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Originally Posted by BigDGeek I have a "useless" degree. I have worked in IT for 16 years and currently make $124k.
So...there's that.
I wouldn't recommend someone taking out $150k in student loans to get my degree, but I'd be queasy about taking out that much money to pursue almost any degree.
I wouldn't call IT a "useless degree". I have always wondered, however, what a degree in "Women's Studies", for instance, prepares someone for, except for perhaps activism.
I read the post differently. From my reading BigDGeek didn't major in IT, but majored in one of the fields considered "useless" by OP and ended up working in IT making decent money.
FWIW, I majored in philosophy and now earn about $90k a few years down the road. I sit a few desks away from folks who majored in engineering, science fields etc. and here we are a decade later, doing similar work and earning similar pay, because that's where the twists and turns of life have led us. It's up to you, not your degree, to figure out what to do with yourself.
I read the post differently. From my reading BigDGeek didn't major in IT, but majored in one of the fields considered "useless" by OP and ended up working in IT making decent money.
FWIW, I majored in philosophy and now earn about $90k a few years down the road. I sit a few desks away from folks who majored in engineering, science fields etc. and here we are a decade later, doing similar work and earning similar pay, because that's where the twists and turns of life have led us. It's up to you, not your degree, to figure out what to do with yourself.
To a point, life does take unexpected twists and turns and you may get a break, even with today's labor market as it is, with a bad degree. That still doesn't mean that majoring in something better won't improve your odds at success.
To a point, life does take unexpected twists and turns and you may get a break, even with today's labor market as it is, with a bad degree. That still doesn't mean that majoring in something better won't improve your odds at success.
It could but it's all about your strength in it. Let's remember a 4.0 student in a liberal arts is likely to be a better candidate than a 2.7 student in engineering that chose it not for their strength but because it was in demand. If it was a 4.0 vs. 4.0, I'd go with the engineering student but we are talking about a student who is only .2 on their GPA above the bare minimum to graduate.
EDIT: Now the why the liberal arts major has a 4.0 and the engineering major has 2.7 can be up for debate but for argument sake we are looking at them as equals. The 2.7 engineering major is something I would fear can happen more and more with more people going to that due to interests rates favoring the in need majors.
They might do well now but trades physically wear people out. Accidents happen as well. It does not take much to pretty much be out of work not so much because of the business itself but just because you cannot physically do it.
Good point. I wouldn't discourage someone from going into the trades, but they should do their research. A former coworker of mine went from being a welder to entering a low-paying healthcare field because of a serious injury.
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Originally Posted by Cliffie
B) Last year's useless degree may not stay useless, and this year's hot prospect may not get you anywhere in 10 years. At one time the best degree you could possibly have was Liberal Arts, believe it or not. All the presidents and titans of industry in the country had Liberal Arts degrees if they had anything at all. Now all it gets you is a student-loan payment.
This is true. Georgetown's study has twice found architecture to have the highest unemployment rate among recent graduates after the real estate market went south. Information systems had the second highest unemployment rate among recent graduates.
No professor or counselor would ever tell a student a certain degree is useless since the purpose of college is encourage students to reach their long term goals.
No professor or counselor would ever tell a student a certain degree is useless since the purpose of college is encourage students to reach their long term goals.
Or the purpose is to increase the college's bottom line...
Oh jeez! Some types of jobs just don't come along like others. Somebody might have to wait a long time for a position in their field, that doesn't make their degree useless.
No professor or counselor would ever tell a student a certain degree is useless since the purpose of college is encourage students to reach their long term goals.
I told my students all last year that they don't need a college degree to do what they wanted to do, which was mostly law enforcement. I will tell my students the same thing when I start teaching again next semester because I honestly think that colleges are being unethical in how they market criminal justice degrees. However, I put most of the blame on the students for not doing any research. It really does not take that long to see that the local police departments do not require a degree, but a lot of students don't do this.
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