So apparently you cant make a living without a math degree

Career Opportunities & Internships
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<p>I have spent the last 3 days or so scouring these forums for information about different majors, colleges, job prospects, etc. </p>

<p>One very evident trend that I have noticed is that a majority of people who post on threads regarding college majors tend to believe that if you do not major in Economics, Engineering, Math, Business, Computer Science, Marketing, or a heavy math degree you won't make a decent living and have to resign to being a l lower class citizen the rest of your miserable days. Basically the prevailing message that I interpret from all these posts is "Math or nothing". </p>

<p>But is that really the only way to make a decent living ? </p>

<p>I wish I could do a poll on here just to get an idea, but because that option is not available to us on this forum I will do the next best thing which is ask a simple question along with this post.</p>

<p>(Poll) ------ How many of you are actually Economics, Engineering, Math, Computer Science or Business majors? How many are majoring in something else. You do not have to say which major you are, a simple Yes I Fall into these, or no I do not will suffice. </p>

<p>Secondly I would just like to ask a hand full of questions to the community on this forum. </p>

<p>Why do you believe this mentality is so affluent on this site? </p>

<p>Do you personally believe this is true? </p>

<p>If you honestly believed you couldn't make a decent living with your degree and you couldn't aspire to being a middle class citizen with a comfortable life would you still do it?</p>

<p>I will admit, all these posts sparked a flurry of emotions within me. First I felt very challenged, which I interpreted as a good thing after a few moments. Then I felt a bit worried so I decided to do a little research, and evidently enough the top paying majors are almost all in the Engineering and mathematics fields. Which when you consider they prepare you for very specific tasks, and develop very sought after and specific skills it is not surprising. </p>

<p>I won't lie either, I am a communication and political science double major, and the thought of dropping my political science degree to start fresh with Marketing crossed my mind on more than one occasion. I am still considering the idea however, this would mean leaving over a years worth of work behind, as well as taking another 3 years to graduate. </p>

<p>In the end though I realized the obvious, the majority of college students from Ivy league institutions, top tier colleges, and regular colleges do not major in one of these subjects, yet the majority of college graduates are able to achieve a comfortable middle class life style. </p>

<p>Yes a lot of these have to go to graduate school to do it, maybe get their masters degrees and in some instances even a PhD in order to make the same as a B.A in engineering. I suppose in the end I have to wonder to what extent is it true that you need to major in one of these subjects to make a good living, and to what extent is it simply ambition, culture, media influence, and in some cases just plain ignorance talking?</p>

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<p>Yes, I fall into these.</p>

<p>Do I believe that “mathy” majors mean you will make more money?
Not necessarily. You don’t need much math at all to be a doctor, lawyer, politician, military officer, actor, professional athlete, or certain kinds of college professors, and all of these make good money, I believe.</p>

<p>To make good money with a bachelor’s degree doing honest, middle-class work… well, technology is lucrative, and to do technology requires deep understanding of and good facility with mathematics. There are other ways to do it, but tech is a big one and it gets a lot of press.</p>

3

<p>Depends on your definition of “good living.”</p>

<p>I was a journalism undergraduate major, now working for the Forest Service as a park ranger and starting a graduate program in outdoor recreation management this fall. I’ll never get rich working for the government. Will I make an honest salary, enjoy my job, have opportunities to work in a wide variety of places and make a meaningful impact on millions of visitors to our national forests - our public lands, our enduring national heritage? Yup.</p>

<p>I couldn’t stand the thought of spending the next 35 years of my life staring at spreadsheets full of numbers. I would go crazy. Couldn’t pay me a million bucks to do it.</p>

<p>Once you realize that money is not the only (or even the most important) value in life, perspectives change.</p>

4

<p>I don’t want to fill my life with math and engineering, so I have no interest in following that career path, regardless of what it pays.</p>

<p>Obviously math and engineering are not the only way to make a decent living. There are many ways to make a contribution to society, and all of them are valuable.</p>

<p>I am planning to go into government work, with an undergrad degree in IR, and a more specialized masters (but very related).</p>

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<p>I was a civil engineering major, and I love what I do (structural engineering). I love using math to design buildings! I’m not just staring at a spreadsheet all day, either.</p>

6

<p>I was a political science major, but I’ve always been on the more quantitative side. That said, it makes sense that a lot of the people who post on this site are as you describe… this is a site about college, and people who visit the site tend to worry (perhaps too much) about the future. Realistically, the jobs that pay the most straight out of college are almost all quantitative in nature – engineering, finance, consulting, etc. Obviously majors in the social sciences and humanities are far from worthless, but if you are not interested in the quantitative stuff, then starting salaries are lower since it takes longer to acquire the skills and experience needed to thrive in those types of jobs. </p>

<p>The other thing is that those who have the most and want the most speak the loudest. It isn’t noteworthy if someone’s grand goal is to be a middle manager with a strong, loving family and enough money to live comfortably without being able to afford trips to Europe, country club memberships and mansions, so people don’t make a big deal about it.</p>

<p>Personally, I like my job, even though it is far from bulge bracket. I am taking time now to work on entrenching myself in my career, but family and friends are always more important, so if that means I won’t land the 200K job in two years, I’m fine with that.</p>

<p>With me as well as with a good number of my friends and colleagues, we know we aren’t getting paid a lot of money, but we also get 40-45 hour weeks, no work brought home and 24 paid days off a year as a baseline, so I’d rather have that than a power job that demands 80+ hour weeks and vacation that I can never use.</p>

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<p>Funny, if you type in “math major useless” there are two CC threads show up with titles “Math majors beware: most of you are wasting time and money” and “School: top40. Major: math. GPA: 3.5. Current Salary: $16/h” lmao</p>

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<p>There is a way to make a really good living, my dad got a BA in Math and has worked in finance his whole life. He has been a director of finance for a large multinational corporation. So yes you can make a nice living with a math degree.</p>

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