Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is the key point: all liberal arts degrees are not equal. McGill is a top school and many companies will want her because she’s smart and well educated. The actual degree subject is not important. They’re looking for poise, articulateness, tact, discretion, and people who can work with well-heeled clients.
The real issue regarding liberal arts degrees is social class, not learning, per se. College mainly develops who you are in high school. It’s possible to radically change your life in college, but it’s difficult and rare.
I don’t mean to be harsh, but the people who do best with liberal arts degrees are usually from upper-middle class families who went to an excellent (often private) high school, are well-traveled and go to a good (flagship or private) college. The liberal arts are best at expanding and polishing on your life-knowledge/experience (fine arts training, a semester abroad, languages, athletics, etc.). It’s about becoming “Educated” with a capital “e.” These schools take comparatively sophisticated and cultured students (often from affluent backgrounds) and teach them how to write, think critically and present ideas verbally.
If you want to know who is supposed to take these degrees, just look at the verbal sections of the SAT. They’re all about vocabulary, analogy, complex reading comprehension and writing.
It’s much harder if you’re from a working-class family, go to a so-so public high school, spend a couple of years at a community college and then transfer to an average state school. You might be able to master the book knowledge, but all of the other stuff is almost impossible to replicate. Employers tend hire these people for their technical skills (which can be considerable and highly valuable), but might not benefit as much from a liberal arts degree.
The problem with this board is that people tend to make absurdly broad pronouncements, without considering the student or the school.
I think that goes without saying. Yale, Princeton, McGill, and Columbia: up here. Devry, Phoenix, and ABC tech: down there.
My Liberal Arts degree was very useful; I had the job I wanted right out of school and then used it as a spring board to graduate study.
An advantage to Liberal Arts degrees is their flexibility. If you get trained specifically in one field, and then that one field gets flooded, you can be screwed in the job market, unless you are the very best of the best. Ditto if that field changes quickly or becomes obsolete.
The skills from a Liberal Arts degree, however, are more fluid and transferable. That lack of a direct path can be what scares a lot of people, but for someone who has a lot of creativity, initiative, and a high tolerance for risk, there can be a lot of reward.
Also, they are valuable purely for the education. Being a rounded, educated person has a value in and of itself.
So I just got off the phone with one of my friends and I tried to give him the best advice that I could. He got his degree in french with a business minor. While the minor is good, he doesnt want to teach. So what is he doing right now? He works at a major retailer as a cashier. I also have another friend that has a degree in history that is also working as a cashier. I feel bad because i have friends with no degrees that work in IT and make way more than them. It seems that liberal arts and BA degrees are a bad idea. What do you guys think? My friend with the french degree wants to get his masters in business but in france and the other is undecided between a masters in spanish/history or a masters in business. Both have admitted to me that they are bad in math though. So is it just me or should BA degrees in the arts be avoided?
Do you mean Liberal Arts or Language Arts? Liberal Arts is an undefined course of study. To get a degree in French, or anything else you can put a name to, you would have to follow a set course of study.
^^I categorize Liberal Arts as being any within that school. History, International Relations, Geography, etc. not soley Language Arts. Perhaps OP needs to clarify.
My Liberal Arts degree was very useful; I had the job I wanted right out of school and then used it as a spring board to graduate study.
An advantage to Liberal Arts degrees is their flexibility. If you get trained specifically in one field, and then that one field gets flooded, you can be screwed in the job market, unless you are the very best of the best. Ditto if that field changes quickly or becomes obsolete.
The skills from a Liberal Arts degree, however, are more fluid and transferable. That lack of a direct path can be what scares a lot of people, but for someone who has a lot of creativity, initiative, and a high tolerance for risk, there can be a lot of reward.
Also, they are valuable purely for the education. Being a rounded, educated person has a value in and of itself.
What did u study in school and where did u end up working at if i may ask? No it was not language arts. My friend has a degree in french but now he wants to do his masters in business but he hates math. I told him good luck lol. Business has math in it, thats the way it is
From what I understand as a guy in an MA program for History, liberal arts make it harder to get a job, but the jobs are way more rewarding. Also, you have to consider A) the people holding the degrees. Do they know they have to get out there and do a lot of volunteer work to start? Do they know they won't find a job on Monster.com? And B) They need to move to a large metro area, stat. Small areas simply don't have the leisure money to create jobs that aren't absolutely necessary (service jobs, even manufacturing).
So I just got off the phone with one of my friends and I tried to give him the best advice that I could. He got his degree in french with a business minor. While the minor is good, he doesnt want to teach. So what is he doing right now? He works at a major retailer as a cashier. I also have another friend that has a degree in history that is also working as a cashier. I feel bad because i have friends with no degrees that work in IT and make way more than them. It seems that liberal arts and BA degrees are a bad idea. What do you guys think? My friend with the french degree wants to get his masters in business but in france and the other is undecided between a masters in spanish/history or a masters in business. Both have admitted to me that they are bad in math though. So is it just me or should BA degrees in the arts be avoided?
I have friends with "useful" degrees who are currently unemployed. Does that mean that no one should get a degree in business?
No, BA degrees in liberal arts should not be avoided. Mine has served me well. I've also hired plenty of people who also hold them.
An advantage to Liberal Arts degrees is their flexibility. If you get trained specifically in one field, and then that one field gets flooded, you can be screwed in the job market, unless you are the very best of the best. Ditto if that field changes quickly or becomes obsolete.
The skills from a Liberal Arts degree, however, are more fluid and transferable. That lack of a direct path can be what scares a lot of people, but for someone who has a lot of creativity, initiative, and a high tolerance for risk, there can be a lot of reward.
You assume that there are employers that will hire people for certain positions regardless of major.
If this is true, then students in majors such as accounting and engineering are equally capable of getting those jobs. They simply have the added benefit of being able to pursue accounting or engineering careers as well.
I have no beef with the arts and sciences. I think they can have a great deal of value. But you have no evidence or reasoning whatsoever to support the idea that more "useful" majors are in some way less flexible.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
