So I'm a twenty year old guy who is going to be a junior in college this fall. I've always loved political science, so I made this my major last year. I had taken courses in the field before, got to know the faculty, and decided that I wanted to either go to law school or pursue a career in international relations. History seemed like a complementary and relevant field to political science and law, so I declared a second major in history at the end of the spring term. After consulting with various faculty over the summer and people involved in the fields of history and political science, I'm questioning how employable such fields are. Therefore, I'd like to expand my potential for good employment and compensation. These are some of the reasons that I thought a business-related degree (thinking about something with an investment concentration) would be a good choice.
1) Working with political parties, universities, think-tanks, and international organizations is all well and good, but how many jobs are in this field, how much do they pay, and where are they located? A history degree even seems less desirable, considering all the concentrations of history and the extra material I'd have to go through to teach at the high school level. I think a business related degree would provide me with more opportunities, that generally pay better, and are available in more areas.
2) My girlfriend is several years younger than I am and I'd like to be able to help her with college expenses if at all possible. She doesn't have the money to go to out of state schools at the moment, and I don't want to have to place her future entirely in the hands of grants, scholarships, and loans. I would have to leave the area to pursue an advanced degree in political science or history, and it would place a heavy burden on us to work, deal with the hassles of city life (we're country folk), and be full time students. A business degree may be more employable after four years than a political science or history degree would be after six or eight. We may not be together then, but it's something down the road that I think about.
3) I don't have the passion for history that I do for political science. Furthermore, I've yet to take the basics for the degree, much less the advanced coursework. So it's not like I have a lot of time or money wasted in this. If I want to get out, now is the best time. I'm also damn close to the political science degree, I know and like the faculty, and have developed some contacts in local politics. It seems unreasonable to abandon the PS degree now. If I want to learn more about history, I could do this on my own time, or come back and take some of these courses later in life. I find how wealth is developed and maintained far more interesting and practical than the histories of countries that I have no relation to or opinion of
Does my reasoning seem sound? What's your view?
1) Working with political parties, universities, think-tanks, and international organizations is all well and good, but how many jobs are in this field, how much do they pay, and where are they located? A history degree even seems less desirable, considering all the concentrations of history and the extra material I'd have to go through to teach at the high school level. I think a business related degree would provide me with more opportunities, that generally pay better, and are available in more areas.
2) My girlfriend is several years younger than I am and I'd like to be able to help her with college expenses if at all possible. She doesn't have the money to go to out of state schools at the moment, and I don't want to have to place her future entirely in the hands of grants, scholarships, and loans. I would have to leave the area to pursue an advanced degree in political science or history, and it would place a heavy burden on us to work, deal with the hassles of city life (we're country folk), and be full time students. A business degree may be more employable after four years than a political science or history degree would be after six or eight. We may not be together then, but it's something down the road that I think about.
3) I don't have the passion for history that I do for political science. Furthermore, I've yet to take the basics for the degree, much less the advanced coursework. So it's not like I have a lot of time or money wasted in this. If I want to get out, now is the best time. I'm also damn close to the political science degree, I know and like the faculty, and have developed some contacts in local politics. It seems unreasonable to abandon the PS degree now. If I want to learn more about history, I could do this on my own time, or come back and take some of these courses later in life. I find how wealth is developed and maintained far more interesting and practical than the histories of countries that I have no relation to or opinion of
Does my reasoning seem sound? What's your view?
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