue literally any field I choose, for the rest of my life. I can do it because I chose the 'ROI' attitude.
I am going back for my second Masters degree and this time, I'm taking it all the way.
I guess we all have different definitions of 'all the way'. I had 3 masters by the time I was 25. Who cares. It is not what degrees you have, or where you went to school (well, the 'tute helped a lot), but what you know, how you apply that knowledge, and what you can contribute to society. I figured (as the title of this thread is 'return on investment'), that a PhD was not worth it for me (financially). So I am the stupid one in the family.
Mine in red.
Last edited by SuperSparkle928; 03-12-2012 at 09:02 AM..
Amazed that there are some people out there that actually think that Studio Art or English are easy majors!
Learning how to play a ukulele with your toes while blindfolded is incredibly difficult too. That doesn't exactly mean we should all pay $80k to learn how to do it.
I apologize for thinking about the economics of a situation. I will stop having this attitude and start doing things because they are 'fun' and then suffering with debt for decades because of it.
Absolutely. I was so selfish thinking about being able to be financially stable and contribute to our society. What was I thinking? I made a really big mistake contributing to the medical community, creating patents, the telecom community, and half a dozen others. What is obviously more important for me to do is to splatter paint on a canvas, and explain the deep concepts of the creation, and then wait tables at the local Denny's. Besides, we were all placed on this earth just to have fun, right?
Learning how to play a ukulele with your toes while blindfolded is incredibly difficult too. That doesn't exactly mean we should all pay $80k to learn how to do it.
Exactly. When playing the ukulele with your toes is a unique skill, if we all majored in that, there would be no airplanes, electronics, mechanical anything, in WWII they would have walked all over us, and the US would be as technologically backwards as some of the poorest 3rd-world countries.
While having the skill to paint the Mona Lisa is a wonderful talent, and it is a beautiful work of art, all you can do is look at it and ponder... When someone is having a heart attack, they can hug that piece of art, and I will save the AED's I designed for someone else.
Yes, good jobs are much fewer in the arts/liberal arts than it is in engineering, medicine, etc.
But if someone worked really hard at their career, and manages to make a living, why can't you be happy for them?
I realize Sheena might have rude and condescending in a couple of her posts. But some of you there, (ahem, previous two posters) are being almost ten times worse!
Since you mentioned PBK....
I know three art majors who were also PBK. All of them have had no issue whatsoever finding employment. In reality, my friends who are art majors have never struggled to find employment, and most of them have highly prestigious jobs that pay very well.
I don't think the issue is the major, I think the issue is the people in the major. The hardworking high GPA art majors do extremely well; probably better than similar people in the sciences. The lazy low GPA people in the sciences drop out before they ever graduate. The same people seem more likely to reach their degree in the arts, where sheer talent can often overcome a lack of commitment.
Yes, good jobs are much fewer in the arts/liberal arts than it is in engineering, medicine, etc.
But if someone worked really hard at their career, and manages to make a living, why can't you be happy for them?
I realize Sheena might have rude and condescending in a couple of her posts. But some of you there, (ahem, previous two posters) are being almost ten times worse!
No one is saying you can't be happy. We are saying you can't complain about debt through student loans if you voluntarily choose to pay tens of thousands of dollars to major in something that typically leads to lower paying jobs.
Do whatever you want, and be happy with it! Just lie in the bed you made for yourself.
Since you mentioned PBK....
I know three art majors who were also PBK. All of them have had no issue whatsoever finding employment. In reality, my friends who are art majors have never struggled to find employment, and most of them have highly prestigious jobs that pay very well. I don't think the issue is the major, I think the issue is the people in the major.The hardworking high GPA art majors do extremely well; probably better than similar people in the sciences. The lazy low GPA people in the sciences drop out before they ever graduate.The same people seem more likely to reach their degree in the arts, where sheer talent can often overcome a lack of commitment.
Good post. Very true, I'm sure.
Those "easier" career paths, get their reputation from the slackers who can make it through. The good ones have to "market" themselves to stand out from the crowd.
In the sciences, they just get weeded out. And they don't have market themselves as well, because the fact they got through is impressive enough.
ROI thinking is wrong....if you're paying only 5-10K for an education;
ROI thinking is correct if you're paying on the order of 40K per year, and you can't blame parents, or the students themselves, for thinking this way. I'd hate to have 60-80K of debt awaiting me after my graduation ceremony, and no obvious way of even putting a dent into it..
It is impossible to have $60k (much less $80k) in federal student loans as an undergrad. Even for a fully independent student, the lifetime limit is $57,500.
When you start talking about people who owe $80k, you are almost always talking about students at private for-profit colleges who are taking out private loans through the college. (Incidentally, this same groups makes up the vast majority of loan defaults too.) Ironically, these private for-profit colleges are often tech schools.
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Absolutely. I was so selfish thinking about being able to be financially stable and contribute to our society. What was I thinking? I made a really big mistake contributing to the medical community, creating patents, the telecom community, and half a dozen others. What is obviously more important for me to do is to splatter paint on a canvas, and explain the deep concepts of the creation, and then wait tables at the local Denny's. Besides, we were all placed on this earth just to have fun, right? 
