posted
In ten days, I leave for college at the lovely University of Georgia. I decided to choose my major for maximum employability: I'm a comparative lit/sociology double major. One thing I won't be after graduation, and that is extremely employable (though my Arabic classes may help me).
I keep getting told by family and friends I oughtta change so I can get a job after college--no worries, Jatraqueros, I'm independent enough that those "suggestions" roll right off me. I'm going full haul on this, career be damned.
So, who here's got stories of taking a class or a major in college that family or friends disapproved of because of "low employability"? And for graduates, what did you do with your "useless" degree?
(By the by, I do know that what I'm studying can in fact be leveraged into many careers--and besides, it is what interests me. I've just had a hard time convincing others.)
One story I particularly liked: A friend of my brother majored in English and Basket-Weaving. When asked why Basket-Weaving, she would tell people, "Well, in case I can't get a job with an English degree, I'd like something highly employable to fall back on."
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I know friends with "useful" degrees in business or computers who couldn't get a job after college. Too much competition.
But my theatre and art history friends are all enjoying careers in their field. And there are countless others doing jobs unrelated to their degrees. My philosophy majoring boyfriend is teaching high school English. Alot of my classmates with degrees in English have gone onto government jobs, insurance jobs, accounting, etc.
I spent four years enjoying creative writing, religion, and philosophy classes. I now have an entry-level job at a bank and while it doesn't pay too well, there's room to grow. Its enough to move into the city in a few months and not have to live on ramen noodles. I get benefits and hopefully I'll save enough money to consider grad school down the road. And then it'll probably either be business and publishing or more religious philosophy.
It just depends on if you're concerned with getting a job in your field or just getting a job. If you're smart, determined, and a hardworker, you'll likely find a job. My dad works for Shell Oil and loves hiring English majors. He thinks business and accounting degrees don't provide any real knowledge and therefore, most applicants come in on equal footing. They show up on the first day knowing nothing. He just looks for people who can be trained and learn fast.
But we're both the kind of people who don't put too much stock in jobs and careers. These are simply things that provide us the money and resources to do what we really enjoy the rest of the time. He takes care of our family and I just want the means to become independent and build a large personal library. Then I'll be content.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
My uncle keeps telling me that I won't get a job with an Education degree, but that's mainly because his daughter has one and never tried, she's worked at a preschool for 7 years since she graduated from college and hasn't at all tried to apply because she doesn't want to move or break her current contract.
Most people just tell me that it won't pay anything and I won't like it more than a year or so.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Joldo: A friend of my brother majored in English and Basket-Weaving.
Um, what actual real-world school actually offers basketweaving as a major?
I got no idea. However, I take What Some Guy On A Bus Told Me as gospel truth, so I wholeheartedly believe my brother's friend.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
A friend of mine went to a College of Arts and Crafts and majored in puppetry. No joke.
I have the slightly more employable Creative Writing major, and have been successfully employed since about a month after graduation.
Specific degrees are overrated unless you're trying to be a Doctor or Lawyer where you actually need the magic letters.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Joldo, are you aware that "gullible" has been removed from the dictionary?
MC, there are quite a few unusual "arts" majors out there. Puppetry is actually fairly normal. (And offered at some mainstream colleges as well, like the U of Connecticut and WVU.)
quote:Specific degrees are overrated unless you're trying to be a Doctor or Lawyer where you actually need the magic letters.
Actually, for undergrad, both of those are currently often better off not majoring in pre-med or pre-law.
For graduate degrees, I think you exaggerate. There are many careers that require very specific graduate degrees.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'll tell you what I did with my "unemployable" major -- I switched to mechanical engineering. Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by rivka: ]Actually, for undergrad, both of those are currently often better off not majoring in pre-med or pre-law.
For graduate degrees, I think you exaggerate. There are many careers that require very specific graduate degrees.
Architects for example.
