<p>What majors actually prepare you for jobs in the real world?</p>
<p>For example, on CC I've seen talk that:</p>
<p>Political science doesn't help with law school
International Relations doesn't lead to any real jobs
English is only good if you want to be a teacher
A philosophy major leads nowhere after college
Biology majors make no money
Physics and chemistry majors have trouble applying their knowledge to any jobs in the real world
etc. etc. etc. </p>
<p>So what fields actually DO prepare you for the real world? It seems to me that there's nothing that you can study that will actually lead you to further success in your life.</p>
<p>major in Industrial and Labor relations at Cornell. </p>
<p>30% of grads go to law school with a law school placement rate near 100%.
50% go to work in numerious fields from finance, consulting, banking, HR management, union work. Average salary is just under $50,000 not including the average sign on bonus of $5,000. The typical ILR student has offers for 2-3 jobs upon graduation.
The rest go on to graduate school with great placement. </p>
<p>That's just my 2 cents, but of course I'm slightly biased ;) </p>
<p>For what it's worth:</p>
<p>Political science doesn't help with law school - true to an extent.
International Relations doesn't lead to any real jobs - and even if you want to work in internatinal relations, majoring in IR isn't a requirement.
English is only good if you want to be a teacher - eh, there's a few more things you can do with an english major, at least with my experience.
A philosophy major leads nowhere after college - i know a handful of philosophy majors ... all of them are working odd jobs to pay off loans. None of the jobs have anything to do with philosophy.<br>
Biology majors make no money - I've heard this too, unless you're pre-med.</p>
<p>The "hot" major right now seems to be economics.</p>
<p>A cursory glance over the destinations of Penn's philosophy majors tells you that their degree is by no means "useless." Do some research, check out some books, and talk to employers before you choose a major based on what you've "heard." A senior at Duke last year graduated with a major in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and went to work for a major IBanking firm.</p>
<p>I don't think any major necessarily helps you specifically with your job. BUT it can help you IN GENERAL with your future career or grad school.</p>
<p>"A senior at Duke last year graduated with a major in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and went to work for a major IBanking firm"</p>
<p>yes, but what portion of him/her getting that job do you correlate with what they chose to study? Go to any IBanking firm, and you'll see a large variety of majors represented. For these jobs, it's less what you majored in and more how well you did in your respective major. </p>
<p>Looking over what penn graduates do with a philosphy degree, it seems that a large percentage of them go into jobs that have nothing to do with philosophy.</p>
<p>If you must major in philosophy, do it at an ivy or stanford. Your future job may have nothing to do with philosophy, but the degree will carry you far anyways.</p>
<p>I would imagine that the biggest advantage of a degree like philosophy is not that you can explain the Categorical Imperative or Amor Fati, but that you learn to think clearly and logically. To pull out those trusty cliches, you're learning how to learn. You're trained for nothing and prepared for everything.</p>
<p>Hence why I took several philosophy classes. They taught me how to use logic and reasoning, and it's helped me out with my other classes as well. Exactly as catfish put it, I "learned how to learn." I saw no use in majoring in it, though. A few classes here and there were enough.</p>
<p>my girlfriend's twin is majoring in musical theater (and taking out a bunch of loans to do so!!). The problem is, the pay is soo low for grads, she's already thinking about an alternative career on the side just to pay for bills and housing.</p>
<p>If youre interested in CSI stuff, or maybe Law, do Crim Justice/Criminology.. some schools have that, some don't, but you can check at where you apply. But it really depends on what you want. Computer Science is at a premium, just make one program that everyone uses like Microsoft Word and make millions.</p>
<p>
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major in Industrial and Labor relations at Cornell.
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</p>
<p>Yeah, but what if you can't get into Cornell? What if you can only go to a no-name school? Keep in mind that the vast majority of college students go to no-name schools. </p>
<p>
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A senior at Duke last year graduated with a major in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and went to work for a major IBanking firm.
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</p>
<p>But what if you can't get into Duke? Would you recommend majoring in medieval/Renaissance Studies if you went to, say, East Tennessee State?</p>
<p>If you can't get into a top school then I would major in something with hard skills, like accounting. I would then try to leverage this into a top 25 MBA down the road.</p>