<p>In addition to being able to major in anything at an elite school (Ivies Stanford Duke MIT so on) you also end up being more involved. The Duke kid at an Ibank who majored in Rennaissance literature isn't that exceptional - sure, his major had nothing to do with anything, but he spent his time outside of the classroom being really involved and developing leadership and communication skills.</p>
<p>My personal strategy is to marry the daughter of a big Ibanker but whatever...haha jk!</p>
<p>"new winner: musical theater</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."
Yes true!!The thing about arts(theater musical theater...) if you are not extremely talented and also lucky you won't make money.i thought about majoring in acting/drama but i think it's too riscky so i've decided major in communicayion;radio/tv/film major that some universities offer and maybe a minor in acting...at least that way i can work in different fields</p>
<p>Here's an exhaustive list of what many people seem to think are all of the practical majors:</p>
<ol>
<li>Engineering.</li>
</ol>
<p>Who wants to read the biography of an engineer?</p>
<p>Engineering seems like a boring, mechanical, routine job where basically you're a corporation's b.itch and try to maximize efficiency with the blah-de-blah machine in order to make some extra money for the CEO.</p>
<p>I'm sure many engineers are going to barrrage me with infantile, nonsensical arguments right now, but the only reason you guys picked engineering is because you feel safer and coddled knowing exactly what you are going to do with your life after college (crunch numbers!!). That, or you're somehow interested in math/science and since professional scientists or mathematicians don't exactly make buko bucks, you've somehow decided to pursue engineering. That is all.</p>
<p>C'mon, no need to be so passionate. I think it's pretty clear a lot of engineers choose to major in engineering was because it's perhaps the most attractive available major on the Exhaustive Practical Major list. <em>nods</em></p>
<p>what peter parker says may be true for some students at some tech school. </p>
<p>but I'm pretty sure most students in engineering at places like CMU, Cornell, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Cal, etc know what they're getting in to.</p>
<p>
I know of only a few colleges that offer Med & Ren Studies as a major (UNC, Duke, William & Mary, Washington & Lee, Vassar, Wellesley, Holy Cross, and SUNY Albany), so I'd say that applicant is out of luck. :eek: Take Egyptology as an example that I'm more familiar with. Only Yale, Penn, Brown, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and U Toronto offer it at the undergrad level (adding NYU and U Memphis at the grad level). Even in the UK, it's mostly limited to Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Liverpool, and Wales-Swansea, most of which are quite competitive. Similarly, Celtic Studies is found at UC Berkeley and arguably Harvard (adding a few public schools like Wisconsin and UNC for a vague sort of program). The more obscure departments tend to appear at the elite colleges that can afford them. </p>
<p>On a more practical note, I agree with gellino- geology (my second major) is an excellent major. There are relatively few jobs compared to other science fields, but the large number of retiring geologists and extremely low geology grad production results in a large number of jobs available, particularly if you can write environmental impact statements or are familiar with GIS. The ratio of jobs to BS grads in geology is 14.3:1, compared to 9:1 in chemistry, 5.2 in physics, and 1.2 in biology. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.unc.edu/%7Esdilts/PCBsyndrome.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.unc.edu/~sdilts/PCBsyndrome.pdf</a></p>
<p>No major is useless IF you get a high GPA and have a good work ethic and good people skills.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Who wants to read the biography of an engineer?</p>
<p>Engineering seems like a boring, mechanical, routine job where basically you're a corporation's b.itch and try to maximize efficiency with the blah-de-blah machine in order to make some extra money for the CEO.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Trust me, MOST corporate jobs are boring, mechanical, routine jobs where you're basically a corporations b.itch. At least in engineering, you get paid relatively decently. Plenty of jobs are just as boring and mechanical, and they don't even get paid well. </p>
<p>For example, one guy who majored in physics at Berkeley ended up becoming a house painter (at B&B Painting). One guy who majored in math ended up becoming a bar waiter (at Kells, a local campus bar). Remember, this is not some scrub no-name school here. This is BERKELEY we're talking about. </p>
<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Physics.stm%5B/url%5D">http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Physics.stm</a>
<a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm%5B/url%5D">http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
know of only a few colleges that offer Med & Ren Studies as a major
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You know what I mean. 'Medieval Studies' is offered by many schools, including Rutgers and Oregon. Ok, it's not "Medieval an Renaissance Studies", but come on, for the purposes of this discussion, it's basically the same thing. </p>
<p><a href="http://medieval-studies.rutgers.edu/undergraduate/%5B/url%5D">http://medieval-studies.rutgers.edu/undergraduate/</a>
<a href="http://www.uoregon.edu/%7Emidages/degree.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.uoregon.edu/~midages/degree.shtml</a></p>
<p>The point is, every non-specialized school offers a panoply of choices in majors, some of which are more marketable than others. Furthermore, most people don't go to a top-tier school. Most people go to no-name schools. What do you recommend these people study?</p>
<p>
[quote]
What do you recommend these people study?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Whatever makes them happy. :)</p>
<p>I herd that only 4 in 10 actually get a job in the field that their major was concerning. So, do what you want.</p>
<p>In general, the more prepared you are for a specific field when you get your bachelor's degree, the less broadly applicable your education was (with the exception of engineering, which seems to cultivate skills that are very broadly applicable). For example, a degree in nursing prepares you really well for nursing, but those skills aren't applicable in many other fields. Subjects like math, philosophy, English, and psychology aren't likely to get you a job in that field, but your training will be be very handy in a broad array of jobs. For example, just about any type of business job will require flawlessly written letters, presentations, and reports at some point. That's when they yell out "Hey, get Jones in here; he was an English major." I have 2 degrees in philosophy and a master's in business, and I work in management. The ways that philosophy trained me to think are FAR more valuable than the specific insights I learned in business classes.</p>
<p>It's all relative..One of my father best friends did grad school at yale and know he works at bank of america in New York , i know a physics who went to princeton know he teaches phd in one of the best universities in south america , also another friend of my father grad from U of toronto know teaches at u of toronto...I've have never heard of a person who went to a decent school and know is working in a mediocre job....</p>
<p>You must know many people.</p>
<p>I'm a very easy going person !!!!!</p>
<p>Metrofeed, Wrathofachilles, and Tourguide446 had it right.</p>
<p>Education, engineering, nursing, business-- take them if you're sure they're what you want to do. Otherwise, remember most careers do not require a specific undergraduate program.</p>
<p>Take a look at "What Can You Do With a St. John's Education?" <a href="http://www.sjca.edu/asp/main.aspx?page=1901%5B/url%5D">http://www.sjca.edu/asp/main.aspx?page=1901</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
I've have never heard of a person who went to a decent school and know is working in a mediocre job....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>They exist, and there are many of them.</p>
<p>don't forget nursing & teaching & pharmacy; there are huge shortages of folks in these fields which are expected to persist.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. Anything is the medical field would be good.</p>