<p>I guess most liberal arts grads starts with around 30k starting salary but in a few places on forums I read how BA degree grads got some high paying job like here:</p>
<p>Does anybody know anyone who succeeded in getting a relatively higher paying job (like 50k) with a BA degree from this U? What can one do to obtain such a job?</p>
<p>Well I guess it depends on your goals. If you are going to Med school just because you know “doctors make big money” then thats great for you! However, I would prefer if my doctor became a doctor so that he could, oh I don’t know, “save lives, help people, etc”. Of course everyone thinks about future incomes and whatnot but many of the social science degrees are designed to bring more well-rounded perspectives into the world. Despite what you might believe social sciences are just as important to this world as math. With a social science degree you could work for government agencies and earn a hefty salary. You could become a teacher at a college level and make 150k easily. However, that shouldn’t be the only reason you went to college and pursued your degree. Yes, we all go to college so that we don’t have to work at baskin robbins forever, but I truly feel that most go to college because they have a focus of interest in a field. Besides, if you are just worried about money then it doesn’t matter what degree you get. Within our capitalist nation you could be a philo major and head a bank one day, its all relative. Or as the poster above said, a lot of social science majors prep lawyers and great grad school students. Stop being so elitist.</p>
<p>I think people rely too much on their degree to get them a job when it’s really not the case. A common misconception nowadays is that people go directly to college to get skill sets and then head out to the job market with those skill sets - not true at all; only a few majors are like this (accounting, engineering, etc). </p>
<p>What you should be doing is think of school and work as separate spheres of your life. You come to school to learn and you study for the sake of learning. You should then focus on getting internships and work experience for the sake of getting a job later on. Completely parallel paths. If more college students knew this then there would be less people complaining about how “impractical” certain degrees are. In truth, almost every bachelor’s degree is impractical unless u plan on academia.</p>
<p>why? obviously the most desirable physician would be the one who want to help you and has the capacity to do so by being smart enough. But I would gladly take an intelligent physician who went into medicine for the financial gain rather than some incapable person who really wanted to “save lives, help people, etc” and ended up doing poorly in medical school or going to the Caribbean (or some other place where USMD rejects go). The fact that they’re being explicit about there intentions only strengthens my confidence that they will do their best…not for me, but for themselves.</p>
<p>To address the OP’s question: As I understand it, except for certain majors/departments, the bachelors is becoming the new high school diploma. Even having a BA/BS in IB or MCB won’t get you much farther than being a lowly lab tech. Some majors are exceptions however (EECS is a good example) but without an advanced degree, you’re much more likely to have a lower earning potential than someone with one.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of many unethical doctors, seeking financial gain, that mal-practiced on their patients, forcing them to come repeatedly for surgery so that they can fix the problem that they created, and becoming rich.</p>
<p>It’s a fair point but besides the fact that this is not really a common occurrence (w/ all the precautions these days), I was not referring to the physicians ethics or morals. I was talking about their motivation for entering the field and their capability to perform their job correctly.</p>
<p>psych major here (which is social science but whatever) Not much you can do w/ it unless you go for a masters or phd.
honestly, i would rather have a doc who knows their **** and **can **treat me rather than someone who doesn’t know their **** and just **wants **to treat me.</p>
<p>"one who want to help you and has the capacity to do so by being smart enough. But I would gladly take an intelligent physician who went into medicine for the financial gain rather than some incapable person who really wanted to “save lives, help people, etc” "</p>
<p>um…I never once said that they didn’t need to be qualified, good doctors. I’m sorry if you’ve experienced this, I just said that I want my doctors to be passionate about helping me as a patient more so then them prescribing me pills of no use just because they got an advance from the pharmaceutical companies. The pendulum swings both ways on this one buddy if you’re going to be that extreme in examples. I’m not talking about overly corrupt people. I’m just simply saying that money isn’t the most important thing to a lot of people, and suggesting to the OP that it shouldn’t be. Of course, it could just be a values difference…You can’t argue with someones values.</p>
<p>are you sure you know what a physician does? cherry picking stories that are posted on yahoo.com about a single physician does not negate the fact that almost all physicians **don’t **prescribe medications that are useless, and with the regulations in place from the early 2000’s they can’t take monetary kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies. </p>
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<p>clearly you are. You’re talking about doctors who are bribed by the pharmaceutical reps to prescribe medications that will not benefit them. That is overly corrupt and not common practice in hospitals and private clinics.</p>
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<p>Why the hell not? money is an important factor when picking a career for a lot of people. Doing something you’re passionate about is great, but if that thing doesn’t pay well and allow you to live the lifestyle that you want (most people want a good lifestyle) you’re not going to be happy because your passion isn’t helping you obtain the lifestyle to desire. Of course if you don’t care about how much $$ you have and in what conditions you live, that’s another story. </p>
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<p>Like I said before, I’m not talking about values, morals, or ethics. I’m talking about an individuals motivation for entering a field.</p>
<p>"I think people rely too much on their degree to get them a job when it’s really not the case. A common misconception nowadays is that people go directly to college to get skill sets and then head out to the job market with those skill sets - not true at all; only a few majors are like this (accounting, engineering, etc).</p>
<p>What you should be doing is think of school and work as separate spheres of your life. You come to school to learn and you study for the sake of learning. You should then focus on getting internships and work experience for the sake of getting a job later on. Completely parallel paths. If more college students knew this then there would be less people complaining about how “impractical” certain degrees are. In truth, almost every bachelor’s degree is impractical unless u plan on academia."</p>
<p>^^I agree completely…it’s all about how you go about pursuing your career! k</p>
<p>…and too 123456bc I like how you skipped over this sentence in my post “The pendulum swings both ways on this one buddy if you’re going to be that extreme in examples” which if you’ll notice I stated after I gave my “extreme example” of an overly corrupt person. That was my point…that you were giving an extreme example LOL. </p>
<p>Anyways, that is a value, I truly believe that money can corrupt a person and I believe that those that only desire it are greedy and selfish…if you value money more than anything else then to me your values are warped. However, I understand that this could just be me…I was just throwing that out to the OP as something to think about, not necessarily to attack them as you are trying to desperately to do to me. </p>
<p>And just to clarify I’m not saying that everyone should be “poor” and have no “nice things”. Sure we all need money, but one should only have as much as they need to live a comfortable life…however I am a social democrat so that could explain why we differ in beliefs regarding money and its worth…</p>
<p>what exactly was my ***extreme ***example?..that I would choose to be seen by a physician who was an intellectually capable student and went into medicine because of the money, prestige, and autonomy rather than an incapable guy who went in for altruistic reasons. This happens everyday, Caribbean schools (and some DO schools) are filled with kids who couldn’t hack it in basic science classes and get a decent MCAT score. But the fact that they “really want to help people” doesn’t excuse their ineptitude.</p>
<p>I meant that it is extreme to say that someone who went to school for “altruistic” reasons would thus be a “bad” doctor (perhaps someone who cares about their patients more so then how much $$ they get out them will provide better care??). What you had stated was quite an generalization. Of course not all doctors that got into the field for those reasons, or for any other reason, become good doctors but hopefully those ones don’t receive their licenses. Anyways, this is a stupid argument anyways and I’m a little confused as to why you are so offended by my comments. Why does it bother you so much that I have a different opinion on why college should be pursued? So what! You do what you do, and I do what I do…</p>