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Step 1. Find major that requires the least amount of actual learning.
That's it. They just want to put in the least amount of effort which is why they don't even put 5 minutes of research into employment prospects before hand.
While that might have been your process of choosing a major, not everyone is as lazy.
Man. As someone who earned a degree in English thirty-one years ago, there is nothing easy about it. Tell you what. Learn Middle English on the fly and then write a fifty-page honors thesis on Chaucer and tell me how easy it is. I'll wait here.
Second, I have earned and continue to learn an excellent living, thanks. In fact, three of my best clients are -- get this -- in the technology sector. Of the handful of English majors in my class, one is Sr. VP of Marketing for a national bank, a second recently sat on the board of Exxon, two others enjoy tenured positions in major universities, and the rest are lawyers.
What's more, we're not the exception. Because liberal arts curricula emphasize disciplines such as critical thinking, graduates tend to do better in the long-run that the career-driven majors: http://www.aacu.org/sites/default/fi...EAP/nchems.pdf In truth, even the short-term earning disadvantage can be erased if the student has bothered to gain some practical working experience related to his or her field. Heck, I walked off the podium with my degree and, with my experience for the local newspaper, walked into a job the following Monday.
As long as we're posing questions here, let me pose one to you: Why are you so insecure that you feel the need to compare yourself to other majors?
Wow, learning "Middle English on the fly and then writing a fifty-page honors thesis on Chaucer". I think you just answered your own question on the difficulty of a liberal arts degree. That is why folks in the STEM fields find a liberal arts degree so funny.
Yes, you can make a good living with a liberal arts degree. As long, as your willing to work hard and know how to solve problems. My college drop-out daughter was making 80,000 a year at age 23. Oh, she did not have a liberal arts degree or a STEM degree!! She, however, did get through semesters of Calculus in high school and all the honors science classes. AND she found those classes useful.
CRITICAL THINKING with a liberal arts degree!!! Really, and what sort of critical thinking can you do without a firm grounding in math and statistics?? .....oh yeah, Middle Ages English and Chaucer.
You remember the quote "if you cannot explain it with numbers....you don't understand it".
What passes for critical thinking by Liberal Arts graduates is actually mental....well, lets stop there.
BTW...I am not saying all Liberal Arts graduates are dumb, not by any means.
But those that were smart and got a Liberal Arts degree wasted their god-given talents. For those that don't believe in a deity, they did not live up to their genetic code potential.
Wow, learning "Middle English on the fly and then writing a fifty-page honors thesis on Chaucer". I think you just answered your own question on the difficulty of a liberal arts degree. That is why folks in the STEM fields find a liberal arts degree so funny.
Yes, you can make a good living with a liberal arts degree. As long, as your willing to work hard and know how to solve problems. My college drop-out daughter was making 80,000 a year at age 23. Oh, she did not have a liberal arts degree or a STEM degree!! She, however, did get through semesters of Calculus in high school and all the honors science classes. AND she found those classes useful.
CRITICAL THINKING with a liberal arts degree!!! Really, and what sort of critical thinking can you do without a firm grounding in math and statistics?? .....oh yeah, Middle Ages English and Chaucer.
You remember the quote "if you cannot explain it with numbers....you don't understand it".
What passes for critical thinking by Liberal Arts graduates is actually mental....well, lets stop there.
BTW...I am not saying all Liberal Arts graduates are dumb, not by any means.
But those that were smart and got a Liberal Arts degree wasted their god-given talents. For those that don't believe in a deity, they did not live up to their genetic code potential.
You do realize that math and statistics are both liberal arts fields?
Believing in a deity has nothing to do with higher education... unless you're somehow referencing the statistical findings around those who believe in a deity having a lower IQ, on average, than those who don't.
Smart people get liberal arts degrees all the time. They aren't wasting their talent. Wasting their talent would be studying at a low quality institution such as the University of Idaho rather than UMich.
Man. As someone who earned a degree in English thirty-one years ago, there is nothing easy about it. Tell you what. Learn Middle English on the fly and then write a fifty-page honors thesis on Chaucer and tell me how easy it is. I'll wait here.
