10 most Worthless degrees

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: aldamon
We know someone that went to an expensive school and majored in Native American studies and obviously is doing nothing with it after 9 years. Figure that one out.

I know an English major who's an i-banker making 6 figures a year.

I know a Psychology major who's pulling in about 60K/yr at IBM.

It's all about your potential to be great at the job and how interesting/compelling you are as a person. Most fresh college grads are inexperienced newbs that will need training in the real world anyways.

Your friends are clearly outliers

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: aldamon
We know someone that went to an expensive school and majored in Native American studies and obviously is doing nothing with it after 9 years. Figure that one out.

I know an English major who's an i-banker making 6 figures a year.

I know a Psychology major who's pulling in about 60K/yr at IBM.

It's all about your potential to be great at the job and how interesting/compelling you are as a person. Most fresh college grads are inexperienced newbs that will need training in the real world anyways.

Your friends are clearly outliers

But wait!
I know someone who won the $100 million jackpot by playing the lottery.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: magomago
I just read every single one and no one, save for Spidey, came CLOSE to what should be said. To a degree, Spidey only kind of indirectly hinted at it when he said that a job was not tied to your degree (which is largely true - only in CERTAIN engineering jobs do you need an actual engineer. Stuff like "Sales Engineering" does not need it). ATOT totally failed at this.

Going to college is NOT supposed to be about getting a job. Note how I said it is NOT about getting a job; I didn't say it SHOULD NOT be. It ISN'T.

Going to college is about learning to think critically, and being skeptical - necessary ingrediants for any citizens who would live in a democracy (or what we call a democracy). Those classes that everyone calls bullshit - be it a history class, a philosophy class, or a social science class are supposed to make you think, and challange your own preconceptionsor even the views of what you read. It makes it more difficult to engineers, because you can't have a debate on the laminar flow of water through a pipe - Doesn't matter how argue, it will flow a certain way. But that doesn't mean that we have the most applicable degrees - 90% of our coursework is theory anyways (although I heard towards the east coast its more 'practile' in that regard). Do we really need to derive all the equations that we do, do we need to take classes in phase transformation theory, or mechanics of materials? We may say "oh but when we design we need it!" and we come back to the fact that very few engineers become intimately involved in R&D where they are really needing that theory to stake out new ground. We still have all that theory because it allows us to think critically to simplify a system to either understand it, or take advantage of the method by which it works.

It is annoying how so many engineers look at the other fields and call it bullshit as if their degree is the culmination of all that is practicle. If anything, engineering misses the mark because what is practicle is to communicate with others and adapt socially in situations...that is what really gets us through life. A person should not do engineering because they want to make money - far from it.

I'm going to graduate soon (hopefully...lol...) with two engineering degrees and a minor in what everyone wants to say is bullshit, and I have to say my minor probably gave me more worth as a person than my engineering degrees. It taught me to think critically in a complex society that we CAN'T simplify.

Note: this doesn't mean I don't think that engineering has no merit. I want to work as an Engineer. I'm just adjusting my message because we are dealing with a tech board with an extra dose of engineers/scientists who need to stop with their immature views

You majored in engineering and minored in a bullshit degree.
You are smart. 😉

Unfortunately some people do the complete opposite.

 

[bobsmith1492]

WHAT? No Women's Studies??

Worthless. The guy needs to do some research before writing that article.

I would replace Philosophy with Women's Studies. Then I would replace religion with GLBT Studies (yes it exists).

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Lothar


I disagree.
If liberal arts was my life long dream and I couldn't afford it when I was entering college, I would take a more financially sound approach.

I know someone who took loans to get a degree in nursing, and later went on to do her dream in psychology and now has a masters there. Loans paid off easily, financed education in psychology completely.
I know many people who do this. Most people get a Nursing degree, then go on to do whatever they want (Law, Medicine, Psychology, "insert other majors here") these days so they won't have much financial burden hanging on their necks.

Much better than jumping early to get a 100k loan and finishing with your head cut off.

Even if I have to do a job I don't like for a few years to be financially secure, I'll do the sacrifice.
Getting a 100k loan on my head at 6.8% interest that I most likely won't be able to pay back anytime soon by starting a career in liberal arts is not an option.

I like your idea, but many professional schools are incredibly expensive. In addition, the time demands of many of them would prevent you from working while attending school. Some don't even have part-time programs.

