<p>reading these boards kinda makes me depressed. People say that humanities majors are worthless because they dont have any practical applications. People say going to law school is worthless unless u go to one of the top 13, because ull just get a crappy low paying job with long hours.people say an economics or business degree didnt used to be worthless, but now after the bust they have become worthless. people say gov/int relations/poly sci degrees are worthless cause its too hard to get involved in those fields. Well then what degrees arnt worthless besides engineering degrees or going to med school?</p>
<p>I don’t think humanity majors are literally “useless”… They are just really underpaid.</p>
<p>Think of all the pre-professional majors. There you have it.</p>
<p>Major in something that you are passionate about. Don’t just do something because you think it is practical. The job market is slowly picking up and of course things are changing. However, if you only major in something because you think you will make money doing it, you won’t be very motivated and you likely won’t do well in your classes, resulting in missing oppurtunities later on. </p>
<p>It is up to you to market your skills and your major. If you don’t take initiative or are uninspired by whatever you choose to major in, then it will be worthless to you anyway.</p>
<p>People say some degrees are worthless because they don’t have a set career path like accounting or engineering. Everyone knows that accounting degree can lead to a respectable job like accounting, but there’s no job that’s actually called “Literature” or “History” and if you’re one of those people who insists that the name of your job title and the name of your degree match up exactly then you’re going to see majors like that as useless.</p>
<p>I disagree with the question. College Degrees are not worthless, as long as the student worked to accomplish the curriculum required to obtain the degree.</p>
<p>However in the workforce, a degree with an emphasis in a particular field may be valued
more than other degrees in a particular field.</p>
<p>For example, my dad once told me that when reviewing resumes (before he retired as an aerospace engineer with Raytheon), that he once reviewed the resume of an applicant who had a college degree in musical performance. The applicant did not have an engineering or science background, and yet he was applying for an assistant engineer position with Raytheon. As you can imagine, the applicant was not invited for an interview because his educational background was not a good fit for the position being offered.</p>
<p>So as you can see, college degrees are not worthless. They are instead useful to have when applying to work in a particular field. With the example that I used, musical performance is not relevant to a position that requires an engineering degree as it’s simply the wrong degree to have for that type of job.</p>
<p>Don’t listen to anyone to who tells you that X degree is worthless. Find out what it is that interests you and pursue that degree. If you end up having to choose between something that is “fun” and something that you feel would be a good fit for your career goals, then you may want to major in what is closest to your future career and then minor in the major that you find most interesting(but not as relevant for your future career).
.</p>
<p>As has been mentioned, the degree itself isn’t worthless (nor the knowledge gained); it’s application in the workforce is a different story entirely. There are some majors that are tailor made for self-employment or that will require one to bust their ass to make a living off it; others - like engineering or science based degrees are auto-pilot (for the most part) for a well-educated degree holder. </p>
<p>Long and short of it - study what you want to study; however, do your labor market research ahead of time. Do not get a degree in Art History, and then be stunned when the jobs you could do just aren’t out there. It’s up to you to make the compromise between what you want to do, and what the work force will allow you to do.</p>
<p>People who say those things tend to only focus on how much a career path is likely to pay rather than whether or not you have a passion for it. If one person majors in engineering for the $$$ but doesn’t find it particularly interesting and the other in literature who is in love with their studies, I’d put my money on the lit. When you have passion, you pave the way for bigger and better things. Granted, it may be tougher to find a particular type of career for one versus the other but because you love it, your eyes are open to more opportunities and doing more things which open many more doors. Although, a lot of people have merit in their words, you should take everything with a grain of salt and use their responses simply as guidance. That’s all it is, essentially. Also, I’m kind of in your shoes so I am doing my best to take my own advice. I’m totally lib arts (I suck hard at math and can’t stand it at all) so I see/read a lot of discouragement when I find myself on academically oriented sites like this. Sad but true.</p>