<p>While perhaps we are basically in agreement, i feel the need to say that, unless you are picking a patent lawyer, I wouldn’t bank on that physics tester. It is great and impressive when someone is talented in many areas, but the truth is most genius trial litigators are not that guy - they are experts in the verbal field and when it is high stakes, bet your company litigation, no one cares about the physics test. Trust me. Been there plenty. They just need the guy who can analyze the law, write a great brief and convince a jury or judge. And
more often than not he was a history (or English, or poli sic) major who never took a day of physics in college.</p>
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<p>English and political science are among the most popular pre-law majors in college, so it would not be surprising if a lot of lawyers happened to have those majors when they were undergraduates.</p>
<p>However, some level of logical and quantitative thinking probably helps; math, physics, and philosophy majors tend to do well on the LSAT.</p>
<p>Very true. There are many paths to future success. That was my point exactly.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, the link was not allowed. Please send me the link in a PM. I’ll read it and respond publicly with comments. However, based on what you wrote above, you haven’t really presented much of a case that many, or even most people do not like careers in law or medicine. Plenty of other fields are hard work. An (undergraduate) education from a top school is very expensive and can put the student in heavy debt. I could make other counterarguments.</p>
<p>Perhaps I am biased, because “on paper” I should not be unemployed. (I have bachelors and master’s degrees in computer science, the bachelors from a top school.) In my experience, the trajectory your career takes has much more influence on what you experience in terms of salary, enjoyment of work, advancement, etc. than statistics. Thus, if I had children who did not want to pursue a STEM career, I wouldn’t feel particularly motivated to insist, or even suggest that they do so. Especially if they show a flair for the thing they are aspiring to do (and others recognize this flair and are willing to pay for it). An example would be if I had a child who by the time he or she became a teenager was getting paying gigs as a musician (even if it’s just playing at a high school dance).</p>
<p>I would say for lawyers and many executives it is not what they did in undergrad what got them where they are but what they did after undergrad in grad schools. Your major does not really define if you have a lawyer mindset or not. Also think if you a great student you can pretty much major in any major and have a pretty successful for career. But for average Joe’s with average GPAs odds are going to be against you if a bachelors in art history is the highest degree you have.</p>
<p>Im gearing mine towards business. And im gonna tell him to get drunk every night and slay every hot chick in sight because i want him to live the college dream</p>
<p>For those who said that majoring in philosophy is out, I have a friend from college with a philosophy degree who is long since retired (he’s now age 52). He was a partner at Goldman Sachs.</p>
<p>I’ve spent the last 15 years of my career studying people’s careers, and have seen countless people whose careers have had no connection with their college majors. </p>
<p>I’m going to repost something I posted at an earlier date on this forum:</p>
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<p>I just had my 30th reunion from college, and was looking back at my college yearbook. I saw this comment: “Problems freshman year. Engineering and Pre-Med? Who was I kidding?” He graduated with a degree in economics and makes over a million a year on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Here’s a look at my six college roommates, plus a few teammates.</p>
<p>Major: History. Occupation: Medical Devices Sales, Marketing and Operations Management.</p>
<p>Major: Chemical Engineering. Occupation: Partner, Wall Street Firm (retired at age 39).</p>
<p>Major: Psychology. Occupation: Senior banking position in a narrow market niche. (Did earn an MBA after college).</p>
<p>Major: Religion. Occupation: Orthopedic Surgeon.</p>
<p>Major: History. Occupation: Cardiothoracic (open heart) Surgeon</p>
<p>Major: Geology. Occupation: Project Manager, Major Waste Treatment/Waste Recovery Company.</p>
<p>Major: Politics. Occupation: Senior Position, Major Wall Street Firm.</p>
<p>Major: Antropology. Occupation: Runs a small non-profit, rebuilding the slums of a tough city.</p>
<p>Major: Politics. Occupation: former Congressman/Governor. Also has a law degree.</p>
<p>Major: Economics. Occupation: President of NFL team. Also has a law degree.</p>
<p>Major: Psychology. Occupation: Retained Executive Search Consultant (this is me).</p>
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<p>This is not atypical. I could go on and on citing examples like this. People can be successful with any major, and frequently seem to wind up in a career that is unrelated to their major.</p>
<p>Does this mean I should just skip the Industrial Engineering degree and study Philosophy like I always wanted to?</p>
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<p>What school?</p>
<p>To answer the school question, I went to Princeton. The Princeton pedigree does help, regardless of what the major is. However, I’ve seen people with a host of degrees from less prestigious institutions who have wound up being very successful in careers completely unrelated to their college majors.</p>
<p>In response to Dreburden, it’s very difficult to get a job as an engineer without an engineering degree; occasionally someone with a degree in physics or math will wind up in engineering. If you want to be an engineer, I’d recommend that you stick with industrial engineering (by the way, I have a client right now where the VP/Human Resources has a BS in Industrial Engineering).</p>
<p>As for other careers, there are many paths and many majors that can get you there, and most 50-year-olds wind up in a position that they could have in no way predicted when they were 18 or 22.</p>
<p>Princeton is atypical.</p>
<p>Yes, going to Princeton is atypical, but it’s not as if the best jobs are reserved for graduates of Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that all the “best” jobs are reserved for Ivy League grads. All I’m saying is that you can’t really draw a conclusion based on a small sample set taken from an Ivy League school – not only because of its perceived prestige, but also because those schools are among the least economically diverse schools in the nation. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but an econ degree from a state school probably won’t help you land that job as the President of an NFL team (haha).</p>
<p>I do agree that a person can be successful with any major, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter what you major in. I also know a bunch of people who are working in fields totally unrelated to their majors, and many of them say they would choose a different major if they could go back and redo everything.</p>
<p>but he said that he worked with people from state schools with degrees unrelated to their careers.</p>