<p>I have been hearing this more and more lately and I don't quite understand the mindset behind it. When I entered college I choose a diploma/major/whatever that I wanted to work in for the rest of my life. What is the point in going to college and majoring in something if its not something I want to do for a good part of my life.</p>
<p>Why go to college...Why major in something if that is not what you want to do for a living?</p>
<p>Well, according to my graduate friend college is less about the major and more about showing you can commit and satisfy a certain level of academics. Secondary school doesn’t count because it is something we’re essentially forced to do while going through the motions of growing up. It’s kind of silly that most people have to pay their way into society like this nowadays. The only way you really guarantee going into something in particular is if your undergrad career is hevaily research based or you attend a vocational/tech school.</p>
<p>If you’re looking to have a career in a specific technical field, (engineering, nursing, accounting, music, etc), then majors do matter. If you’re planning on going to graduate school it’s less of an issue. Of course if you want to be a doctor, you need to show interest and proficiency in science and math. Law schools are more open to a range of experience and business schools are probably most open of all, (though they’ll probably look for a little bit of real life job experience before admitting you).</p>
<p>Many political and business leaders majored in “non-related” subjects as undergrads, got jobs and through experience or grad school got the educations appropriate to their careers. I used to have a list of the Fortune 100 CEOs and where they went to college and what they majored in, very, very few business undergrads and very few Ivy/Big Prestige undergrad schools.</p>
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This is a common source of confusion. Colleges offer 2 types of degrees under one roof. This leads to confusion because back in the day they used to be offered at different schools; you went to one type of institution for job training, another for the classic “college education”. Colleges have been around since the early Middle Ages. But if you were interested in a trade you served an apprenticeship. Even as late as the 1910’s in this country you could become a lawyer by apprenticing to one and spending a few years learning the ropes. Trade schools arose to teach skills, then under the guise of standardizing preparation gradually got rid of the competing method of apprenticeship (the fact that limiting entry raised wages was, of course, irrelevant; they were serving the “public interest”). These trade schools were initially inferior to regular colleges, but over time they demanded students take some courses similar to those in traditional colleges; and traditional colleges found it useful to grow by adding on a School of Mining (Berkeley used to have one), a School of Nursing, Engineering, etc.</p>
<p>So some degrees are vocational in nature – accounting, engineering, nursing, etc. People with these degrees are prepared for jobs in their field without grad school (although some switch and do something completely different). On the other hand there are liberal-arts degrees.</p>
<p>Without the distinction in mind one ends up with mixed metaphors. Asking “what do I do with a major in english” is applying a vocational-education measure to a liberal-arts pursuit, and is somewhat akin to asking “how many inches in a cup of water?” None of the liberal-arts majors lead directly to a career path (except perhaps as a professor in that subject) nor are they intended to. The reason to pick a liberal-arts major is because of a strong interest in the subject. It may also be applicable to some career fields; an undergrad degree in an area such as English can be helpful for jobs that tend to require a lot of writing. But that is not the main goal; if you want a degree that prepares you for a specific job right out of college, pick a vocational major.</p>
<p>Almost any career field is open to the liberal-arts grad outside of the ones that require specific training (engineering, nursing, etc), and even for these you could go to grad school or take post-college classes (eg. becoming an RN) if you really wanted.</p>
<p>Because nowadays, going to college is just another societal norm that the typical American teen is expected to do. For the majority of jobs, it doesn’t really matter what you major in - employers want to see a Bachelor’s degree but often they won’t care whether it’s in Econ or English Lit. Aside from a handful of majors - Nursing, Computer Science, Engineering, Accounting, etc - most majors don’t teach you specific skills, you learn those with on the job training. </p>
<p>As for why anyone would want to study something different from their job in life - let me give you a personal example. I want to be a physician, possibly a specialist. I love Bio and Econ and couldn’t decide what I wanted to major in. Once I figured out I want to be a doctor, I decided that since I’m dedicating the rest of my life to science and medicine, it makes sense to use my Undergrad years to explore an additional interest and be more well rounded. I’m still taking 11 pre-med requirements, but also 11 Econ classes. Plus if I ultimately decide Med school is not for me, an Econ degree can lead to additional jobs. </p>
<p>And basically everything Mike and Vince said were spot on imo.</p>
<p>Well I think that people often major in things they don’t necessarily like just for security. If you want to be an artist or writer those aren’t exactly the most financially sound careers so people will often get proffesional degrees just to have something to fall back on.</p>
<p>Molly, I agree with you 100%. And I am also planning on becoming a doctor, and I plan on majoring in Computer Info Systems. Why not major in something you truly enjoy when you’re going to spend the rest of your life with Science and Math?</p>
<p>^ Wow i’ve never met anyone who truly loved Computer Sci/Info, but that’s neat. So many pre-meds are Bio/Chem majors, I guess since they love science. I love science, I want to dedicate the rest of my life to science/medicine. But undergrad is a great opportunity to study an additional interest. I prefer Bio to Econ but i’m not majoring in it - I’ll be studying it forever anyway, doctors are always students :)</p>
<p>Since what you major in doesn’t matter for most professions, using Undergrad to explore any interest makes sense. Just cause someone studies East Asian Studies or Anthropology doesn’t mean they’ll be doing that forever.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Molly, I thought you wanted to be a lawyer? Maybe that’s another poster…</p>
<p>Exactly Molly! You’re a genius. haha.</p>
<p>For liberal arts type majors, perhaps it’s more about skills like critical thinking than it is about what information you’ve learned.</p>
<p>Liberal Arts is a conspiracy to rob the American middle class. Duh!</p>
<p>My major matters. Big time. If I don’t complete the major, then I don’t get to do what I want for a job. I’m majoring in nursing.</p>
<p>nvm .</p>