Second, I have earned and continue to learn an excellent living, thanks. In fact, three of my best clients are -- get this -- in the technology sector. Of the handful of English majors in my class, one is Sr. VP of Marketing for a national bank, a second recently sat on the board of Exxon, two others enjoy tenured positions in major universities, and the rest are lawyers.
What's more, we're not the exception. Because liberal arts curricula emphasize disciplines such as critical thinking, graduates tend to do better in the long-run that the career-driven majors: http://www.aacu.org/sites/default/fi...EAP/nchems.pdf In truth, even the short-term earning disadvantage can be erased if the student has bothered to gain some practical working experience related to his or her field. Heck, I walked off the podium with my degree and, with my experience for the local newspaper, walked into a job the following Monday.
As long as we're posing questions here, let me pose one to you: Why are you so insecure that you feel the need to compare yourself to other majors?
While I respect the fact that you have experience and what not, the market has changed DRASTICALLY from 31 years ago. Sorry, but its true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
I don't understand how your scoring system works.
OP, not everyone expects to find a job in their field with just a BA. They treat it as a generic BA with which they can get a more-or-less generic job, and begin to work their way up in whatever business they land a job in. I know a guy who graduated with a BA in psychology, who was offered a job selling insurance; he was offered training, and all that. There are quite a few bank teller jobs open in my town currently, and they're hiring generic BA's. A BA in psychology could turn out to be helpful after someone rises to a supervisory position.
To see the advice given to history majors (we've had so many threads on that topic!), use the search feature on this site. History majors can do similar things to English majors: writing of various sorts (journalism, editing, etc.), university or community college tutoring, legal aid in a law office, web-based marketing for businesses, teaching English as a second language, etc. It depends on what kind of internships and/or part-time work they've done while in school, and what other courses they've combined with their major.
The best time to worry about how to get a job with your "useless" degree would be while you're in school. Work for the school newspaper, to learn editing and journalism skills. That alone would make you stand out from some of your peers competing for jobs after graduation. Parlay that into an internship with a city newspaper or a local magazine. By the time you graduate, you'll have a very attractive resume to employers. And that's just one example.
Art History? Volunteer for the campus museum while in school. Write an article for its newsletter. Work the contacts you make while you're doing that, and see if you can make a connection with the city museum or an art/art history magazine, for more practical work experience.
What to do now that you've graduated, having done none of the suggested things? Live with your parents while you get some intern experience relevant to what you want to do. Then apply for paying jobs in the field, once you have a little experience, and someone who can write you a recommendation.
I wasn't able to do an internship(more on that later). Anyways, i wouldn't mind doing marketing, but why would a business hire a person with a degree in history vs someone with a degree in marketing? Most jobs I see it says the type of degre that they want. The journalism avenue is a way that I thought of going.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
Academic core subjects are never useless. They've been the core of educated humanity since ancient times.
However, it can be challenging for someone who majors in them without a game-plan for post university years. The BA is becoming more like what the high school diploma used to be, so increasingly students need to think about their post-graduation game-plan at least in the beginning of their junior year of college, preferably sophomore year. This is actually true of most majors. Some very specific majors at particular schools may be in high demand, but for most of us we need to strategize carefully.
The job market will never again be like the 1950s-60s, and will probably never again be as good as it was in the mid to late 1990s. Unfortunately we have to adjust to that reality.
Both of my children (now in their mid-20s) attended liberal arts colleges and majored in subjects most people would feel are "useless". One was a studio art major and one was a sociology major. Both of my kids have EXTREMELY good jobs several years out of college. How?
They didn't just sit around while they were in college thinking their college or their major would guarantee a job. They did internships while in college. They worked while in college. They did research projects with professors. And, they also supplemented the courses in their majors (in subjects they both loved) with courses that gave them real world skills. My studio art major took classes in graphic design and marketing andshe now works in marketing where her creative problem solving skills are highly valued. My sociology major took computer science and statistics classes and now works in human computer interaction research, figuring out how to design software that people want to use.
The truth is, even if you major in a "career oriented" major like business or engineering, you STILL need to do these types of things in order to get a decent job after graduation.
It is OK to major in something you love. Just make sure that you are also using your time in college to build real world skills that you can put on a resume after graduation.
