Are English, Socialology, or Language(spanish) Majors a Good choice? Career Prospects?

[acidvoodoo]

i'm basicly trying to help my brother out, and i know AT has a wide range of people.

Basicly, he's in his last year of high school, but he hasn't yet decided on a major. As he's, like me, a US cit. living in england, he has done for the last 2 years only
Spanish, English and Socialology. So he obviously is interested in these subjects. He might be travelling next year, he might go to uni, i don't know, and i don't think he does either. He told me "i was thinking of languages, but they have the 2nd highest unemployment rate of all graduates". So i can see partly what is holding him back.
He IS a smart person, straight A student, has alot of interesting views and opinions, and imo he should go to university to take his education higher, or else it'll be a waste.

So, what kind of things can a spanish major do for a career, if the job markey for it is looking good? what about the other 2? I'm interested to know too, as i find all those subjects boring

thanks for any input atot

Oh and he mentioned he is interested in going to school in boston, because of the vast number of students from all the universities, good choice? good schools?
sorry i'm an idiot i got it wrong, it was english, not phsy'

 

[EbonyExperience]

Tell him to choose Physology.

 

[Ameesh]

maybe something like spanish and economics or business.

 

[cnwk64]

If that's only three majors he will consider, I would take lunguage.
2nd language are always good for your career.

 

[MaxDepth]

Originally posted by: cnwk64
If that's only three majors he will consider, I would take lunguage.
2nd language are always good for your career.

Except redneck. It'll get you a set of Goodyears pretty cheap, but it won't help you find a job...

 

[Martin]

Those are totally useless. If he's gonna spend the time and money to go to university at least he should choose some major that has relevance to the real world.

 

[acidvoodoo]

Originally posted by: MartyTheManiak
Those are totally useless. If he's gonna spend the time and money to go to university at least he should choose some major that has relevance to the real world.

that's kinda what i thought :frown:

 

[squirrel dog]

I agree with Marty . In the world,liberal arts degrees are not work much .

 

[dullard]

With those majors he'll probably have a 3% chance of finding a job in that field. Basically he'll learn a lot, but be spending 4 years of his life and a whole ton of money and have nothing in return. If he is really interested in those, then get a degree that will guarantee a job. A teaching degree with an emphasis in one of those fields will let him do what he enjoys and have a job at graduation.

Boston has a lot of good schools, but the school you go to really doesn't affect your learning. If you slack off in the best school you'll learn nothing, if you slack off in a no-name school you'll learn nothing. If you work your butt off in a snooty school you'll learn a lot, but you'll learn just as much by working your butt off in a no-name school. The end result is you learn the same, but one school will cost $100,000 more.

 

[acidvoodoo]

yea, seems to me like any of the jobs he could manage to get with a degree like that, aren't the type of thing i'd see him doing.

i went looking around at majors, and found a neurology degree, which is like researching into how people think. Can't see him doing that though, too scientific.


Whats kinda funny is, i am in the stage or choosing what 4 classes i want to do. I've had people laugh at me and say 'why are you choosing maths and physics, they are boring and crap', but they are choosing english and socialology.
(btw, this is the british education system, where at 16 you get to choose what 4 subjects you study for 2 years)

 

[nord1899]

A language degree by itself is pretty much worthless except to go into teaching.

But a language degree combined with a business or technical degree is quite useful. Given the number and size of multinational companies, they can always use people who know multiple languages. Either in development of products or for making business deals.

Also, the more obscure languages (from a Western viewpoint that is) like Arabic and Chinese for example, can also land you a gov't job.

 

[KEV1N]

Pick an obscure liberal art that isn't impacted. Then he'll be likelier to actually get into a college. Then switch when he gets there!

Otherwise, those majors are a waste of time unless you a.) couple them with a more practical (science) discipline, b.) go on to grad school after that (to teach/law school). I am a Computer Science / English double major. There's plenty of leisure time to study Soc, as I find it only good for entertainment.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Career prospects? Homeless.

 

[acidvoodoo]

this is usefull info i'll pass it on

 

[eakers]

the problem isn't that arts and soft science degress are useless, its just that there are so many arts and soft science students compared to jobs.

with english you could write, work for a publisher, teach, edit stuff
with spanish there are tons of government jobs and interpretation jobs availible (also writter)
with sociology you can be a social worker, go into law

then there is always grad school and stuff too.

 

[acidvoodoo]

so with the tons of government jobs is there still too many students to fill them?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: eakers
the problem isn't that arts and soft science degress are useless, its just that there are so many arts and soft science students compared to jobs.

with english you could write, work for a publisher, teach, edit stuff
with spanish there are tons of government jobs and interpretation jobs availible (also writter)
with sociology you can be a social worker, go into law

then there is always grad school and stuff too.

most useful post so far

With Sociology, even getting a PhD won't necessarily get you a decent job here in the U.S. and I assume also in the UK -- my dad's a retired Sociology prof still in contact with others, and most university Sociology departments are being downsized or even eliminated / folded into something else like Criminology.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: acidvoodoo
so with the tons of government jobs is there still too many students to fill them?

There is always a chance to get a job in one of those fields without any other degree. But in my estimate he'd probably have a 3% chance of getting one of them in his field. I don't know about the English government, but the language related US government jobs generally would require 3+ languages. They especially want people with knowledge of lesser known languages. But those generally require a much higher level of proficiency than you'd learn in school. My wife is just now getting her degree in German education. She can read, write, and listen quite well. But ask her to speak German and she is much slower than she would have liked to be. You just can't get that in school - you need to live the language for years to really be a good translator.

I really think he must consider a dual degree. Business + foreign language is a great combination. Education + any of those fields gives you tons of job opportunities.

 

[acidvoodoo]

bump, to see what all the people who were at school think?

 

[ElFenix]

multiple language people are almost always in demand.

 

[glen]

If you are going to college to become educated, take Philosophy.

If you are going to college to get a job, take engineering.

 

[glen]

Emplyers who can not comprehend the value of a Liberal Arts education are not worth working for.

 

[anxman69]

From personal experience, and in hindsight, I would highly recommend coupling a science degree with a degree in foreign language (pursue a double major). Let me explain my background ... in highschool I had 4 years of Spanish courses that basically taught me how to speak the language pretty fluently. When I came to college, I studied entirely sciences (earning a BS in Engineering & a BS in Mathematics). In hindsight, my curriculum was too heavily focused on the sciences and would have been well balanced with something liberal artsy. If I could plan my college days again, I would have pursued a BS in Math and a BA in Spanish.

Just my two cents.

Something in the sciences is always in demand (engineering rules), but showing an employer that you are well rounded and are capable of less quantitative work pushes you above the rest.

-Ankur

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: anxman69
From personal experience, and in hindsight, I would highly recommend coupling a science degree with a degree in foreign language (pursue a double major). Let me explain my background ... -Ankur

Too late, his brother already retired from his Sociology professorship at Oxford

i.e. "why do people randomly bump old threads?"

 

[stormbv]

Originally posted by: glen
If you are going to college to become educated, take Philosophy.

If you are going to college to get a job, take engineering.

Yup..I went to college to learn, and I majored in history and minored in philosophy at a private liberal arts college. I think my liberal arts education made me a much more intellectually well-rounded person, rather than just concentrating on one area that would get me a job. The responses on this board will be skewed towards areas that the posters think are "practical", like science, since this is a computer tech board.

Tell your brother to pick a major that he is passionate about and can flourish in, rather than majoring in something just so he can get a job.