<p>As a caveat, I should mention that everyone has an opportunity to succeed with any major. Of course, with the majors I list, a person could become a teacher of those subjects, but other than that, there are not many jobs open for them. That's not to say that all people who major in these subjects aren't going to have difficulty finding work. There will always be the hardworking ambitious people who are at the top of their class who will do well no matter what they major in, but the rest will be competing. Let's face it: not all majors are equal and some are less useful than others.</p>
<p>Liberal Arts
A politically correct person would say this major has just as much opportunity as a Biochemistry or Engineering major. Unfortunately, the jack of all trades is the master of none.</p>
<p>Arts/Music
Everyone wants to get paid for their hobbies, but music and the arts are very competitive, and only the most talented can succeed in this field. </p>
<p>Philosophy
You wont find the secret to life or the ultimate truth of the universe. The pursuit of wisdom is noble cause, but society, on the whole, is not willing to pay to learn that they don't exist.</p>
<p>Sociology
Likely to produce a liberal Marxist change-the-world share-the-wealth anti-capitalist activist. Identifying problems is easy, which Sociologists can do. But solving problems is difficult, and Sociologists don't have the comparative advantage to do that.</p>
<p>Film
99% of film majors won't be going to Hollywood and direct a movie. They will probably still be filming something in their backyard with their friends that would be fortunate to get even 400 Youtube views.</p>
<p>English/Lit
As interesting as the great tragedies of Sophocles is to English majors (and not many others), it is not in any sense practical. If you want to read fiction, you can get a library card, but why waste thousands of dollars to it, when you can be learning a practical skill instead?</p>
<p>Sociology does not automatically equal socialism, but keep in mind that most Sociologists are left-wing. Socialism was derived from sociology moreso than sound economic thinking. </p>
<p>Psychology, as a 4-year degree, in itself, is not very useful. Though it can be useful in graduate school.</p>
<p>And yes, I forgot…</p>
<p>Communications
The major for the jocks, who got D’s in high school and barely got through CC, who party and drink every weekend instead of study and are only going to college because their parents are making them. Of course they are putting off responsibility for 4 more years, but still keep their dream of becoming an ESPN announcer.</p>
<p>Philosophy majors commonly go to law school after receiving their undergrad. That last sentence also has nothing to do with most fields of philosophy.</p>
<p>Also, your undergraduate degree does not determine your career. As withlovemegan said, your degree is as useful as you make it. I know plenty of English majors who have gone on to run community projects, work with advertising firms, etc.</p>
<p>Understand my caveats:
1 - I never said any degree is completely useless
2 - What I said was that some degrees are more useful than others (one would be wrong to deny this claim)
3 - A person with one of these “less useful” majors can go far in life. Ambitious hard-working people, with a little luck, can go anywhere in life with any major.
4 - I agree that graduate school can turn students with “less useful” majors into more competitive candidates for a job hunt.</p>
<p>But what I am saying is that supply and demand governs everything. Theres a very limited demand for the “less useful” majors. Definitely, the top people in the class will find work easily, but most of the others will have a difficult time finding work. For people who prefer to find work easily rather than competing with many other people for a small amount of job openings, they should go for more versatile majors.</p>
<p>My point with philosophy was that it is very important, but its a shame that our society as a whole doesn’t care about wisdom; it cares about football.</p>
<p>As I say often, “If you want to talk about problems, try english, the arts, or social studies. If you want to solve problems, study math and science.”</p>
<p>You lost me. “Liberal Arts” is a college, not a major. Philosophy, sociology, English, and literature are all majors in the Liberal Arts college, at least at my university.</p>
<p>Also you seem to be confused on what “sociology” is.</p>
<p>Socialism didn’t derive from sociology at all. Sociology didn’t exist as a discipline until the 20th century, whereas socialism was in existence fully a century before that. Do you even know what sociology as a discipline entails?</p>
<p>It sucks that Philosophy is considered such a useless major, because its my favorite subject. I am actually double majoring in Economics and Philosophy, just because I love it so much. I think it is wonderful for gaining logic and critical thinking skills. I think more people should give it a chance. </p>
<p>My sister is a film major, she’s convinced she’s going to make it big in Hollywood. I’m skeptical, but I don’t think film majors are useless. There are tons of jobs in the entertainment industry. She may not make it as a big, Hollywood director, but I’m sure that there’s work out there for editors, producers, writers, and even just entry-level positions. She’s already worked on the sets of two reality TV shows that were filming in my city. Plus my school has lots of connections with LA, since it’s so close. I think if she networks right and gets enough job experience, she could do something cool.</p>
<p>This isn’t anywhere near true at UCLA, there’s like 30 film majors per year or something ridiculously small like that, I imagine it’s similar at a school across town where a lot of directors come from.</p>
<p>To offer another perspective than the OP, keep in mind offer 2 types of degrees under one roof. This leads to confusion because back in the day the 2 types used to be offered at different schools; you went to one type of institution for job training, another for the classic “college education”. Some degrees are vocational in nature – accounting, engineering, nursing, etc. People with these degrees are prepared for jobs in their field without grad school (although some switch and do something completely different). </p>
<p>On the other hand there are liberal-arts degrees. Without keeping the distinction in mind one ends up with mixed metaphors. Talking about “useless majors” is applying a vocational-education outcome measure to a liberal-arts pursuit and that just doesn’t make sense. None of the liberal-arts majors lead directly to a career path (except perhaps as a professor in that subject) nor are they intended to. </p>
<p>The reason to pick a liberal-arts major is because of a strong interest in the subject. It may also be applicable to some career fields; an undergrad degree in an area such as English can be helpful for jobs that tend to require a lot of writing. But that is not the main goal; if you want a degree that for sure prepares you for a job, pick a vocational major.</p>
<p>People with liberal-arts degrees are NOT doomed to flipping burgers. Most people in management positions came up from these majors. One issue when responding to posts like that of the OP is that most HS students (and unfortunately many college students) are just not yet informed about all the jobs that are out there or how people get them. The OP doesn’t know how philosophy majors come to work on Wall Street or even in management of the major employers in your town, so he assumes its impossible or unlikely.</p>
<p>Almost any career field is open to the liberal-arts grad if they take the proper steps in college to become attractive candidates to future employers outside of the ones that require specific training (engineering, nursing, etc), and even for these you could go to grad school or take post-college classes (eg. becoming an RN) if you really wanted.</p>
<p>College grad with a degree in Music here. The OP pretty much hit the nail right on the head. Not so sure about the whole socialism thing, but the point is that all of the majors listed come with limited job opportunities. </p>
<p>Kids. If you are going to bust your butts in college, and spend loads of money, make sure it will net you a degree that will make some money.</p>
<p>No its because communications is seriously a joke. You are going to college for 4 years to learn how to do something that many people can accel at naturally. It helps you communicate, which is always important, but doesnt develop skills that employers are looking for. Sure you can try to get into broadcasting and be the one in a hundred that makes respectable money off of it, but unless you are a former pro athelete or you are really good looking then you should consider a major change</p>
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