<p>My college degrees have nothing to do with my job.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, yes. I’m an educational counselor, and my undergrad degree is in psychology. For most law school graduates, the undergrad major doesn’t have anything to do with the eventual job, but for me, it does.</p>
<p>My major was cultural anthropology… so of course not.</p>
<p>Yes. Problem solving / mathematics.</p>
<p>tower7: you have some varied interests which will make your life that much more full. Get a degree in a good employable field and from there you can springboard to other things. I wanted to pursue teaching but the glut and low pay at the time, and a good-looking guy, caused me to go in a different direction. </p>
<p>I got a BSChE, worked in aerospace for 9 yrs, finished my MSIE/Engrg.Mgt., moved to another state and haven’t done engrg since. Wound up teaching technical classes and now teach basic skills (ESL, reading, math) in the workplace and I love it. Funny how it ended up that way anyway. To pinpoint in hindsight what I love doing, it’s gaining knowlege (could’ve majored in anything) and sharing knowledge, hence the teaching. My technical side gets fed at each new company by learning and teaching their processes. It’s a beautiful fit but sure wasn’t anything one would think to major in. The things you love have a way of working themselves into your life. Figure those out and use them to guide you.</p>
<p>yes, but</p>
<p>I majored in Econ undergrad, then got an MBA. After B school I did financial analysis for a corp, a job I could easily have done with a different undergrad major. I later switched to management consulting, than to economic consulting, and for the last 8 years have been an “economist” for a govt agency. So my undergrad major was essential for my SECOND career - if I had majored in something else before B school, it would have been that much harder to switch careers. </p>
<p>I dont regret my path, as it led me to my wife and child - I can’t imagine having DIFFERERNT ones. But strictly from the career POV, I suppose I would have been better off getting an advanced degree in Econ than an MBA - not necessarily a PhD, a Masters in Econ can be quite useful.</p>
<p>"My major was cultural anthropology… so of course not. "</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a job where the ability to think about different cultures and what makes them tick wouldnt be useful - you just have to think of “the marketing folks” and “the HR folks” as the relevant “tribes” (yeah, I know the word “tribe” is a no-no)</p>
<p>A selection of majors/current jobs. Everyone is ~50:</p>
<p>Me: Literature - Corporate Lawyer</p>
<p>Wife: Psychology/American Studies - -> Policy Wonk (mostly re early childhood education), sometimes government official</p>
<p>Sister 1: Spanish - Investment Manager</p>
<p>Sister 2: History - MD (Emergency Room)</p>
<p>SIL 1: Linguistics - Linguistics Professor</p>
<p>SIL2: English - Caterer & Real Estate </p>
<p>SIL3: Who The Heck Knows? (Hampshire College) - High School Computer Teacher</p>
<p>Roommate 1: Molecular Biology - Research MD</p>
<p>Roommate 2: Molecular Biology - Research MD</p>
<p>Roommate 3: Art History - Commercial Real Estate Developer</p>
<p>Roommate 4: Studio Art - MD (Internist)</p>
<p>Roommate 5: History - Journalist/Author</p>
<p>Best Friend: Geology - now High School History Teacher, formerly lawyer, Senate staff member, environmental activist</p>
<p>Yes. I read and write for a living (think government work/policy). I was an English major- which was (pretty much) reading and writing. Not so much with the literary analysis now, but understanding material, synthesizing and putting it back out there in written form- the skills are the same.</p>
<p>Great thread-- I enjoyed reading the varied responses. Here is one more…</p>
<p>BS – Economics-- Currently and IT Consultant and Entrepreneur</p>
<p>Undergrad: journalism. Professional degree: law. I’m a legal editor. I use my “training” every day.</p>
<p>Undergrad major: Geography</p>
<p>Job for 25+ years: Geography teacher</p>
<p>Roommate 1: Environmental Planning major –> Housewife and volunteer with seniors</p>
<p>Roommate 2: Food Science —> Caterer and Restaurant Owner (v. successful)</p>
<p>Anthropology major here too. I tolerated alot of snide remarks about how the degree would prepare me well for a waitressing career. I now have a PhD and do public health research, where my anthropology degree is very relevant.</p>
<p>Me–history ug and history (Southern and African-Am) MA. Career in state and federal government and now a retirement job in a university. Almost all my career has involved doing either discrimination complaint investigations or policy work on issues relating to discrimination. I pretty much consider my career a direct out growth of my college/post grad learning. </p>
<p>My wife did sociology ug; has an MSW from grad school; and a post master’s certificate in health care administration. She has primarily done mental health policy and grant work for the feds and now has a retirement job at the state level doing similar work. I consider her jobs directly connected to her education.</p>
<p>Almost forgot my son! Critical Studies major in film school now creating on-line advertising campaigns for new releases and re-releases.</p>
<p>I’ll throw in the rest of my class of Veritones (1999):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Computer science major -> divinity school -> fireman, computer programmer, and likely future pastor</p></li>
<li><p>Environmental Science & Public Policy major -> high school music teacher (the only person I know who’s still in his first job 12 years after graduation)</p></li>
<li><p>Classics major -> finance (got an MBA after several years in the field)</p></li>
<li><p>Psychology major -> medical school -> psychiatrist</p></li>
<li><p>Social anthropology major -> university administrator</p></li>
<li><p>Economics major -> health care consultant/executive (MBA after several years)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Me: History B.A., followed by law school and 30+ years as a lawyer. Other than in the most general way, my college studies – including even the constitutional law course I took from Alexander Bickel as an undergraduate – have nothing to do with my career.</p>
<p>My father: History B.A. at the same college I went to, followed by four years in the army during World War II, followed by law school and 63 years as a lawyer. (He still goes to the office every day at the age of 90, a path I hope not to follow!)</p>
<p>My mother: Economics degree as an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence (completed in about 2 1/2 years so far as I can figure out), followed by law school (the same one my father went to; that’s where they met), followed by working as a money market analyst for the Federal Reserve, followed by 10 years of being a stay at home mom, followed by teaching 6th grade in the NYC public school system. She never practiced law, and the only job that had anything to do with her major was the first one.</p>
<p>My son: art history major in college, followed by ??? (He thinks he wants to go for a Ph.D but maybe do something else for a year first, to make sure that grad school is what he really wants.) The only thing he’s completely sure he doesn’t want to do is go to law school.</p>
<p>I got a BA in history, then went on to get an MA and PhD in history. I spend a couple of years as an unhappy college professor before realizing that, as much as I love history, I didn’t want to teach it.</p>
<p>I now work in grantmaking and work with projects that are somewhat related (and my expertise as a historian is definitely recognized), but I engage issues that are much broader than just history (if it’s taught as part of a core liberal arts curriculum, chances are good that I deal with it). I still work with academics mostly, but I don’t teach. </p>
<p>My husband got a BS in microbiology, but he’s been working in IT since about his 2nd year out of college.</p>
<p>I met my husband in grad school. We both have master’s degrees in structural engineering. We started our own consulting firm in 1999. He does almost all of the design work. I take care of AutoCAD drafting and bookkeeping. I do a little engineering when he is overloaded. We work out of our home, so it’s crazy, but we’re around for the kids. It’s been an adventure!</p>
<p>BA in Economics, spent the past 25+ years as a financial analyst for government programs with a major US company. The degree and the business dept courses gave me enough to get started, but much of what I do now has nothing to do with the degree.
The coursework I did pushed me to think, develop positions, write and look at the big picture - those are the valuable bits that I’ve carried with me and have contributed the greatest to my success.</p>