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I don't have children and got my own degree years ago so I'm not up on these things but is anyone majoring in new fields of study? What are they? For example, do language departments have many people majoring in languages of the Middle East these days? Majoring in Chinese studies? What kind of science is the hottest major these days? What's the big tech major these days? To what types of careers will these majors lead?
If you were thinking about some field related to Homeland Security, what would be the "got to have" major at college?
I recently heard that long time video game players are desired by the military to pilot unmanned aerial vehicles and wondered if there is a major these same people take in college to to complement those skills.
What majors are pretty much passe these days from, let's say, compared to 20 years ago? I remember, during the cold war period, a kid in my class said he was going to major in Russian studies and I'm thinking now that may not be a hot field anymore. Also, with reporters falling in esteem in the eyes of the public, compared to 20 - 30 years ago (now people want to be opinion jockeys), have the journalism majors been on the decline? What major is going nowhere after graduation?
I know killer answered this in the other forum and I am going to concur - anything to do with the graying population. caveat: I am not working in academia.
Since I don't have a crystal ball, I am not sure what is going to happen in health care over the next 30 yrs. Obviously, changes are coming. The trend in the past couple of generations has been towards using less-expensive ancillary care providers (some of whom do get paid fairly well, while some do not) to supplement the RNs, plus using mid-level providers and therapists (OT, PT) to provide care. Whether this trend continues because it saves money or shifts somehow due to a change in the way healthcare is paid for and managed, I cannot say.
Anything in healthcare - we'll always need it - you have to be licsensed, so you're in a demand occupation. Everyone can't do it - so you'll be needed.
I don't have children and got my own degree years ago so I'm not up on these things but is anyone majoring in new fields of study? What are they? For example, do language departments have many people majoring in languages of the Middle East these days? Majoring in Chinese studies? What kind of science is the hottest major these days? What's the big tech major these days? To what types of careers will these majors lead?
If you were thinking about some field related to Homeland Security, what would be the "got to have" major at college?
I recently heard that long time video game players are desired by the military to pilot unmanned aerial vehicles and wondered if there is a major these same people take in college to to complement those skills.
What majors are pretty much passe these days from, let's say, compared to 20 years ago? I remember, during the cold war period, a kid in my class said he was going to major in Russian studies and I'm thinking now that may not be a hot field anymore. Also, with reporters falling in esteem in the eyes of the public, compared to 20 - 30 years ago (now people want to be opinion jockeys), have the journalism majors been on the decline? What major is going nowhere after graduation?
I'm not really sure what's "hot" these days... however, I can tell you that a liberal arts degree, even in "highly sought after languages" is pretty much worthless. Even if you can speak the language well, most people who are hired are from foreign countries (the U.N. is a perfect example--from what I have heard, they rarely employ Americans.)
The best degrees are career-focused degrees, such as teaching, engineering, medicine or business. Whether or not that makes them "hot" is a matter of opinion.
I know Environmental Science, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Engineering are hot degrees.
As for homeland security...Emergency Management.
Health care is a good field but even now we are seeing people in health care getting cut, wages being cut in some places to prevent layoffs, etc.
A speech therapist is a good career. People suffering from strokes, special needs children, etc will need a speech therapist.
Physical therapist...
Just make sure your major has a pretty direct correlation to a job.
Employers don't want to guess, "Hmmm...is this person's degree really going to help my company?" at least when it comes to entry-level jobs/trying to get your foot in the door.
At my university, international relations and economics are the hot majors. Our IR degree is very econ focused and you can focus on a number of areas: environmental, global governance, communications, poverty and inequality, general IR, etc.
Personally, I'm double majoring in IR with a focus on environmental issues and politics with minors in environmental studies and Latin American studies (specifically American-Mexican relations and internal Mexican politics). I'm about one course each from minoring in anthropology or history but I won't pursue them. From my point of view, I've worked in conjunction with internships and excessive study abroad to set myself up in a position to go into immigration issues or environmental issues specifically and in a more abstract sense, healthcare policy from more recent coursework. I'll be focusing in grad school once I decide over the summer exactly which field I'd like to focus on (but more than likely water or renewable energy policy).
My university literally does not have a single degree that could be directly attached to a career- with perhaps the exception of education but it's a general education degree rather than primary, secondary, etc. I wonder if that will change in the coming years.
Other than hot majors, study abroad is also hot. I'm hoping my 3 terms straight abroad in 3 different countries with 3 different languages will help my employability!
I'm not really sure what's "hot" these days... however, I can tell you that a liberal arts degree, even in "highly sought after languages" is pretty much worthless. Even if you can speak the language well, most people who are hired are from foreign countries (the U.N. is a perfect example--from what I have heard, they rarely employ Americans.)
The best degrees are career-focused degrees, such as teaching, engineering, medicine or business. Whether or not that makes them "hot" is a matter of opinion.
Doesn't the federal government need American citizens who speak foreign languages fluently, like the FBI, NSA, CIA, State Dept, Defense Dept? I was just thinking the hot languages and area studies may have changed from, for example, 20 years ago. I would think anyone with middle east or China studies (history, culture, religion, politics, government, etc.) and related language education would fare better in the job market than say, someone with the same skills but for Eastern Europe. I just don't know if that type of thing has caught on, at universities. I would think with the aging population, there might be a shift in medical education specialization. I would think with all of the data mining going on in business and government, there might have been a shift in computer-related specialization. You know, do we really need more website designers?
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