<p>Like a major that everyone can agree that "Oh, that's neat" and won't have inside malicious thoughts like "Yeah this guy isn't going to get a job when he graduates" or "Looks like he got no talent, that's why he entered X major"</p>
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<p>I don’t think that exists</p>
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<p>Everyone meaning a general population.</p>
<p>Like I will name one right now: Math</p>
<p>I know what you meant, and I disagree with you.</p>
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<p>Then what major do you think is the most respectable?</p>
<p>He literally just said that he doesn’t think there’s a major that everyone can agree is respectable. Even if you say one like accounting, it only takes a few moments on the Business forum to find at least a couple of people who think that it’s a terrible idea and you should do Finance or something.</p>
<p>There is no major that will answer your question. </p>
<p>Why? Because it takes only a few seconds to realize that the “respectability” or “usefulness” of a major totally depends on what your goals are. It’s like saying “is there a college that we can all agree everyone should go to if admitted”. </p>
<p>An engineering degree might prove totally useless and laughable in certain fields. A liberal arts degree will do the same in many others. People hear you major in math and think you’re some queer nerd who is anti-social, has no friends and will be locked in a room scribbling on the board for the rest of their life. People hear you major in political science and think that you just spent your college career partying and will be working at McDonalds after.</p>
<p>In this field, such generalizations are both impossible and counter-productive.</p>
<p>Engineering (Except Industrial Engineer) and Medical (Doctor, Pharmacy, Surgeon, and Nurse)</p>
<p>Engineering, physical sciences, math/stats/CS. I spit and look down on dumb bio premeds, 90% of which will never even get to lick the floor of a medical school.</p>
<p>Engineering is the only respectable major and the only respectable profession. I believe that society should be purged of all non-engineers. As the information age progresses, the societal utility of non-engineers will continue to dwindle until their presence on this earth becomes an unnecessary obstruction to the honorable work of engineers.</p>
<p>Think of how efficient a world would be of only engineers. We could even do things like optimize the efficiency of our language. Eliminate synonyms and antonyms, even. That would be doubleplusgood!</p>
<p>(I was just ■■■■■■■■. Wouldn’t it be creepy if I really thought that? I got into an anonymous online argument earlier today with someone who truly believed that, though. He went so far as to tell me that I should kill myself because I’m a lib arts major. D: )</p>
<p>Why would you pick your major based on what other people would think about it? Definitely pick something that interests you, you’ll have to study the hell out of it for three years or more, for heaven’s sakes. You can get a job, a good job, one you like, with any major. There are specific jobs that do require certain majors (engineering, nursing, etc.), and so if you want one of those, you’ll need to plan accordingly. But seriously, your major should be what you’re most interested in!</p>
<p>It’s weird to me how pervasive the engineering vs liberal arts argument is. I come from a family that is almost exclusively engineers (I am one of two exceptions), and I had never heard anyone say any of this crap until I started at umich.</p>
<p>Fun personal anecdote, these days my dad is running a software development company for our family’s income, and it has been a constant pain for him that he has no artistic ability. He was paying graphic designers and all manner of artists OUT THE NOSE before my sister learned and he was able to hire her at a discount. It’s the one thing for the company that he is incapable of doing for himself and it makes him crazy. And he was paying in the hundreds for something that any idiot with photoshop could have done if they had any artistic ability whatsoever.</p>
<p>That, and my mom and I have to proofread literally everything he does to check for gibberish. Poor man.</p>
<p>I’m not a math major, but I’ve gotta say math. If you’re a math major here, you’re definitely brilliant. Of course, that’s just brilliance in math, and there are other types of equally respectable brilliance (none of which i have unfortunately).</p>
<p>Oh, if you respect machines with vast amounts of memory but little computing power and a tendency to shut down all competing machines, I suppose pre-med</p>
<p>petroleum engineering
yep</p>
<p>^Well now that we’re being ridiculous, I say ORFE</p>