<p>I’m a Psychology major with a Business Administration minor, interested in working in Human Resources or Marketing.</p>
<p>“You’ll never be able to find a job with that degree.”
“Psychology is a useless major. You’ll struggle to pay your bills for your entire life.”
“Why not major in business and minor in psychology? That way, you might get a job.”
“Both of those are worthless. Why not be a nurse or an engineer?”</p>
<p>It’s sad, because some of these are things people on this forum have said. It’s depressing that it affects me as much as it does, but I’m working on it. I considered switching majors because of it, but I’ve already went into a major for the money and it didn’t work out. We aren’t all cut out for engineering or the medical field.</p>
<p>There are so many people working in business and making good money, and to say that they’re all finance/business admin/economics majors is ignorant. People in the business field come from all majors and different walks of life. That’s why it’s so diverse. Most people have to start at the bottom in their field and work their way up.</p>
<p>I think the issue with Psychology majors is that SOOO many people major in it and the students that just get by, don’t belong to any student organizations, don’t have any internships, and have less-than-impressive resumes kind of ruin it for the rest of us. Those people end up flipping burgers or something similar. Those that have the passion and drive in the field they choose will be the most successful, not the ones that chose a major because it was the easiest way to make a lot of money.</p>
<p>Money does not equal success. And I hate that people confuse the lack of drive in others for the lack of worth in a field of study.</p>
<p>I think some of you are being slightly pretentious. You get annoyed if people ask you what you want to do with your major? Honestly, what’s wrong with that? I’m curious as to what a lot people here are going to do with their majors too, since a lot of them don’t really seem practical.</p>
<p>I disagree, yume. I wouldn’t say “a lot of majors don’t seem practical” (that sounds to me more like a pretentious judgment from a person with a “practical major”)…I would frame it more in the context that a lot of majors don’t have one clearly defined/predictive path, and sometimes it is stupid to assume that a person is doing a certain thing based off their supposed major. </p>
<p>Majors–> international relations & economics</p>
<p>About international relations:
Q: so what is it exactly? Business stuff?
A: Definitely not business (although you can go into international business).<br>
Q: You need to travel and know a lot of languages right?
Travel & languages can be important to certain international relations careers (and tend to be popular hobbies of international relations majors) but are a very limited scope of what international relations seeks to explain (i.e. current events and information about the political, economic, and security systems of countries).<br>
Q: Are you going to be able to find a job? So-and-so who I know graduated with international relations and they haven’t found a job after 2 years of looking etc.<br>
A: Well…so-and-so doesn’t have the same work ethic/experience I do. We shall see! </p>
<p>About economics:
Q: Money!!! Finance!
A: not really, I’m mostly interested in development economics which has very little to do with money and finance (unless you are talking about microfinance).
Q: You can find a job! Are you going into econ for grad school?
A: nope, definitely not. I am mainly going to economics so I can be more flexible in finding any international relations/government job.</p>
<p>If any statement is pretentious, it’s yours. What exactly is a “practical” degree? Let me guess…engineering, nursing, accounting, etc. Well, what if the person in question doesn’t have an interest in these things? Does that mean they can’t be successful studying something else? Absolutely not.</p>
<p>I doubt all of these people are annoyed when someone asked, “So, what are you hoping to do with your major after you graduate?” That’s not the annoying question. It’s that sneer people give you as they tell you that you’ll never be able to find work with the major you chose. It’s aggravating because the majority of the people who say this don’t know a single thing about that major or the prospective careers that can result from your degree.</p>
<p>Not all fields of study guarantee a specific career path, but that doesn’t make the major impractical. I think there are way too many people who think they know what they’re talking about and set out to preach to people about how unsuccessful they’ll be when, in reality, they have no clue.</p>
<p>I’d have no problem being asked what I plan to do with my degree, as long as they don’t try and tell me how I should go for something more “practical”. If engineering is so great, you major in it.</p>
<p>I’m not in college yet, but I have a pretty firm idea on what I want to major in once I start college.</p>
<p>I come from a fairly conservative Asian household, so the only things worth a damn in my family are the hard-sciences (Engineering, pre-med, etc, etc). So when I tell my parents/relatives that I plan on becoming a music and psychology major, they tend to throw scathing and disbelieving looks at me.</p>
<p>“Are your parents alright with that?”
“Well, MY son became a doctor and he’s doing quite well for himself…”</p>
<p>And my personal favorite, “Those two majors have nothing in common!”</p>
<p>God. Sometimes I just want to stab forks into their eyes.</p>
<p>“ah cool, you gonna run a factory?”
“so you’re pretty much gonna make stuff?”
“ooh you must be smart!”
A lot of blank-face responses, as if I threw them off with the response or something…</p>
<p>Other engineers:
“Ah, the imaginary engineering.” <em>scowl, i’m-better-than-you face</em></p>
<p>Ok, so I was out at a bar with some people who I run an organization with. I am only 19 and most of them are above 50. </p>
<p>When one of them was drunk, they asked me what I was going to college for. I said “anthropology”. They asked what exactly I did. Not wanting to go too in-depth with a drunk guy, I said that I study humans. </p>
<p>He promptly goes “Why are you wasting money at a university? Why don’t you just become a prostitute? THEY know people!” </p>
<p>I’m a double major in engineering physics (I just say “physics” so I don’t have to explain):</p>
<p>“So you want to be a professor?”
“You must be smart!” (it makes me very uncomfortable)
“So can you explain <something i=”" haven’t=“” covered=“” yet=“” but=“” have=“” only=“” read=“” about=“” in=“” non-technical=“” writings=“” for=“” the=“” lay-person=“”>." (I either say I “haven’t really covered it yet” or give the best explanation I can from what I read in “Discover” or a library book or whatever)
“I hate math.” (I used to hate it too)</something></p>
<p>…and computer engineering:</p>
<p>“Wow, you’re gonna make a lot of money.”
Or the assumptions that I follow the latest in PC hardware/whatever Apple’s just released/that Bill Gates or Steve Jobs are my heroes/or that I know how to use and fix any problem with any hardware or software system ever made. “You can’t figure out why my browser keeps doing that? What are they teaching you?!”</p>
<p>“So you want to work for (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple)?” (By the way for those who don’t know, those are extremely hard jobs to get.)
“Mac or PC?”</p>
<p>I gave up and am now going to do IOE (Industrial Engineering & Operations Research) and minor in CS:</p>
<p>“You’re dumb”
“You’re stupid”
“I’m smarter than you”
“Your major is easy, is that because you’re stupid?”
Etc…</p>
<p>Those last ones are all made up, but people say something more tactful with the exact same meaning though.</p>