Even though I went the exceedingly employable degree route (not only is it required in my profession, you're nearly guaranteed a job after graduation), I've eyed a few degrees that would have been considered non-employable with longing and hindsight.
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:Most people just tell me that it won't pay anything and I won't like it more than a year or so.
I get the same thing all the time when people find out I'm an education major.
I was originally an English/education major but let myself get talked into changing to something more "employable" but I was so miserable I quit college. Now, fifteen years later I'm going back to finish in what I want to do and I'm thrilled with this decision.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
My only question, when people mention they're going for an unemployable major, is, "Sure. But what are you going to DO?"
Not even "what are you going to do with it," but "what are you going to do?"
You won't be in school forever; school is a mechanism by which you become better at doing the things you choose to do -- so the question isn't what you choose to study, but rather what you intend to do after you stop.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
In all honesty, I graduated with a degree in Communications/Mass Media Production and a double minor. My passion was film. I worked in that field for a bit, then moved to music. Now I'm in grad school to be an Occupational Therapist. What I've found in my experience,is depending on the major most people don't necessarily get, or retain, a job with the degree they originally graduated with. You may be one of the lucky ones. However, there is also a chance that you may realize later on that you might want to do something else.
Posts: 66 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I majored in what I loved in college. I also decided what to do for a career.
The two don't have to be connected. However, if they are not, then you need to make two decisions: what to study, and what to do for a career.
So, I think you'll love your majors and I think you should go for it - this is the best chance you'll have to study what you love.
What are you going to do after? That's not a challenge - it's a serious question. What do you think you'd like to do?
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:My only question, when people mention they're going for an unemployable major, is, "Sure. But what are you going to DO?"
There is a twin question that goes along with, "what are you going to DO[for work]?" and it's "Who are you going to BE?" I don't think that the answers are the same. I studied a discipline that led me to become the quality of person I'd like to become, even if it didn't make me manifestly qualified for the remunerative work I'd like to do. Decisions. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I envy those who go to college not to grow; rather, they have already matured to the extent that they pick their studies with an eye towards collecting a wife, family, and a steady pile of cash, even if they have to turn their back to questions I consider deeply disturbing.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree that it is a good idea to major in something that will help you gain the skills you need to do whatever it is you are going to do in your life. However, I also want to echo Irami's point:
"What you are going to do" includes far more than just what you get paid money to do. "What you are going to do" also could include having relationships, being a parent, pursuing an interest, working towards some goal, and (possibly most all-encompassing of all) trying to be the sort of person you want to be. Some of these goals are going to be more important than others, depending on what you care about most. For some people, they consider their job to be one of the less important things they do with their lives. Some don't even work for money at all - stay at home moms, for instance.
"Employability" mainly just helps you get more money in exchange for your time and effort, which in turn can help you to pursue the above goals. Money is needed to raise kids, for instance. It is usually needed to pursue hobbies. But is important to consider the costs. Other things are also necessary to raise kids, pursue hobbies, or pursue goals in life. Good judgement is one thing. Writing skills might be another thing. The ability to do math might be important too. Choosing a major that will maximize your employability may help you get more money, but might also cost you more important skills that other majors would give you.
It should also be noted that employability alone will not maximize your income in the long run. That's because being able to get a job (employability) is not the same thing as being able to excel at a job, and move up in the world. For instance, a business major might have an easier time getting a job than an english major, because their major is more employable. However, the skills that the english major learned might be more useful to excelling in that job (depending on what the job is) than the skills the business major learned, so the english major could end up being more successful in the long run.
It should be noted that I double majored in Philosophy and Economics. Philosophy teachers you how to reason, analyze, argue logically, and write. It also teachers you what many great thinkers have said about some of the most important issues in life. Economics teaches you about how to quantify decision making, how to use statistics, how to argue with numbers, and how to approach things in a certain rational fashion. It also teachers you not only how our economy works, but also how people make choices in general about all aspects of their lives. The job I got after graduation is not related directly to either of these subjects. Nevertheless, I use stuff I learned in Philosophy and Economics courses on the job almost every day. I write and communicate with people. I analyze information. Sometimes I may want to make a case about what our office should decide to do on a certain issue. These things are things that I can use in almost any career - and even though my majors may have not landed me the job, they do allow me to excel in it.
