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Many of those would require additional training. Computer Science would require a significant amount of training... pretty much an entirely new degree.
Maybe. As written the thread is about liberal arts degrees and not just history majors. Where I went, computer science is liberal arts degree. It's also available through the college of engineering as a degree in computer science and engineering which is not a liberal arts degree.
Maybe. As written the thread is about liberal arts degrees and not just history majors. Where I went, computer science is liberal arts degree. It's also available through the college of engineering as a degree in computer science and engineering which is not a liberal arts degree.
Business degrees are liberal arts too, but computer science is not liberal arts ( a branch called MIS is )
We can roughly divide careers into two distinct areas : science ( including plumber, sheel metal worker ) and liberal arts ( including finance/accounting )
In business-related degrees,
courses in economics, human resource, marketing, organization behavior are liberal arts oriented courses,
courses operations research and MIS are something between liberal arts and science ( some business graduates who want to specialize in operations research or MIS think like industrial engineer or computer science professional , respectively, or already have background in engineering or IT outside their business educations )
courses in finance/accounting are completely liberal arts, but some way in doing exercise problem similar to science ( like doing math, practice a lot , following logics )
Business degrees are liberal arts too, but computer science is not liberal arts ( a branch called MIS is )
We can roughly divide careers into two distinct areas : science ( including plumber, sheel metal worker ) and liberal arts ( including finance/accounting )
In business-related degrees,
courses in economics, human resource, marketing, organization behavior are liberal arts oriented courses,
courses operations research and MIS are something between liberal arts and science ( some business graduates who want to specialize in operations research or MIS think like industrial engineer or computer science professional , respectively, or already have background in engineering or IT outside their business educations )
courses in finance/accounting are completely liberal arts, but some way in doing exercise problem similar to science ( like doing math, practice a lot , following logics )
Psychology is also something between liberal arts and science, actually it's completely liberal arts, but some clinical psychologists like to call themselves doctors
Technical degree of course is good, but that in online school is not good, that in recognized regular school is good . Online school cannot be taken as educational background ( only dipomas from high schools, colleges, universities can be used as educational background ) , while online schools are for people who work in relevant field to take for advancement ( maybe sponsored by employers if working in big companies )
Assuming you're an employer, there're three guys ( A, B,C ) applying a job from you :
A has technical degree in university, without online school, probably he will get a job
B completed an online school in a popular technical area ( you need that kind of technical stuff too ) , but doesn't have any other relevant background , for sure he does not get any job from you
C has technical degree as well as online school , you probably offer him advanced job than A
Most Universities in the States offer online degrees. Lots of folks do well with them and they do count as an "educational background." Even strictly online schools like WGU confer legitimate degrees that can easily be used to get into a prestigious B&M grad schools. In every scenario, you mentioned if all exp was equal the person with a technical degree online or not would beat out a History/Liberal Arts (Humanities) major. The whole critical thinking argument sounds good but in the real world no hiring manager is going to use that as a measuring stick. It all boils down to can you do the work and how well can you do the work compared to other candidates. Skills are the name of the game. If you have none you are at a huge disadvantage.
The days of having a generic degree and doing well are numbered. I am in IT and usually a job posting or internal position within my company has very specific requirements on what they want. Like a BS/MS degree in CS/EE/IS or related. This is not limited to just IT, lots of fields are now doing the same. I am not saying History/Liberal Arts (Humanities) majors suck just that students need to have realistic expectations. If you are talking about the Non-Humanities Liberal Art majors then disregard my entire post.
Last edited by curtisc83; 05-05-2014 at 03:51 AM..
Career options for history majors? Anything they want to do. Transferable skills? That depends on the individual person.
You can google "careers for history degrees." Bottom line is that any degree is just a way of getting into any door. Get in however you can. Once inside, you can cross train and branch out and re-qualify yourself for a new/different career. Smart, consistent, long term thinking people do it all the time.
Degrees don't limit people. People limit themselves.
If you went to a prestigious liberal arts school like Williams,Amherst, Swathmore, Middlebury, and Wellesley, then you have a decent shot at getting high paying jobs in management consulting, investment banking, big 4 accounting, private equity, corporate finance, c-suite, and tech companies like google. If you have a liberal arts degree from a non-prestigeous state school, then your going to have to make sure you have internships, and do tons of networking to land a good job. I saw lots of people with humanities degrees from non-target schools working in retail, so don't make the same mistakes as them. Although, I did see some people with liberal arts degrees from non-target schools make it into management, but they had internships, and were good at networking.
At the same point Carla Fiorina of HP was a medieval history major and frankly employers don't care where you went for higher ed.
Professors do the research and publish. Universities don't. Professors can work in multiple universities as few would attempt to lock them into one institution. Sure there's tenure but it doesn't restrict them. I've had professors that on the side have taught at MIT and private universities in San Francisco. What matters is who has read whom.
Reagan even said "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."
Psychology is also something between liberal arts and science, actually it's completely liberal arts, but some clinical psychologists like to call themselves doctors
Because if they have a phd, that is what they are: "Doctor so-and-so."
Students WHO major in these subjects don’t build technical skills for a particular profession, however they still learn valuable career skills: as an example, the power to speak effectively and solve issues creatively.
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