Hello,
I am planning to change my major in my senior year from history to economics, English, or MIS since I could not get any internships for the summer. I am leaving my current university to go back to community college and transfer to a different university. I also did not like the fact that one of my business professors poked fun at me and saying that history is primarily for teaching. I wanted to get into government or teaching, but now it is not the correct major for me and I want to make the swap to a new major, so, in a way, I am planning to throw away everything I have accomplished since I feel regret in choosing my major and I felt like I have not accomplished anything. Writing is more of my strength though. Counselors at my school approve of my plan to leave my university, go to community college, and transfer to a new university- all of my general education will go through. Even though people tell me that it is too late to swap my major and that I should pursue a Masters’ Degree- they are too difficult, so I am going back to get a different bachelors’ degree since I could not get a job or an internship with my current major, and history majors do not lead to a specific job (aside from teaching and government), so I do not know if my move would be a good move or a bad one.
I do not understand what you will accomplish by going to a Community College at such late stage of the game. Why not finish your Degree and apply to an MBA Program? Is Law School an option? The other option you have is to switch your major from history to Economics (or MIS) come fall 2015 (at the current institution). The latter option will add at least another year to your undergrad studies, but might the least cost option, with minimal impact on any financial aid eligibility. If your current College doesn’t offer your “new” major, could you at least take some of the prerequisites and then transfer come fall of 2016? I do understand that it might be cheaper to take these prerequisites at a CC close to where you live, avoiding Room & Board cost. Situations like yours might explain why so many college graduates are taking six years to get their first undergraduate degree.
Lucky for you, you have come to the understand the realities of the job market and the limited options available for college graduates with certain majors. I don’t fully comprehend how a English degree is more marketable than a History degree.
First of all, how hard is the GRE and how hard is an MBA program typically? I am taking an econ class at a community college, and I like it, so I may end up staying at my CC. I want to transfer to a different university because econ and business majors are impacted in my current university, that is all.
I have always wondered why is it that employers are extremely picky on candidates, and that many workers have jobs that have nothing to do with their degree?
I would like to see what the other bloggers think, as far as me treating this like my last chance and figuring out where I am heading in the future.
You are so close to a BA/BS now, why change schools? I bet you can get an Econ degree at your current school in 3 semesters or less. Worst case scenario, that’s just one semester late, It beats a convoluted transfer plan.
Well, I am considering minoring in economics. I do not understand why many workers have jobs that have nothing to do with their majors. Could someone explain why it is that way?
I feel as though my major is not marketable, so that is why I am going through a convoluted transfer plan.
Are you attending College in California? If yes, given the extremely low cost of Tuition at California Community Colleges, your “convoluted” transfer plan might be in your best interest (from a financial standpoint), especially if you plan on living at home while attending CC.
A lot of positions in the corporate world does not necessarily require a degree from specific majors or even a college degree (even when one is a requirement for getting the position). For a number of careers, you can typically get up to speed quickly by on the job training or taking additional courses at a nearby college or online. There are large number of individuals working in the computer industry, who are computer programmers who have liberal arts degrees. Also, personal networking can pave the way to career opportunities that can get you in the door, despite the lack of a specific college degrees. Due to reorganization exercises, companies sometime move employees into areas outside their expertise, to avoid layoffs. Some jobs only require that the employee get a license in a specific area to continue employment. So you could get a job at a insurance company with your history degree and get a insurance claims adjuster’s license and become a Claims Adjuster for that Insurance Company.
The point here, is their are myriad of reasons why “why many workers have jobs that have nothing to do with their majors”. The pitfall with having certain degrees, is that you are now part vast pool of applicants all competing for limited job openings. IMHO, a large number college students put very little though in securing a job after college and tend to be attracted to “soft” majors because they think it is an easy major.
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It looks like you are a full-time student, so probably have not probed the job market enough to have acquired enough information on which to make such a big decision as starting over with a new major.
As well as the comments made here by Psata82, consider these by @juillet (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-majors/1806472-majors-to-avoid.html#latest, etc):
On the Students Review dot com website (put /contact_center.php3?searchpid=41 after studentsreview.com), you can see the jobs many history majors went on to get. In their survey the job satisfaction of history and economics majors was the same (about 78%), history majors’ unemployment 5.6%, economics majors’ unemployment 4.4%.