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What does the question in the OP have to do with the question in the subject line?
No degree is a sure fire shot to a great job. But I'll tell you what. I'd take a gritty, curious, persevering Psych major over a lazy, self-righteous STEM major, who relies on their degree alone, any day of the week. Success takes a lot more than any 'ol STEM degree. Sure, statistically speaking, you may be more likely to earn more as an average STEM grad than having only a generic undergrad degree. But I don't know where people get this strange idea that having a STEM degree sets you above the rest in terms of critical thinking and attainment of success. It's like some serious Revenge of the Nerds fantasy scenario that a group of neck beards dreamt up in their lonely dorm rooms. And I say this as someone who fell into this category when I was younger.
You can be successful with a variety of different skills and experiences given that you utilize them effectively and keep striving forward. Soft skills and politicking really come to good use in careers like Sales, Real Estate, Customer Service, Business Analysis, etc., etc., etc. I could literally name off dozens of different positions I've encountered in my 10 year career that were filled with ambitious non-STEM majors.
Your inability to communicate effectively is the problem here. I doubt anyone here understood what you were trying to get at with your two blunt and unrelated questions that you posed with no context.
psychology is a stem degree that doesn't pay well. stem isn't the answer!
STEM is not the answer for everybody. But to argue that a STEM degree (in general) doesn't pay well is just ridiculous. Most STEM degrees, and most degrees in general, give you a leg up in our modern society. I don't think there's a single college degree out there that has median salary data pointing to $0/yr. Most degree-required jobs will place you at the median household income, or higher.
Honestly I don't see a lot of STEM bashing non STEM. What I do see is a lot of the reverse. Most folks with STEM degrees don't give a rat's butt what someone else majored in. What does get old is the constant "me too" and "XYZ is ..." comments. People can major in what they want and work with the result.
Now I do believe there are more higher paying jobs in general than there are STEM graduates and people need to include that in their college calculations. But the constant anti STEM comments on CD speaks more to jealousy than any actual put downs from STEM degree holders.
Honestly I don't see a lot of STEM bashing non STEM. What I do see is a lot of the reverse. Most folks with STEM degrees don't give a rat's butt what someone else majored in. What does get old is the constant "me too" and "XYZ is ..." comments. People can major in what they want and work with the result.
Now I do believe there are more higher paying jobs in general than there are STEM graduates and people need to include that in their college calculations. But the constant anti STEM comments on CD speaks more to jealousy than any actual put downs from STEM degree holders.
Direct me to some of these threads or posts that are overwhelmingly bashing STEM degrees...even someone like me, who has experienced lots of backlash for my non-STEM degree, has never once criticized someone for choosing STEM. Heck, I defended STEM in this very thread.
Maybe I don't spend enough time on this particular forum to see what you're talking about. Or maybe we just see what we want to see. But, in general, I've experienced far more backlash from STEM majors than the other way around. I can't even count on two hands anymore how many derogatory jokes I've read about non-STEM majors working at Starbucks as baristas, because that's all they can amount to. Back in the day, when I was seeking out career advice on some job forums, I encountered plenty of the same rudeness and jokes. So yeah, maybe I'm a little defensive because of that. But that's just what happens when people constantly stereotype and judge you for being some incapable, tech-illiterate individual, or that you didn't make the right choice, all based on the subject you studied in college. As if those things are all mutually exclusive.
Maybe it's not as bad on this forum, but the prevailing attitude is a lot worse on sites with more tech-savvy crowds like reddit, 4chan, etc.
Last edited by Left-handed; 01-11-2018 at 09:22 AM..
Spend enough time on the Internet, and you'll soon realize there is never enough STEM circle jerking and non-STEM bashing.
These people live in a bubble of self-righteousness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Left-handed
Your inability to communicate effectively is the problem here. I doubt anyone here understood what you were trying to get at with your two blunt and unrelated questions that you posed with no context.
Your subject line: Is psychology considered a STEM subject?
Your OP: I don't think psychology by itself is a sure fire shot to a great job.
While true, there is technically one question here, these are two completely unrelated points without context. But now that I have some context, I know that you were (poorly) attempting to bait people into agreeing with you that Psychology, being a STEM degree, doesn't pay well and therefore STEM is not the best path.
Regardless of the poor bait job, your logic is so flawed that one might even consider this thread/OP trolling.
Psychology is a STEM subject. Psychology is a science and applies to the "S" in STEM.
As a degree, most don't define it as a STEM subject, because Psychology degrees generally lead to social career paths (e.g. Social Workers, Counselors). It is also uniquely not a STEM degree because it generally requires further education (e.g. MSW, Psy. D) in order to start a professional career. This characteristic is not generally true for engineers, computer programmers, etc.
All being said, it is a great career field for driven as much as engineer. What has soured the degree is the sheer number of people attaining the degree, but then not using it for its intended purpose. It is also perceived as being easy, which is not necessarily true, yet the stereotype persists.
It is also perceived as being easy, which is not necessarily true, yet the stereotype persists.
As are most fields that are criticized by folks who have only taken intro courses as part of their pre-requisite university education. I thought Econ was a cakewalk (and extremely fascinating) during the first couple of intro courses to Macro and Micro, just to find out that it's one of the most difficult degrees offered at the university once you start moving into the 3000+ level courses. The modeling and statistics required for the degree were up there with the Finance and Accounting courses, if not more challenging once you start moving towards the theoretical stuff and econometrics. Even fields like Political Science can become stats/math heavy once you start getting into the upper level courses and grad coursework. Believe it or not, it's not just about comparative analysis between the works of Karl Marx and Adam Smith
Last edited by Left-handed; 01-11-2018 at 09:54 AM..
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