IamBMETammy's Journal: Usability of College Majors

Why are there so many useless college majors available?

By useless I mean you graduate and then there's no one really looking for your degree. With teaching, computer science, architecture, or mechanical, civil, chemical or computer engineering degrees it's obvious what you'll be doing. But what about biology? English? Psychology?

Why did no one warn me that Microbiology, while a great subject and very interesting requires a masters or doctorate to be truly useful?

I'm glad I feel strongly about medicine because the idea of going to graduate school is not appealing at all.

yeah

[stoolpigeon]

every time i meet a kid in undergrad that is majoring in psychology because they 'want to help people' i ask them if they realize they need a lot more schooling to actually get a job. most people i know with a psych degree work in retail management.

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[IamBMETammy]

My college roommate double majored in French (they won't let you just major in French because even the University acknowledges the uselessness of it when not attached to something like business) and Psychology. She's worked in a gas station as an attendant and then as a nanny. She's back in school to become an LPN.

Chemistry, too.

[Some Woman]

But they don't tell you that.

Re:

[IamBMETammy]

But it sounds like an impressive and challenging major, doesn't it?

Re:

[Some Woman]

They always do.

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[tomhudson]

Just follow the money.

They don't tell you that because then nobody'd take the courses and they'd be out of a few teaching jobs ... smaller budgets, fewer grants, less matching funds, fewer alumni, smaller student body, less prestige ...

Some majors, you'd be better off prepping for the job market by doing keggers all semester. At least you'd get some "soft skills".

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[nizo]

I always figured certain majors should include a "grocery bagging 101" as part of the required courses (yeah philosophy majors I am talking to you, unless you decided to head the lawyer route). I still wish I had finished my psychology degree way back when; even though it is useless, the courses are awesome :-)

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[nizo]

I thought this was why we had so many meth houses here in the States??? Talk about applied chemistry....

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[Some Woman]

That's pretty much the only way to make money with a BA/BS in chemistry.

Hm

[turg]

The truth is almost nobody makes a career out of a what they major in, even if do they major in something where there's alot of hiring going on. The benefit from going to university is more from getting a whole well-rounded education and learning how to think and how to learn.

Choosing a major because it's a hot field where there's lots of hiring is often a huge mistake. e.g. Someone majors in something they're not passionate about because there are jobs in that field and then when they graduate, the field's

Re:

[IamBMETammy]

I know that there are a lot of jobs that just require any 4 year degree, so people can find employment but my frustration is that I would like to work for a while in my field with my degree... It just wouldn't be possible.

So with a Theatre Arts major, a Theology major, and a Philosophy minor what did you grow up to be?