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Sakky - you're right in a provincial way....for stricty UGRAD degrees, engineering is not a bad bet. What I'm saying is that one should go for gold and try to get into a stable field during GRAD school.
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<p>And this is not possible to do with an engineering undergrad degree? As stated before, plenty of people with engineering degrees apply to professional graduate schools like med-school, and get in. And they do so knowing that they have career insurance if they don't get in. For example, you may recall the 8% of Berkeley premeds with the 3.9+ GPA's as well as the 35+ MCAT's who still got rejected from every med-school they applied to. Well, if they graduated with an engineering degree, then they could just go to work as an engineer for 1 year, make an engineer's salary, and apply to med-school again the following year. They won't be living large during that year, but it's still a pretty decent salary. On the other hand, if they had graduated with a biology degree, well... You can see the kinds of starting salaries that Berkeley biology graduates make. </p>
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btw, it's almost as hard to get into GRAD school as MED school, so the MED school option is always open for the high-acheivers. Of course, if you're not smart enuf to get into GRAD or MED school, then coping out after ugrad is the best that you can do, I guess
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<p>But that's exactly what I'm saying. Let's face it. The vast majority of people are not smart enough to get into med-school or any decent graduate school. Think of all the no-name schools out there churning out hundreds of thousands of college graduates every year. How many of those people do you think are good enough to get into grad school or medical school? Not too many, you must agree. Not only that, but we both know that a lot of them are going to end up in mediocre jobs paying mediocre salaries. Engineers may not be living at the Ritz, but they'll have a better lifestyle than those guys. </p>
<p>The point is, engineers are a lot better off, financially, than the vast majority of college graduates out there. You could be doing a lot worse than getting an engineering degree. Again, take a look at the starting salaries of those Berkeley liberal arts majors like Art History or Film Studies. This ain't some mediocre no-name school we're talking about here. This is Berkeley. </p>
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Anyways since I presume we all agree that the outlook for engineering is gloomy in America. (engineering is a dotcom explosion in India and china right now)
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<p>Again, if that was really true, then I have to ask - why hasn't the free market adjusted? Why haven't starting salaries for engineers dropped to the level that Film Studies and Art History students get? Why are companies still paying more than double for freshly graduated engineers than for freshly graduated Film Studies students, if the outlook for engineering is so gloomy? Are these companies being stupid? </p>
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There are many jobs with secure job prospects, policeman, fireman(very competitive), EMT, registered nurse, physicians assistant. Prison guard. Parole officer. Possibly college professor, open your own business. Go to law school and work as a public prosecutor, work in city hall. For those ppl who say majoring in fine arts, psychology, economics wont get you a high paying job, that is true, however most ppl majoring in these easy majors generally get a graduate degree or go to law school.
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<p>Do you really think these are secure positions? Let's keep in mind that public service jobs like law enforcement or firefighting are selective jobs. It's not like you just complete a checklist of requirements and, wala, you're a police officer. Police departments hire on a highly competitive basis, based not only on mental attributes, but also on physical attributes. You can prepare yourself mentally and physically as much as you can, and still not get hired. Moreover, these sorts of jobs are also 'local government monopolies'. For example, if you live in San Francisco and you want to be a cop, and you can't get hired at the SFPD, the Oakland PD, or any of the other local police departments, then you basically have to move. There are generally far more companies looking to hire engineers at any particular location than there are police departments, hence the diversity of employment plays in the favor of engineers.</p>
<p>I also don't think I need to get into the occupational hazards of being a cop or a firefighter. Keep in mind that as a cop, you're going to be tasked with confronting some rather unsavory and dangerous characters. You know the type of people I'm talking about. I know I don't want to be dealing with these kinds of people. Firefighting involves, well, running into burning buildings. Let's face it - while I'm not saying engineering is perfectly safe, I think we can all agree that cops and firefighters deal with danger far more often. The same can be said, but to an even greater degree, about prison guards and parole officers. </p>
<p>As far a college professor goes - keep in mind that the goodies go only to the TENURED college profs. It is not easy to make tenure by any stretch of the imagination. Not only that, but except in rare occasions, to become a college prof, you almost always need a doctorate. And even with a doctorate, it is difficult to find a tenure-track job, much less survive the tenure-track to actually make tenure. Studies have estimated that for 4-5 new PhD's are minted for every new college faculty position that opens. True, not every single new PhD wants to become a professor, but plenty do, so you can see the odds that you face.</p>
<p>Opening your own business is one of the riskiest things you can do, from a financial standpoint. Sure, some people make it and make it big. On the other hand, plenty of businesses don't make it. It's estimated that over 90% of all new business ventures go out of business in the first few years of operation. The point is, if you think that running your own business is somehow less risky than an engineering career, you REALLY need to go out and see the world. </p>
<p>Finally, let's talk about working as a prosecutor. Do you really think it's that easy? Believe me, it ain't that easy. You gotta get hired. And prosecutor jobs are quite coveted by the top law school graduates in the country. Remember that a lot of people see becoming a prosecutor as a first step to a career in politics. That's what John Kerry did after he got his law degree. The point is, it's not like you can simply graduate from law school and then simply decide to go and then ask the prosecutor's office to hand you a job. That's not the way it works. </p>
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For those ppl who say majoring in fine arts, psychology, economics wont get you a high paying job, that is true, however most ppl majoring in these easy majors generally get a graduate degree or go to law school.
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<p>First off, getting a graduate degree in liberal arts isn't exactly going to enhance your career outlook significantly. </p>
<p>As far as law school, think about what you're saying. The vast majority of these people do not go to law school, because they can't get in. Yes, these majors are easy, but they still have tons of people who get mediocre grades in them. Let's face it. If you got straight C's, you're probably not going to law school. Or if you can't get a decent score on the LSAT, you're probably not going to law school. Plenty of people have bad grades and/or bad LSAT scores. </p>
<p>Even of those who do go to law school, let's remember that the vast majority of law schools are no-name law schools. Plenty of their graduates will wind up with mediocre law jobs, or no law job at all. Let's not also forget that just because you go to law school doesn't mean that you're going to graduate. Many of the lower-tier law schools, in particular, extensively weed out their students. Attrition rates of close to 50% are not unheard of at some law schools.</p>