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I think one of the problems with some people (myself included) is what are you going to do if you've been out of college for 5 years or more (in my case 8 1/2) and still working in low paying jobs even though you apply for different positions, tailor your resume to fit what people are looking for, make calls to see if the job is still available, and still come up short?
I don't work at Starbucks (never have), but I've done retail and actually was at a retail place several months ago before being bet go due to budget reasons and getting paid 8.00 an hour while working with a kid still in high school, two 20 year olds, and a 23 year old at the department I was in. I was the only one with the bachelors degree and the eldest (31). I came in, found projects to do on my own, asked managers if they needed any help, and helped customers, but it wasn't fun since it made me realize that I'm working in a job I could have easily done when I was 18 (which I did).
Still searching for that first job that pays 30,000 after close to 9 years from graduating from college.
If I want to get a job in business, the logical thing would be to get a degree in something like Accounting, not Political Science. In the old days you could be a liberal arts major and graduate and go into business as a management trainee and they would train you. Not anymore.
Clearly, but don't forget that not everyone aspires to work in a business-related field, either (anymore than everyone aspires to work in STEM fields). When I was getting a humanities degree, it didn't cross my mind that "Well, at least I'll be able to get hired as a management trainee with this type of degree, regardless," because I never aspired to work in the business world in the first place. I know it seems odd when those are the things we're currently pushed toward by certain segments of the population, but it never crossed my mind to enter business or STEM fields. They're just not my areas of interest, nor do they suit my particular skill sets. It's fine. It really, really is.
I'm talking about degrees like arts, music, sociology, psychology, gender studies, and general studies. If people aren't going to get engineering degrees or go to medical school, why even bother? It just seems like a big wast of time when you'll just end up working at Starbucks anyway.
** Because learning is intrinsically rewarding.
** Because humanities degrees give you a more well-rounded view of life and the world.
** Because a college degree helps teach you how to organize and structure your thought process and teaches analytical skills that you can use to pursue further education on your own.
** Because some people are quite talented in certain specific areas (art, music, people skills/sociology/psychology) and they want to develop those talents further.
** Ppl take a gen'l studies major because they're not able to pick a single discipline to focus on.
** "Useless" degrees aren't useless if you go on to grad school. They give you a good foundation.
** The faculty you study under can be a priceless source of contacts for employment. Some students with generic BA's (even "General Studies") do get decent jobs upon graduation, due to interested faculty pulling strings for them. They can end up in jobs that pay more than some of the BA-level engineering jobs pay these days. I've seen it happen.
** LAST BUT NOT LEAST: For the sheer joy of it.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 12-16-2013 at 05:35 PM..
As hard as it has been at times with an engineering degree, OP kind of has a point.
Some of my friends who have gotten terminal bachelors in humanities and do some odd jobs to make ends meet. Others don't work and are stay at home moms. That's a real easy way out of the game.
It's all really hard, and you want to give yourself the best chance possible. I wouldn't blame anybody for trying to get an engineering degree. There's better options in terms of confining degrees, but not many.
I don't know if I speak for all other middle-class millenial types, but college was browbeaten into me since my early childhood, along with the idea that "I can study what interests me/be whatever I want", and that I would be a failure in life without a degree, excluding any possibility that I might enter a trade/business that would be much more fulfilling and financially viable than whatever a liberal arts degree might get me ...
As hard as it has been at times with an engineering degree, OP kind of has a point.
Some of my friends who have gotten terminal bachelors in humanities and do some odd jobs to make ends meet. Others don't work and are stay at home moms. That's a real easy way out of the game.
It's all really hard, and you want to give yourself the best chance possible. I wouldn't blame anybody for trying to get an engineering degree. There's better options in terms of confining degrees, but not many.
I'm all for engineering degrees, especially for people with talent in math and science. But gifted musicians shouldn't be steered into engineering. People with a lot of empathy and good emotional intelligence shouldn't be steered away from psychology. The global community needs those skills, too.
I wish everyone would pursue an engineering degree. Then I'd go pursue an acting degree, be one of the few up and coming actors available, and make millions.
Not everyone can do statisical mechanics, partial differential equations, and complex analysis. People are wired differently. Believe it or not, some people are completely bored by engineering. What should these people study then?
How are any of these degrees worthless? Many people I know who were psychology majors ended up becoming clinical practitioners with a PsyD/PhD or going into social work or counseling. I also know many art majors who got good jobs in graphic design.
Getting a job these days is mostly all about who you know, not whether or not you have a STEM or liberal arts degree. I read one time that 85% of people get jobs through connections. No matter what your degree is in, you must network through internships, volunteering, reaching out to friends and family members.
Last edited by Coinnle Corra; 12-16-2013 at 06:19 PM..
I'm all for engineering degrees, especially for people with talent in math and science. But gifted musicians shouldn't be steered into engineering. People with a lot of empathy and good emotional intelligence shouldn't be steered away from psychology. The global community needs those skills, too.
Funny you should mention, but I really wanted to be a musician.
My career as an engineer has been derailed and rerailed somewhat but it has afforded me a life of being able to live in major cities and getting to spend $ on good food and alcohol. Engineering consulting is more about being organized and pleasing people than being good at math or science. I got As in most of my engineering classes. If anybody cared, I never heard about it.
Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I was a musician and I can piece it together from my friends/teachers who have gone down that path.
If I was REALLY dedicated and hard working and breathed my instrument over the past decade, I'd have been able to become very talented and throw myself in the massive pool of equally talented musicians, getting gigs at low wages. If I had went back to get a music degree instead of a practical Masters degree (which hasn't helped me), I'd have been able to teach students who would sporadically show up and cancel. All in all, I'd be busting my arse to be making ~$35K a year. If I got tired of not getting paid and not eating, I could have worked retail day jobs and gigged at night. That's generally what people do. But then, it'd be just like my engineering day job, except getting paid much less.
It's really tough to make a living in this world. Something that must be considered before you throw your hat in the circle.
Maybe I should have gone the music path. I'd be very, very good right now and I didn't exactly set the world on fire or earn a lot of $ as an engineer. Unfortunately, there's so many other musicians who are just as good.
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