My point is that even if you take a less-interesting but decently-paying job initially to save up money to pursue your real passions, you may still have to take out many loans to get there. When law school costs $30k/year and increases at 7%/year, it could take a very long time for someone to save that up. At that point, they would have to question whether pursuing the degree would still be worth it.

You have a good point and bring up an excellent question.
Depends on which major and job you get initially to serve as your "stop-gap".

As to time demands, that depends entirely on the person.
I know people who finished med school while working full time on the job as a nurse.
There are 2 people who did the same thing in my class as well.
I wouldn't say it's "impossible". I call it determination.
I did 20hrs a week while I was in pharmacy school. If I didn't waste my time playing Diablo II, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament; or researching stocks I'm sure I would have been able to do at least 32hrs/week.

Besides, this topic is supposed to be about social science and liberal arts.

 

[spidey07]

I've tried to stay out of the thread since I made my point. But the point simply isn't getting through. Everybody loves to brag about their major when in college and starting salary, I know I sure did. They even like to brag about it in their first job, maybe their second. By the time they reach mid/late 20s the light bulb should go off.

It doesn't freaking matter.

College is like a big pissing contest on who has the highest starting salary. But what the students don't understand is where their career will be 5-10-15 years from said starting salary. Your degree doesn't matter in your career, your ability to communicate and work with others is much more important.

Engineers are a funny resource.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
What a terrifically dumbass comparison.

Oh snap, someone in a low-paying major? 😛


Yeah, fine, people can do stuff they like in college. But it still seems quite impractical to spend loads of money on college, and still come out with no significant or marketable job skills.

Originally posted by: Farang
Kind of dumb.. all liberal arts degrees are just about equally worthless (except for Economics which is sometimes put in that category). I'm a Social Sciences major which is more worthless than all of those anyway so that list sucks.

..and I'm basically a Poli Sci major and don't like the "Science" label. When people ask me my major I say "Politics" because that is what I study. It isn't a science, it is an art--the art of bullshitting.

I appreciate your candor. 😀
If you do go into politics though, I'm sure we'll never hear that sort of thing from you, ever again.

Yep 🙂 You office dwellers just don't understand, which is just as well, I suppose.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
What a terrifically dumbass comparison.

Oh snap, someone in a low-paying major? 😛


Yeah, fine, people can do stuff they like in college. But it still seems quite impractical to spend loads of money on college, and still come out with no significant or marketable job skills.



I guess when you measure you success against that of other people on the internet or by how much cash you take home every two weeks after staring at a computer screen for fifty hours, then yeah, I guess I've failed miserably.

 

[rubix]

don't know if it still works, but you used to be able to pick a major like religious studies or forestry at the "best" colleges even if you had crappy grades and they'd let you in because barely anyone would pick those majors. then you'd just take the general requirement classes and change majors to something else a year or two later. maybe they don't allow people to switch majors for those anymore?

i think harvard had a forestry major for example.

 

[Toonces]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
I went on a couple dates with a girl recently who is a PEACE STUDIES major.

Can't imagine a more worthless degree.

Double Majored in Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies - I'm so worthless!! 😀

Don't tell the Japanese Gov't of my relative worth or they might make me leave my great job here.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: spidey07
I've tried to stay out of the thread since I made my point. But the point simply isn't getting through. Everybody loves to brag about their major when in college and starting salary, I know I sure did. They even like to brag about it in their first job, maybe their second. By the time they reach mid/late 20s the light bulb should go off.

It doesn't freaking matter.

College is like a big pissing contest on who has the highest starting salary. But what the students don't understand is where their career will be 5-10-15 years from said starting salary. Your degree doesn't matter in your career, your ability to communicate and work with others is much more important.

Engineers are a funny resource.

:thumbsup:

I think the degree you get in college matters very little on how successful you'll be (by any measure).

 

[rh71]

I knew COM would be on there, but it was really my minor and job experience that got me a nice job.

I'm really not a read & regurgitate type of person. I enjoyed writing my essays and all that jazz.. much moreso than taking right/wrong tests. With that said though, there definitely were slackers in COM, as much as PSY.

 

[Zee]

Priests make like 3k a pop for each wedding and etc.

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

 

[HeXploiT]

The most worthless degree would have to be a degree in philosophy. The only job you're going to find with a degree in philosophy is a job teaching philosophy.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: Perry404
The most worthless degree would have to be a degree in philosophy. The only job you're going to find with a degree in philosophy is a job teaching philosophy.

and you still need another degree to teach it

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Perry404
The most worthless degree would have to be a degree in philosophy. The only job you're going to find with a degree in philosophy is a job teaching philosophy.

