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Suprisingly he went to one of the widely recognized but very liberal colleges (Stanford or Brown etc) they allowed him to structure his own major. His frisbee major included studying the aerodynamics of frisbee, but mostly in frisbee games, tricks etc. He was the acticvities director at a club med type place.
I knew a group of guys in college who majored in "Recreation" which was an option in the Phys Ed. Dept. Most of them were on the college's golf team, smoked pot all day and night, and their career plans were to be a pro at a country club.
I'm in touch with three of them today via Facebook. Two are still smoking pot daily, and unemployed or underemployed (they couldn't even join a country club if they wanted to). One is actually quite well-off, and is a pro at a nice country club. He may have given up weed at some point, and he looks a lot less hippie-ish today.
But for each of those examples of MFAs who are gainfully employed in their field, there are probably 100 who are not.
I really doubt that the people I know are special. There are zillions of people in EVERY major/field who are unemployed right now, depending on where you are looking.
Some people just want to try to make a case for the "useless major," which is BS. Your major is only as useless as you are at applying it, and selling it. I got my humanities-based degree in large part BECAUSE of its versatility, and have yet to have found myself unemployed in more than a decade since graduating, so, naturally, I scoff at the "What're you going to do with AN ENGLISH DEGREE?" rubbish, because I've been able to do tons of different things with one, none of them involving waiting tables or Starbucks (unless one counts drinking Starbucks). I also work for a very well-off and diversified company...owned by psychology majors.
I actually have a study done by Georgetown U, but it's at work. I'll link it here on Monday. It goes over all kinds of degrees and their corresponding unemployment rates. From what remember Master's degrees in the various areas of art had unemployment rates in 2009-2010 that were second only to people with graduate degrees in architecture.
I went to school with plenty of people who went on to go the MFA route. To date, I can't think of ANY who are unemployed, though I do know one who has gone the SAHM route. She still sells paintings, though. Probably my most commercially successful MFA friends are ones who are employed by professional theatre companies in Chicago and Washington, D.C. It's nice to be able to make a career out of what you love.
That's been my experience as well. My MFA friends are all well employed and happy. They followed their talents and gifts. Money came later.
I really doubt that the people I know are special. There are zillions of people in EVERY major/field who are unemployed right now, depending on where you are looking.
Some people just want to try to make a case for the "useless major," which is BS. Your major is only as useless as you are at applying it, and selling it. I got my humanities-based degree in large part BECAUSE of its versatility, and have yet to have found myself unemployed in more than a decade since graduating, so, naturally, I scoff at the "What're you going to do with AN ENGLISH DEGREE?" rubbish, because I've been able to do tons of different things with one, none of them involving waiting tables or Starbucks (unless one counts drinking Starbucks). I also work for a very well-off and diversified company...owned by psychology majors.
This is so true! An English degree? What CAN'T you do with one?
Packaging and diversification are key.
I do know quite a few burned out and unhappy former nurses, medical technologists, hospital administrators and special ed teachers!
The true hippies of the 60's dropped out of society and didn't go to college. (Hippies in the purest sense of the word.)
But there were plenty of hippie-ish college students and they majored in pretty much everything: Engineering, English, Poli Sci, Medicine, you name it. Their emphasis was knowledge for the sake of knowledge and helping others. They wanted to make the world a better place for their fellow travelers. I don't remember anyone even vaguely hippie-ish who had the goal of making a ton of cash and retiring at 35. If they became wealthy that was a nice benefit.
My favorite hippie dropped out of college to start a pool cleaning business so he could be his own boss.
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