I wasn't able to do an internship(more on that later). Anyways, i wouldn't mind doing marketing, but why would a business hire a person with a degree in history vs someone with a degree in marketing? Most jobs I see it says the type of degre that they want. The journalism avenue is a way that I thought of going.
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Those web-based social-networking site marketing jobs don't require a marketing degree. The employers hire people with marketing degrees to do more traditional marketing, but they also hire people with web/net skills and writing skills to create and manage a comprehensive internet presence for the business (facebook Twitter, a blogsite, etc.). Magazines and newspapers do this, too. All you need is proven writing skills, and proven website development & maintenance skills that include a variety of internet venue types.
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CRITICAL THINKING with a liberal arts degree!!! Really, and what sort of critical thinking can you do without a firm grounding in math and statistics?? .....oh yeah, Middle Ages English and Chaucer.
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So having a "firm grounding in math and statistics" and pursuing a liberal arts degree are mutually exclusive? The things you learn on these boards!
BTW, someone isn't aware that, back in the day (before "remedial" reading, writing, and math classes--in college), one had to demonstrate broad subject proficiency, even in [gasp!] math, as a prerequisite for college admission.
Ok, so down to business, I was online and looking at my university's commencement page and they put out the names of all students and what they majored in online. It was nicely done. The person that did the undergraduate address was this cute girl that majored in English and she had had scholarships and a perfect 4.0 average. They always write stories about these people and she said that she wanted to go and get a MA in English and either work at a university or in a publishing house. It was refreshing to read her hopes and dreams. She is married to another person who also graduated from there last year who was also an English major. Cute story.
Anyways, when I compare her story to my own, I have the same goals and dreams. I have a BA in History which I abhor and regret, but I have always wanted to work in a college setting. I went back and counted some of the subjects and how many people majored in things that are most likely to be deemed "useless" and here is what I came up with..
How many students majored in..
MA in English- 5, MA in History 0(thank god), MS in Criminal Justice 36
BA in English-8, BA in History-9 (why??), Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences(B.A.A.S)- 78(wth??), Bachelors in General Studies(BGS)- 47(double wth?)
So I guess my question is why do these people study these things if society has deemed them to be useless? I certainly don't understand why anyone would major in History these days, let along General Studies and the applied arts and sciences degree. To me, those degrees are worse than mine, at least mine has an appropriate title.
So what do you guys think? Do these people have a future? Should I say screw it and follow my dreams like this young lady is doing, instead of listening to "woe is me" stories on the internet from CD and other message boards?
I read a lot of posts on another popular message board(rhymes with edit) and there seem to be a lot of people that major in English, History, and Psychology that cannot find a decent job. I truly wish all these people the very best, but when I hear those stories, I wonder if I just let too much of the "couldn't find a job with this degree" stories get to me. I have no one to help me financially and I worry that I might be wasting time and money(or both). I just have so many goals and dreams, I just don't know where to start.
They do it out of ignorance. The cute girl is in for a major disappointment - there are no publishing house or university jobs for English majors. Those don't exist anymore, and the few that are there are so competitive that she would have had to go to a top top school for a shot, plus have connections.
Those non-subject majors are generally marketed toward people who have very little education and just want a college degree, like older people who never went to college but just want to go back and get a degree, just to have a degree.
I'm not sure what any of it has to do with "following dreams." Unless you are the very best student at the very best school, studying things like history and English beyond a bachelor's degree is nothing but an intellectual luxury that most people can't afford.
Because the History major would be able to put events into historical context, and would be able to offer a more in-depth analysis than a Communications major might.
I teach in a college. A history major cannot put things in historical context unless he or she has at least a master's, probably a PhD. Undergraduate majors require only a handful of courses on a rudimentary level and the amount of knowledge gained about the subject is just plain pitiful. The critical thinking of today's college students is absolutely non-existent. Most don't know the different between an opinion and a fact, and can't identify a reliable source of information if it jumped up and slapped them in the face. I taught at a state flagship that is considered pretty good, so I can't imagine how low the standards are for all the people at lesser schools.
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), one had to demonstrate broad subject proficiency, even in [gasp!] math, as a prerequisite for college admission.
