useless majors?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I'm feeling a little jaded right now, I've been rejected by about 10 minimum wage commercial institutions (Baskin Robbins, Barnes and Noble, Container Store, even VOLUNTEER JOBS) and I'm just kind of thinking ahead. Like REALLY ahead. What if my major is completely useless to the real world? Say I wanted to be a lawyer, will being a Political Science or a Psychology major be a good foundation? What if I run out of money and can't afford law school, what do you do with a Psych major?</p>

<p>Hit me up with something encouraging!</p>

2

<p>Be a philosophy major! Nice versatility in job selection. Everyone needs a good philosophy buff. :)</p>

3

<p>dude. what do you do with a bachelor degree in philosophy?</p>

4

<p>Devil May Cry is going to become a guidance counselor</p>

5

<p>I'm prolly gonna be a econ/philosophy major. a lot of philosophy majors go into either law or teaching.</p>

6

<p>is music therapy popular? just in general</p>

7

<p>philsophy is really abstract and it makes my head hurt. i don't like thinking about life</p>

8

<p>Stanmaster, out of respect, I will not dignify your comment. :)</p>

<p>immajap, if you don't like one of the number one preparers for the LSAT, then be my guest. Philosophy provides excellent preparation for fields that demand strong critical thinking and writing skills. These fields include but are not limited to investigative journalism, technical writing, editing, and many areas of business.Philosophy majors tend do extremely well despite your tendancy to write the major off as being paltry. Period. Moreoever, if you plan on going to law school, why do you care? </p>

<p>Here is a list of recent Princeton philosophy majors careers:</p>

<p>Fellow - Public Interest Research Groups</p>

<p>Consultant - WinMill Software, New York, NY</p>

<p>Research Associate - Advisory Board Company, Washington, DC</p>

<p>Paralegal - Shearman & Sterling, New York, NY</p>

<p>Research Associate - CSC Healthcare, New York, NY</p>

<p>Associate Market & Intelligence Analyst - IBM, Somers, NY</p>

<p>Chapter Leadership Consultant - Chi Phi Fraternity, Atlanta, GA</p>

<p>Engineer - Sapient Corporation, Cambridge, MA</p>

<p>Financial Analyst - JP Morgan, New York, NY
Associate Consultant - CSC Consulting, New York, NY
Teacher - Kien Giang Community College (Princeton in Asia), Rach Gia, Vietnam
Assistant to the Executive Director - NY Lawyers for the Public Interest, New York, NY </p>

<p>Not too shabby is it? Your narrow sense of how multifarious the major is astonishes me. Give it a shot and you might like it. :)</p>

9

<p>those are PRINCETON majors. so they're smart anyway. I always like to think that its the person that makes the college not the other way around. but anyway, i'm just worried that if for some reason I can't afford law school immediately out of undergrad, what would i do with my major? so what can you do with a philosophy or a psych or political science major (the latter 2 which i want to do) with just a bachelors? if the law school wasn't an immediate option</p>

10

<p>Now I understand your quagmire. But I assure you that all the degrees aforementioned will be fine if you just have the diligence to look for the opportunities. Where are you headed for college?</p>

<p>PS: I didn't get a phone call back from Wendy's and I'm headed to a great school, so don't fret. haha Screw uhm! :)</p>

11

<p>I wouldn't think music therapy is popular, but i really don't know</p>

12

<p>yeah, me neither. By the way, I hear going to grad school (not just law, business, or med) for your major is, in most cases, a beneficial experience. I might have to check my sources though. And you can always defer admission and get a job.</p>

13

<p>They do pretty much everything.</p>

<p>Like becoming a marxist</p>

14

<p>Haha that's the best one! :) Das Kapital is on my reading list right now.</p>

15

<p>haha it'd be awesome if you actually did. Good ol' Karl</p>

<p>(i have that as one of my fav books lol)</p>

16

<p>Folklore and Mythology</p>

17

<p>The list of majors that directly prepare you for a specific job isn't long. Many students major in fields that interest them but which don't have a specific job or career family tied to it. Are these majors useless? No, because along the way they are learning critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, writing, etc. When you get on the job, you learn how the field or industry works, you learn how your firm or organizations likes to do things. And you're able to do that because you've got a good general education and higher-order thinking skills.</p>

<p>Any student who is concerned that he or she is not being prepared to 'do anything' may want to do an internship or something where they gain some on-the-job skills. It's a nice supplement to a good solid education.</p>

18

<p>Aerospace engineering. (Number of Boeing engineers has declined 85% in past decade, and will decline still further, as they ship the work to China.)</p>

19

<p>I'm a double major in Comparative Literature and Medieval Studies. I'm EXTRA useless. ;)</p>

20

<p>I really believe that unless you are going into something very, very specific and have crystal clear career goals, most majors are useful in some way for a large variety of jobs. Just major in what interests you, and think about the KIND of job you'll want rather than a specific. If you know you want to do something related to numbers, don't major in something like Russian Lit! And if you major in something art related (such as sculpture) make sure you want to be in that area. Other than that, I don't know of any restrictions.</p>