What are your immediate impressions of these degrees? (PhDs, computer science, kindergarten)
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I'm currently in college and like many other students I have changed majors a few times. I'm always interested to ask people who graduated from college what they majored in as I find the variety interesting. However I'm curious if people in our society in general here in the U.S. have certain immediate impressions of someone who majors in certain areas. So for this thread I'm going to list some common degrees and I would like you all to give me your first impression of people who major in that degree. Feel free to add additional degrees and your impressions. Thx my fellow city data members and have a good one.
1. Business Administration
2. Communications
3. Biology
4. Criminal Justice
5. Journalism
6. Mathematics
7. Education
8. Computer Science
9. Engineering
10. Art & Art History
11. Philosophy
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist)
13. Marketing
14. Psychology
15. Political Science
16. Sociology
17. Chemistry
18. English
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....)
20. History
21. Philosophy
22. Film Studies
23. Architecture
24. Accounting
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut)
I'm currently in college and like many other students I have changed majors a few times. I'm always interested to ask people who graduated from college what they majored in as I find the variety interesting. However I'm curious if people in our society in general here in the U.S. have certain immediate impressions of someone who majors in certain areas. So for this thread I'm going to list some common degrees and I would like you all to give me your first impression of people who major in that degree. Feel free to add additional degrees and your impressions. Thx my fellow city data members and have a good one.
1. Business Administration
2. Communications
3. Biology
4. Criminal Justice
5. Journalism
6. Mathematics
7. Education
8. Computer Science
9. Engineering
10. Art & Art History
11. Philosophy
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist)
13. Marketing
14. Psychology
15. Political Science
16. Sociology
17. Chemistry
18. English
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....)
20. History
21. Philosophy
22. Film Studies
23. Architecture
24. Accounting
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut)
1. Frat boys
2. Partying
3. Useless as an undergraduate, could be useful as a foray into grad school or med school
4. Police officers
5. Obsolete
6. Hard
7. Kindergarten teachers
8. Tough
9. Really difficult, even moreso than math or CS
10. Tattooed Starbucks employees
11. Pensive people, law school
12. Like sociology. Is this the Sociology / Anthropology of Leisure?
13. Liars
14. Non-tattooed Starbucks employees, IIRC most common major
15. Law school
16. Condemned to poverty, student of humanity
17. MSChemist80
18. People who like to read, future Starbucks employees
19. Could be useful in gaining a government job, especially if it is a rare language
20. Law school
21. You already listed this.
22. Segal wannabes
23. This one girl who I went to high school with.
24. ISTJ personalities
25. Gives performances in elementary schools
As I see it--evaluating the value of stand-alone undergraduate degrees (and not MS or PhDs):
1. Business Administration -- A general purpose business degree. It qualifies you to hunt for a competitive job with potential upward mobility, but these degrees are a dime-a-dozen.
2. Communications -- Probably not as good as the Business Administration degree. Also a dime-a-dozen. Carries with it the stereotype of being a major for air-headed high school cheerleaders.
3. Biology -- Oversaturated field as a result of graduates who couldn't gain admission to medical school and its being a non-mathematical science that people tend to enjoy. Employment will most likely be blue collar in nature and lowly. Prospects for upward mobility in the field severely stunted because of the relatively large numbers of people with MS and PhDs.
4. Criminal Justice -- Probably pretty useless, oversaturated, little opportunity for upward mobility.
5. Journalism -- Oversaturated, contracting field. The Internet has devastated this industry. Why do you need hundreds of local newspapers and local journalists when a couple Internet sites will do. Avoid.
6. Mathematics -- Gives you a powerful tool applicable to many fields but suffers in that it doesn't train you to do anything productive in particular. Overall, it's a good general degree. One benefit is that possession of this degree serves as a proxy for high IQ/work ethic. This degree would be best combined with something else (Business Administration degree, Computers, Actuarial science, etc.)
7. Education -- Oversaturated field that is facing cutbacks. While it once offered rather stable employment with good benefits in some states, the gravy train left the station a few decades ago. It offers little upward mobility potential.
8. Computer Science -- This is a good field to go into if you have the aptitude. It suffers from global labor arbitrage pressures but benefits from the increased importance and prevalence of computers. The field has a barrier to entry in that you probably need to be smarter than average in order to be average in this field.
9. Engineering -- This is probably by far the most difficult degree to obtain but also one of the most useful. The mathematical requirements present a very high barrier to entry, so not everyone can become an engineer (in contrast, just about anyone can get a business or communications degree). As a general proposition, it's probably still the most valuable undergraduate degree you could obtain.
10. Art & Art History -- It's a McDegree with little practical application in the real world. If you just need a piece of paper that says "college educated", it serves as that and little more. It's probably a waste of your time and money.
11. Philosophy -- It has about the same value as Art History. You may be perceived as being a better critical thinker but also as being an impractical idealist. It's probably a waste of your time and money.
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist) -- It's another McDegree. See Art History.