Unless you apply to med school. Then you have a 50% shot of getting in.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: spidey07
Majors have nothing to do with what you do with your career, much like GPA.

This.

I'm not sure why there's such closed-mindedness on this forum when it comes to this topic...oh wait....must be all the engineering degrees clouding reality 🙂

I love it that I switched my major from engineering to Political Science (are you pissed it's a Science?) and English. I make more money that I ever would have as an engineer.

What do you work as? I'm curious as I'm planning on majoring in PS and English too..

Also I recently dropped out of an Aerospace Engineering diploma (guess it's sort of equivalent to an American trade college) course in the final year. Honestly couldn't imagine another day with the engineer types 😛

 

[shortylickens]

Dont wanna be an asshole but most of those should be obvious.

I think they are hold overs from Ye Olden Days when ANY degree was a surefire way to a nice job.
As a child of the 80's my parents told me this constantly.
By the time the 90's rolled around they were more like: "Get an engineering degree."

Also, most of us know that the school itself is a big help.
Those 10 degrees might seem like crap but if you got one of them from Harvard you still have a good chance of the Rich & Shameless lifestyle.

My mom talks about this all the time. She's a senior/master/uber paralegal in her law firm and she sees tons of idiots who cant do anything right holding on to jobs for decades, all because they went to one of the top 10 Ivy League universities. Big law firms and corporations will suck up those guys instantly and never let them go, even if they are useless.

Originally posted by: Saint Michael

Originally posted by: invidia
Don't forget engineers and scientists. Without their academic nerdiness, we won't have the internet to post on ATOT with our computers today.

A misconception. Not all engineers are sitting around inventing the internet and making the world a better place. Most engineers are sitting around doing mundane tasks and designing forgettable, worthless things, and of course occasionally popping onto tech sites to talk shit about how they are doing such a service for humanity through their chosen profession.

This is true. I took the Advanced Electronics program in the Navy. Got out and worked for Hynix Semiconductor (microchips) and then Tektronix (test equipment). Am going back to school soon and I can honestly say I will major in anything except engineering.
The idea of building new toys and devices and machinery and stuff sound fun and profitable, but its always the business major (your boss) who gets the glory and the money, because he told you to do it.
You will just sit around all day with a dozen other miserable souls trying to figure out some ridiculous problem because the 27 people between you and the customer are complete idiots.

CASE IN POINT!!
http://philhord.com/phord/wp-content/development.jpg

Thats another thing I learned working in the industry. About 200 things can go wrong in any given project. 3 of them will be your fault. The other 197 are still your problems.
Engineering isnt that awesome.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

they need something to convince themselves it was worth the massive amount of work and money to make roughly the same thing as most other graduates. (excluding LAS, Theater, etc)

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

they need something to convince themselves it was worth the massive amount of work and money to make roughly the same thing as most other graduates. (excluding LAS, Theater, etc)

lol... i make $70k+ 1 year out of school.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

they need something to convince themselves it was worth the massive amount of work and money to make roughly the same thing as most other graduates. (excluding LAS, Theater, etc)

lol... i make $70k+ 1 year out of school.

and I've known enginerding grads from ND, NW starting at 50k and lowly business majors starting at 60k.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

they need something to convince themselves it was worth the massive amount of work and money to make roughly the same thing as most other graduates. (excluding LAS, Theater, etc)

lol... i make $70k+ 1 year out of school.

and I've known enginerding grads from ND, NW starting at 50k and lowly business majors starting at 60k.

sure, but that's not the norm.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: JohnCU
lulz at this turning into engineering vs every other major

engineers believe they're superior to everyone

not all of them, i'm dumb as a rock

:Q me too!

I didn't say there was any truth to it. I just said that many engineers "think" they are

:laugh:

they need something to convince themselves it was worth the massive amount of work and money to make roughly the same thing as most other graduates. (excluding LAS, Theater, etc)

lol... i make $70k+ 1 year out of school.

and I've known enginerding grads from ND, NW starting at 50k and lowly business majors starting at 60k.

sure, but that's not the norm.

And who says yours is? Even if your avg starting salary is 70k or whatever, there's still going to be a bunch of people making <50k

Its a pointless argument. Do what you want to do, don't do it for the money (as long as we're talking legitimate majors).