<p>As I am a quite nosy person, I was listening to people on the train into NYC discuss college majors. They referred to communications as "the most usess major" and a "fake degree." Is this true? Would someone who holds a communications degree be passed over for someone with an english or sociology degree? </p>
<p>I plan on using a communications degree as the foundation for a career in journalism or public relations. Just curious.</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>Anyone? Anything to say?</p>
<p>if communications interests you, who cares what some train rider's opinion is, go for it.</p>
<p>I've heard this in numerous places, like from my history professor.</p>
<p>your history professor probably wants you to join his misery and major in something that only allows you to either be a history professor, or work at the local museum for 10.00 an hour!</p>
<p>So why don't you major in journalism instead?</p>
<p>It's ironic that a history professor is telling you that a degree is useless, when many think of a history degree as such. Communications holds a bad reputation to a lot of people, but this varies by person. English is also a joke to some. Who cares? Search the web for "what can you do with a major in <em>blank</em>?" The humanities majors all tend to be in the same area, and the social sciences fairly close, with the sciences not that very different. The BA is not a preprofessional degree.</p>
<p>What a career office has to say:</p>
<p>When selecting a major and deciding on a career direction, it is important to make the most well informed decisions possible. These decisions should be based on facts rather than myths. They should include a variety of factors -- first, your interests, values, skills, and abilities; and second, your knowledge of the career fields and job opportunities. Commonly believed myths, dispelled below, will not help you to decide on a major.
In selecting a college major you are NOT choosing a career.</p>
<p>While it is true that certain majors such as Engineering, Computer Science and Accounting prepare students for fairly specific career fields, a far greater number of majors do not have a direct correlation with given career areas. Liberal Arts majors often find that they have a wide variety of career options because their backgrounds are so broad. A study conducted by the College Placement Council indicated that the majority of college graduates are successfully employed in fields not directly related to their academic majors.
Job market demand should NOT be the primary determinant of academic and career choices.</p>
<p>Selecting a major and pursuing a career just because it's "hot" in the job market can be dangerous. You may enjoy neither the course work nor the job you get later. The careers in demand when you are a freshman or sophomore may not be in demand by the time you graduate. You are on much firmer ground when you select a major or choose a career goal that genuinely interests you. Job market demand moves in cycles. What is hot becomes cold as supply rushes to meet demand. Also, new career fields and jobs emerge every year as a result of changes in technology, public policy, and economic trends. Factors that influence job market demand are often unpredictable.
Liberal Arts majors ARE employable.</p>
<p>Liberal Arts graduates develop skills that are highly valued by employers and that are applicable to a wide variety of professional jobs. In a longitudinal study of AT&T employees, humanities and social science majors were found to be stronger than engineering majors and similar to business majors in administrative skills and motivation for advancement, and in the area of interpersonal skills liberal arts majors were the strongest of all groups. The number of liberal arts students being interviewed by employers through on-campus recruiting at UC Berkeley has increased significantly in recent years.
You do NOT need a specific undergraduate major to gain admission to postgraduate professional schools in such fields as business, law or medicine.</p>
<p>While some postgraduate professional schools require or recommend the completion of certain academic prerequisites, in most cases no specific major is required. In other instances, only broad skills are sought, e.g. the ability to read and write well and to think critically. Students with academic majors in several of the humanities have higher acceptance rates to medical schools than do biology majors.
There is much you can do BEYOND course work in your major to improve your chances of career success.</p>
<p>Supplementary courses and independent study projects can be helpful. Important experience can be gained and skills developed through extracurricular activities such as student organizations, athletic teams, social groups, and student government. Internships, summer and part-time jobs and volunteer activities play an important part in developing greater understanding of yourself and the world of work. Employers consistently place a high value on these extracurricular activities, internships, part-time and summer work experiences.</p>