Sadly in the real world—the world I observed through many extended family discussions—parents squash their kids’ dreams of studying political science or history or psychology because they are told that such majors will lead directly to jobs at McDonalds. It may be “a stupid thing to do” but it does happen frequently.
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There’s certainly a subset of parents who will only pay for X major in the world I live in. There are also those who won’t let their kids, or daughters, go to college. Then there are those who severely restrict which colleges kids can attend and it’s not related to finances (religious colleges or within commuting distance or Alma maters generally).
There are all sorts of parents out there. I’ve only seen ROI between schools in general considered on here though. COL is considered by many. We get quite a few who moved here from HCOL areas.
Financial packages between schools is usually considered, but that’s different than this thread.
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Thank you for sharing this information. I’m appreciative of seeing MechE specifics since that’s what my child is interested in.
However, there is a difference between the parent forcing the kid’s major versus making sure that the kid has a reasonable idea of the career paths and implications associated with major choices. The kid should know that extravagant spending habits may be harder to sustain on careers that a biology or early childhood education major tend to lead to, for example. On the other hand, a kid with frugal spending habits has a very wide range of career choices and paths (and any associated college majors) that are financially doable.
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It’s funny to me that students who want to major in things like Pol Sci, History, and Psychology are the ones that need a solid plan including looking at the “ROI” of different schools, and students who want to major in CS have a lot more room for error.
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We should look out for each other. Just last week, my friend, who is a faculty at a large public university, was telling me that it is brutal to go do a PhD in Physics. He said the only way of getting a faculty position these days is if someone dies or retires.
The classics department at Princeton gently dissuades kids away from a doing a PhD. And tells them at a minimum not to expect a faculty position. That field is almost unemployable in academia. The ideal situation is for you to go study classics to your heart’s content in undergrad, and go become a banker, and talk about virgil at cocktail parties (this was what you did, apparently, at high society dinners in victorian England – you were not considered educated unless you knew Virgil) .
Likewise, I am sure, some undergrad majors will give you more heartache than others.
If there is someone we care about in our lives going into an “at stress” major. we naturally caution them, and discuss prospects etc. If as a parent we don’t do this service for our kids, who else will look after them?
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It seems to me that this should be obvious, but apparently isn’t. Each professor is to going to teach many PhD students over his career. Assuming that the number of academic positions remains the same (not guaranteed either), only one can get an equivalent academic position.
In reality what happens is that the graduates of the top programs can usually get an academic job somewhere, and the graduates of lower ranked schools often get shut out. The brilliant star at MIT may end up at Harvard. His very capable colleague may end up at Ohio State. The ones with the degrees from Ohio State likely end up doing something completely different.
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How many graduates can become bankers or work in Tech when they didn’t study those fields. Those industries cannot hire every graduate. I’m curious if there is any data on the jobs students majoring in the classics at Princeton get? Do they just go to law school or graduate school?
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I don’t think this will be publicly available. You need to ask someone in the department. Consulting is another path that i have heard. It is a small cohort. I am sure they’ll have some grad school bound kids as well.
Consulting seems to be a popular path for a lot of students that do not study a pre professional degree.
I know of one graduate from that program that became a teacher, that’s another career.
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yes and no. The three big shops, MBB, perhaps don’t hire more than 50 kids (out of some 1350 ) from campus, if I have to guess, each year. So it cannot be a large outlet. There is often a reluctance to go to the next tier.
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Actually, one can determine where the Princeton students landed by class year and major by googling Princeton career outcomes. The University does extensive statistical research on first outcomes. Physics majors ended up at McKinsey, Microsoft and hedge funds, or at research labs or grad schools. The few classics majors worked in different jobs, including public sector, or went to medical school.
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That’s helpful information. Thank you.
Thank you. The reports are very informative.
Some go to McKinsey consulting because they can consume a great deal of readings fast, present well, and write great.
Various other Ivies post public information about types of jobs Classics majors get. For example, Yale reports the following:
Yale Classics Majors: ~6 Months After Graduation: 2016 to 2021
Work/School – 42% Work Full Time, 29% Attending Grad School, 7% Seeking Work
Among Employed: Most Common Job Function
1 . Teaching (generally high school level) – 42%
2. Consulting – 12%
3. Finance – 8%
4. Law – 8%
5. Writing/Editing – 8%
Among Attending Grad School: Most Common Degree Type
JD – 25%
MA – 25%
PhD – 25%
MBA – 8%
MPH – 8%
MD/DO – 8%
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I believe psychology is the second most popular major in college. Truth is not everyone is cut out to be a doctor, engineer, lawyer, IB or whatever the heck top earning professions are now-a-days. What I can tell you is that here in Wake county NC, there is a real shortage of social service workers (average pay $50K), correctional officers (average pay $60K) and teachers (average pay $40K). Some of these professions require a college degree and some do not.
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Seems like social work increasingly wants a MSW (master’s) degree, which increases the cost to the student before entering a not-that-high-pay profession. That makes it unsurprising that there is a shortage. It is also not surprising that not everyone wants to be a correctional officer dealing with convicted criminals every day, even if the educational requirements do not require a BA/BS degree. From what I understand, teaching generally does require at least a BA/BS degree (general elementary education for K-6, subject-specific + teaching credential for 7-12).
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