13. Marketing -- See Business Administration.
14. Psychology -- The value of this degree is probably only a little better than Art History. Like Biology, if you want to go anywhere in this field you're going to need an MS and probably a PhD. It's true that people need psychological counseling--but it's also true that people don't have the money needed to pay for such a luxury. It's probably a waste of time and money.
15. Political Science -- It might be a little better than a Philosophy degree.
16. Sociology -- It might be a little better than a Philosophy degree.
17. Chemistry -- It has about the same value as a Biology degree. The job market might be better but it will suffer from the same upward mobility problems as possession of a Biology degree.
18. English -- It's probably better than a Philosophy degree, but it's mostly pretty useless. It's another McDegree.
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....) -- It depends on the language. If you pick a "hot" language that few Americans are familiar with and that becomes central to commerce, it might not be such a bad gig (Chinese, Japanese, etc.). It could serve as an entry to the business field with the emphasis being on your ability to speak foreign executives' language. It would be best combined with a business degree.
20. History -- See Art History.
21. Philosophy -- See Philosophy (#11)
22. Film Studies -- See Art History.
23. Architecture -- Susceptible to foreign outsourcing. It also follows the fortunes of the overall economy--when business is good and businesses are building new structures the field will be relatively good but will suffer horribly in a bad economy. The job prospects in this field probably suffer from its being more of a soft artsy-fartsy type of undertaking (perception of its being a glamorous field to work in and oversaturated).
24. Accounting -- This is one of the most useful undergraduate degrees. Every business needs someone to manage the books and accounts. It probably offers the opportunity to compete for a great many low-level entry-level positions. Being a general business degree, it offers some opportunity for upward mobility. It's a field that is probably also oversaturated.
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut) -- Why not just flush the tuition money down the toilet?
1. Business Administration
2. Communications
3. Biology
4. Criminal Justice
5. Journalism
6. Mathematics
7. Education
8. Computer Science
9. Engineering
10. Art & Art History
11. Philosophy
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist)
13. Marketing
14. Psychology
15. Political Science
16. Sociology
17. Chemistry
18. English
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....)
20. History
21. Philosophy
22. Film Studies
23. Architecture
24. Accounting
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut)
1. Too many people have it.
2. Easiest thing I've ever heard.
3. Yawn boring.
4. "Cops is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement..."
5. Yawn boring.
6. Ugh I hate math.
7. My mom has a degree in Education and she used it for like 2 years and then worked for an insurance company.
8. Yawn boring.
9. Yawn boring.
10. Hate art. Love history.
11. Unemployment.
12. Yawn boring.
13. Common sense.
14. Failed that in high school. I hate it.
15. Somewhat interesting but the advanced stuff is too boring.
16. Not even sure what that is. Yawn boring.
17. Failed that in HS too. Teacher was racist. I hate science.
18. I speak it just fine.
19. Me gusta.
20. I love history!!!
21. Unemployment. For life.
22. See 21.
23. Yawn boring.
24. Omg I hated accounting. I'd rather take a cheesegrater to my face.
25. Fail.
I'm currently in college and like many other students I have changed majors a few times. I'm always interested to ask people who graduated from college what they majored in as I find the variety interesting. However I'm curious if people in our society in general here in the U.S. have certain immediate impressions of someone who majors in certain areas. So for this thread I'm going to list some common degrees and I would like you all to give me your first impression of people who major in that degree. Feel free to add additional degrees and your impressions. Thx my fellow city data members and have a good one.
1. Business Administration
2. Communications 3. Biology
4. Criminal Justice
5. Journalism 6. Mathematics
7. Education 8. Computer Science
9. Engineering
10. Art & Art History
11. Philosophy
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist)
13. Marketing 14. Psychology
15. Political Science
16. Sociology 17. Chemistry
18. English
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....)
20. History
21. Philosophy
22. Film Studies 23. Architecture
24. Accounting
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut)
I'm currently in college and like many other students I have changed majors a few times. I'm always interested to ask people who graduated from college what they majored in as I find the variety interesting. However I'm curious if people in our society in general here in the U.S. have certain immediate impressions of someone who majors in certain areas. So for this thread I'm going to list some common degrees and I would like you all to give me your first impression of people who major in that degree. Feel free to add additional degrees and your impressions. Thx my fellow city data members and have a good one.
1. Business Administration Those who can kiss arse better than working hard
2. Communications
3. Biology Failed Pre-Med student
4. Criminal Justice
5. Journalism
6. Mathematics At an average school, "Cool." At a great school, "Wow"
7. Education Teach ... the children well. Their father's h@ll...
8. Computer Science Not once what it was
9. Engineering Mommy told me this would guarantee me middle class
10. Art & Art History
11. Philosophy
12. Leisure Studies (Yes this one does exist)
13. Marketing See #1
14. Psychology Failed engineers
15. Political Science Going to law school b/c they don't know what else to do
16. Sociology See #15
17. Chemistry
18. English
19. Any language except English (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc....) Cool...
20. History
21. Philosophy So nice it's listed twice
22. Film Studies So you REALLY don't care at all?
23. Architecture Most underappreciated career around
24. Accounting Most accountants I know are surprisingly happy
25. Puppetry (University of Connecticut)
As an English major...all of you are way off base.
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