In addition, I use what I learned at school outside work too. As I said, work is not the only important thing in life. Both philosophy and economics have helped me to make decisions, on an everyday basis. They help me try to be a good person. They help me understand and communicate with other people. I'm certain they've helped me write this post, right now.
For these reasons, I think it is foolish to pick a major based entirely on "employability", unless you believe that all of your goals are best pursued simply by making the most money you possibly can. I don't believe that is the case for most people. Instead, I think a better question might be "What can best give me the skills to be the sort of person I can be, so that I will be able to do the sorts of things I will one day want to do in my life?" Employability is part of that, but not the biggest part.
posted
I changed from Employable Major to History because my career was already planned out in the military, so "it doesn't matter what I study". I had a lot of fun in college.
OTOH, I'm also a different person now then I was at 19, and I wish now I'd perhaps double majored with a hard science or stuck with MechEng... Making money is cool too. Posts: 57 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
I got nagged out of doing a history major I want to be an historian.
IP: Logged |
quote:"Employability" mainly just helps you get more money in exchange for your time and effort, which in turn can help you to pursue the above goals.
"Employability" also affects your ability to obtain many other things that are necessary to obtaining goals. High demand workers can more easily get flextime, greater vacation time (which can be used to accomplish worthy goals, employer support for volunteer activities, time for academic and other publishing, and a host of other things.
Moreover, in many fields it is easier for the highly employable to get into a job that directly supports one's goals. For example, a good law student can more easily get a clerkship that will make it easier for a person to get into jobs where one can directly do good. The same is true in many other fields - highly desirable employees can leverage their desirability for the usually competitive jobs that pay less but are more otherwise satisfying, whether that satisfaction derives from quality of life, the benefit of the work being done to society, etc.
Finally, money itself can do more than many people appreciate. It can provide the flexibility to allow working part time, dedicating the extra time to volunteer work. It can allow saving money towards a time when the person wants to take the lower-paying, more otherwise-satisfying job. It can allow starting a foundation or business, or simply donating to worthy causes.
I agree that more than employability needs to be considered, but all aspects of employability need to be evaluated.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I would argue that who you are is indistinguishable from what you do -- but that what you do is not necessarily what you are paid to do.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
It seems to me that what you do should flow from who you are, and that who you are should always be the primary concern in any important endeavor.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:My father went to school with a guy who was studying engineering because he wanted to be a farmer.
He wanted a job that paid well enough so that he could save up and buy a farm.
I have a friend who took vo-tech classes in cosmetology in high school so she could put herself through college as a hair stylist.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Here's what I did with my useless degree: I got a minor in something slightly more employable and got a lot of work experience while I was an undergrad. Unfortunately, it wasn't really enough to distinguish me from the hordes of other people doing the same thing. I have really struggled to find a decent-paying job in my field with a company that won't lay me off after a few months—I'm on my fourth job in two years. Thankfully, this one is pretty decent, even though it's not really using some of my best skills, but I'm planning on being here for another year until I go to grad school. In other words, you should probably count on NOT finding the job you want for a while after graduation.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:It seems to me that what you do should flow from who you are, and that who you are should always be the primary concern in any important endeavor.
I'd go the other way. I don't think anyone can ever say "this is the person I am" with anything resembling honesty -- but they can approach each and every situation saying "what will I do." And who you are proceeds from your answer to those questions, rather than the reverse.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I started off college as a Music Education major. My parents HATED the idea, they said that with the decline of music in schools there's no way I'd ever get a job.
I switched majors, to Zoology. I plan on going to University of Florida to get a Master's in Wildlife ecology and conservation. My job path? National Park service.
