Be honest: What major(s) do you not take seriously?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I’ve heard the video game field is not that fun. Very few people get to design the games (as in create the plot, the art, etc.) The programmers get paid far less than they would programming other kinds of apps because everybody and their brother aspires to be in the video game industry. (Lots of supply, therefore low demand.) And for every person programming the next popular first-person-shooter or RPG, there are 20 programming “Barbie’s Horse Adventures” and “Dora Explorer Teaches Counting.”</p>

<p>I gleaned all this from a friend who did video game testing, or as he described it: “It’s not like I get to just PLAY the games. I have to reproduce errors; I have to figure out what exactly is producing the error by playing one tiny bit of the game over and over. Then I proceed until I find the next error. And I have to document all this. By the time I’m finished with a game, I hate it forever.”</p>

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<p>THIS</p>

<p>You’re a wonderful writer, BTW.</p>

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<p>Communications
Philosophy
English
Graphic Design?!</p>

<p>I actually have a friend who majored in Greek Studies or something like that. Yikes…good luck finding a decent living.</p>

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Er, what?</p>

<p>The humanities are generally far more selective than the science or engineering fields. The archaeology department at Boston U (not even a top 20 department) received over 150 applications last year for only 2 funded spots. </p>

<p>A few admit rates at Cornell:</p>

<p>Archaeology 5%
Sociology 6%
Literature 7%
Religious Studies 7%
Chemistry 13%
Economics 13%
Math 13%
Biology 15%
Physics 24%
Biomedical Engineering 24%
Chemical Engineering 24%</p>

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<p>Spot-on. I’d add even business to that list. There are some things you can’t learn in school . . .</p>

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<p>I don’t take engineering seriously.</p>

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<p>Agreed^^^ They are pretty full of themselves and everybody I knew at highschool is majoring in engineering.</p>

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<p>yeah engineering students are babbys</p>

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<p>they wear whitey-tighties</p>

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<p>Even if you could learn all that stuff in school, the actual degree you get at the end of four years isn’t what’s going to get you a job. There’s plenty of artists/writers out there who have careers and never went to college. If you’re determined enough in those fields, you can make it. No one’s going to ask you to prove you went to school.</p>

<p>It’s not like being a doctor where you absolutely have to go to school, because you WILL have to prove that you’re qualified to have that career.</p>

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<p>I found it on a random website Ron</p>

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I’ll agree that the humanities are more selective. There is a reason though. Humanities majors jump back into school more often for Master’s and PhDs because they know their BAs are not enough to make them competitive for good jobs. There are also fewer spots at these PhD programs because they aren’t money generating (no NIH grants for a history PhD). You have more people applying to fewer spots. </p>

<p>I’d assume the PhD difficulty list is more of a subjective how good you need to be list compared to a raw % admitted.</p>

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<p>This thread has taken on its own life.</p>

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<p>“I’ll agree that the humanities are more selective. There is a reason though. Humanities majors jump back into school more often for Master’s and PhDs because they know their BAs are not enough to make them competitive for good jobs.”</p>

<p>Frankly, obtaining a humanities graduate degree with the intent on landing a higher paying job in the private sector seems like a pretty idiotic move. Having an MA in Literature or a PhD in Gender Studies would just make most applicants overqualified and not terribly valuable outside of academia. Am I wrong?</p>

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<p>^hey, people do it. Also, people realize that the opportunities with a PhD (professor, government work, idk what else) are better than their options with only a BA.</p>

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<p>I don’t think that graduate degrees in the humanities open up job opportunities outside of academia. I don’t see why the average business would value a MA in literature.</p>

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<p>The Ultimate Totem Pole of Majors:</p>

<p>Finance/Accounting
Business
Nuclear Engineering
Biology/Biochemistry
Biomedical Engineering
Chemistry/Physics
Math
Civil Engineering/Electrical Engineering/Computer Science/Mechanical Engineering
Microbiology/Genetics/Immunology
Statistics
Nursing
Economics
Pharmacy
Chineese
French/German/Italian/Japaneese/Polish/Portugeese/Russian/Spanish
Geology
International Studies
Education
Zoology
Anthropology/English/History/Philosophy/Scociology/Psychology
Journalism
Agriculture/Botany
Landscape Architecture/Interior Design
Political Science
Consumer Science
Human Development & Family Studies
Astronomy
Cartography/Geography
African Studies/African American Studies/Asian Studies/Hebrew Studies/Latin American Studies/Scandinavian Studies
Food Science/Forest Science/Wildlife Economy/Soil Science
Social Work
Textile & Apparel Design
Communication Arts/Linquistics
Religious Studies
Music/Theatre
Classics
Latin
Art History
Womans Studies</p>

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<p>^finance over math? business over nuclear engineering? Agree with Womens Studies dead last. How much time did that take you?</p>

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<p>LOL. I think business needs to move down. A lot.</p>

<p>Social work and astronomy need to move up.</p>

<p>Linguistics should not be stuck with communications. It should also move up.</p>

<p>Also you forgot Arabic. Russian should be above all those other languages you stuck it with as well.</p>

<p>Forgot architecture too.</p>

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<p>It’s funny how low Communications is on your list and yet you misspelled Chinese, Portuguese, sociology, and linguistics… It doesn’t matter when you have no concept of it, I guess? lol</p>