...
...
...
There are about twenty park service jobs open in the field... NATIONWIDE. Yet my parents wholeheartedly approve of this choice.
posted
My engineer son asked me, midway through his second year "When do I get to take the good classes?" He wanted music and history. I wasn't in such a big hurry when I was in the undergraduate program. At that time a BM required 180 quarter hours. I had 281 at graduation. I started in 64 and finished in 75. (Someone snuck a war in there and a couple of years in Mexico for the Church) That seemed like a long time. Most of you probably don't think you have time. But from the top of this fence post, I'm glad I did what I did. I enjoyed the University experience. And, I enjoyed life for (just about) all eleven years. Teaching music was not what I thought it would be, and later I went back for graduate work in another field. But, every day, I use and/or enjoy things I learned during those years.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Irami:It seems to me that what you do should flow from who you are, and that who you are should always be the primary concern in any important endeavor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom: I'd go the other way. I don't think anyone can ever say "this is the person I am" with anything resembling honesty -- but they can approach each and every situation saying "what will I do." And who you are proceeds from your answer to those questions, rather than the reverse.
We'll disagree, then. It does seem to me that your approach opens the door to a midlife crisis, because then one would look back in retrospect at ones decisions and not appreciate the slipshod view. (Admittedly, I think my view introduces the crisis at an earlier age, and one deals with it piecemeal, in the way of a steady drip, as opposed to a flood.) It also seems to be too easy to be coaxed into morally distasteful paths for want of a strong sense of character, if one takes your approach, your mileage may vary.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree with Tom AND Irami, as a fail to see a distinction. Who you are is a collection of your ideas about yourself (identity) and your choices (what others can see of what you do).
Your choices determine who you are, but your ideas about who you are determine your choices. *head asplode*
I chose a subject that interested me (there were several) and that I found as easy and natural as falling down hill. This resulted in me being able to graduate at the top of my class in three years and still have a very full social life (which I think I needed in order to adapt to the 'real world' having been raised in a self-imposed religious cocoon).
It's cliche, but following what you love and your best personal ideals can work out really well. It all depends on how you measure success. For me, it's the happy.
(I DID avoid art as a course of study, because nothing seemed more painful to me than designing billboards or painting to match someone's couch. So I majored in Lit and ended up being paid well for work that was relatively undemanding, and remained open to other opportunities as they came. Life's an adventure.)
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: What are you going to study in grad school, Jonathon?
Linguistics—and it will likely leave me less employable than before, though if I can find a teaching job, I think I would enjoy it more than what I'm doing now.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
You think it's different for men? Not better or worse, but different? It seems to me that decisions about kids complicate women's decisions, and decisions about immediate, lucrative and evident gainful employment complicate men's to differing degrees.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Less employable? Yikes!
Good luck. I hope all your dreams will come true.
Yeah, yikes indeed. I hear that's what a PhD does to you. But I've been feeling pretty strongly for a couple of years that that's the direction I need to take. We'll see how things go.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Jon Boy, I love linguistics and envy you your chance to head off to that field. It's really getting hard to find a university position teaching it though, our university did away with one of our tenured positions in the linguistics department saying there's just not that much interest in taking it anymore. Now we only have one linguist on faculty.
I hope that you do find something!
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: I got nagged out of doing a history major I want to be an historian.
Communist regimes frown on honest history work.
You'd be miserable trying to be a good historian.
edit: I'm doing Political Science and I still can't decide between working for a general contractor somewhere in China or going to teach at the school in Hong Kong I graduated from.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
If you can take a decent number of computational linguistics classes, you'll be very employable. Computational linguistics is receiving a fair amount of attention from people in a number of sectors, because the skills tend to be applicable to things like data mining. Of course, I suspect you're more interested in other fields of linguistics. Talk to Temposs, he's in the field.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
I want to be an historian.
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
