<p>"When I want a recommendation for a good book or a damn good cup of coffee it's the English and Philosophy majors who save the day."</p>
<p>-rofl</p>
<p>Oh so that's where those semi-witty wannabe postmodern quotes on the cups come from.</p>
<p>^ lol /*****/</p>
<p>Roast! (10 Char)</p>
<p>Though I am not Asian, I went to a school with a pretty large percentage of Asian students and I think that prestige and money is a major factor in why a large amount of Asian students pursue these careers. Being a doctor, engineer, or business person offers a nice salary and a sense of job security. I know there ARE people who have a genuine passion for these subjects, but overall it seems as if prestige plays a huge part.</p>
<p>While we are on the subject of prestige in the workforce, please understand that NO career is truly secure. Yes, some careers are far more secure than others but I've heard horror stories of engineers and business people who were laid off or had their jobs outsourced. Also, English and other liberal arts majors aren't necessarily a waste of time...if you have your goals laid out. I just think a lot of college kids fail to do some type of networking or internship and also fail to truly realize what they can do with their degree. That's why they are stuck at Starbucks. Like my major sounds like a complete BS major (it's a social science that hardly anybody majors in), but I've taken the time to research what careers I'll be able to get afterwards and surprisingly my degree can land me into some pretty useful, well paying careers.</p>
<p>Good post re-nuh. We're not criticizing well-planned, responsible people like you, we're criticizing others who feel that college is a place solely to pursue their hearts' passions and take whatever obscure liberal arts classes they want and still assume it will land them in a job because that is what happens in movies and criticize others for their forethought in finding a career.</p>
<p>you guys are still missing the point. Study Spence's signaling theory. A college degree from a hard, elite school w/a good GPA in any challenging major, including liberal art majors, is worth a lot more than a medioce engineering degree. Basically, your education should be a certification that you are, in fact, intelligent and hard working. Otherwise, just attend trade school. Most captains of industry, financiers, politicians, etc. studied things like english, economics, history, pure math, etc. Engineers, accountants and the like from lower tier schools generally never move into management positions, often because they lack the creativity, writing and communication skills. In the end, the labor of specialists is commoditized, and they are turned into wage slaves.</p>
<p>It is the rare genius who has great quantitaive skill as well as the creative vision to market that ability...</p>
<p>That said, I still want to have enough quant. ability to land a decent job w/o an Ivy pedigree.</p>
<p>I doubt the person who goes "I don't know my goal in life but I've watched enough movies to convince me that everyone should follow their own goals and let them go wherever the wind takes them" is going to become a CEO no matter what major they graduate with.</p>
<p>And I believe that most CEOs graduate with those majors because they are wealthy/powerful/come from powerful families/have connections in the first place, so they don't really need a practical degree to land themselves in those positions. The reason so many CEOs joined fraternities in college is because that is where they form bonds and meet other trust fund kids, who become the next wave of America's moneyed elite.</p>
<p>Lollybo,</p>
<p>I get the point that you are making but enough with the "only people who watch movies want to be liberal arts majors" routine, it really doesn't make any sense. Is Hollywood behind some conspiracy to corrupt America's youth into majoring in Philosophy or English? I don't think so.</p>
<p>I'm also pretty sure people were majoring in things like English, Physics or Philosophy before the invention of the motion picture.</p>
<p>Large numbers of Indians back in India go into philosophy, english, etc.</p>
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A college degree from a hard, elite school w/a good GPA in any challenging major, including liberal art majors, is worth a lot more than a medioce engineering degree. Basically, your education should be a certification that you are, in fact, intelligent and hard working. Otherwise, just attend trade school. Most captains of industry, financiers, politicians, etc. studied things like english, economics, history, pure math, etc. Engineers, accountants and the like from lower tier schools generally never move into management positions, often because they lack the creativity, writing and communication skills.
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<p>Maybe, or maybe not. I'm paying a lot of money to go to MIT not so some set of older men and women can tell me I'm hard working, and intelligent. I'm going to actually learn things that can be applied directly to help the world. </p>
<p>Your perspective only applies from the POV that normal engineers and such are not perfectly happy with their jobs, when indeed they are. Sure they will complain about pay. Sure they will complain about hours. But for the vast majority of them, they like engineering/doctor/whatever far more than they would like to just write a book. Sure I could say when I get older: "Oh I wish I did some non-technical major in college so I didn't spend my life working so hard." That's just old people groaning. It doesn't matter if they aren't happy when they are 60, because they were decently satisfied for the previous 40 years.</p>
<p>Think about it this way. Do you think deep down, the engineers or the non-technical managers of NASA really put men on the moon (engineers = all of those with technical degrees). And don't bring up JFK, we're specifically talking NASA. Look at Feynman's report on the challenger disaster. Putting people without a technical education in a spot where they can order around people who are technical against their will can cost billions of dollars, and worse, lives.</p>
<p>well engineering, business, and medicine have HIGH DEMAND and low supply every year. Go to career fair and all you'll see are jobs for engineering and business majors.</p>
<p>A lot of doctors that are baby boomers are starting to retire, so demand in that field should increase signifigantly in the years to come, I think this should apply to almost every field though, but I've was specifically told this by a few doctors.</p>
<p>^there isn't high demand for kids with business administration degrees. And there's an over supply of kids with BBA's. Economics majors command 20% more on average than BBAs, by the way. Applied math majors earn even more. They get jobs in finance over those with old fashioned business degrees, simply because they have better analytical ability.</p>
<p>Of course, the highest demand for any major, post Sarbanes Oxley, is accounting. Accounting is boring. Nuff said. Nobody goes to Harvard to be an accountant.</p>
<p>Never mind. I'm arguing with people who never took an economics course-the irony!</p>
<p>Anyhow, I agree that majors like "American Studies" and Sociology are garbage, because they require no intellect, and there are no jobs available to them. But please don't tell me that people with PhD's in econometrics, decison theory, physics, etc. are being out earned by idiots with BBA's.</p>
<p>My roommate during orientation was an Engineering major. The only reason he was doing it was because his parents were forcing him to do it (He's asian btw). He absolutely hated engineering. He expressed to me that he had a passion for History and English and we got into some lively conversations on these topics. I asked him why he didn't just switch his major to what he had a passion for. He said he was afraid of what his parents would say. The point of this is, you want to major in engineering? Fine by me. But you should actually WANT to do it. It is these types of parents who anger me. I wouldn't want to do something I hated for the rest of my life just to please MY parents.</p>
<p>I am a Linguistics major. Will I be able to find a good job after I graduate? I don't know. But at least I Know I'll be happier living in my cardboard box than my roommate in his giant mansion.</p>
<p>it bothers me too [as an indian]. Yes I am a minority, but I do not come from a poor family. My mother is a doctor and my dad is an engineer and they make plenty of money. Both my parents have tried to encourage me to study my passion and to not stick to the typical indian stereotype, yet I still want to become a doctor because surgery is damn fascinating to me. It annoys me when people always say that I want to be a doctor because I am indian. That is not the case and is simply a STEREOTYPE. Having been around indians and seen my parents fulfill their dreams, I have realized why indians normally become doctors, engineers, business people, or lawyers.. because we are minorities. Coming from india, to a new country where there is a lot of discrimination [yes, hard to believe eh?] is very overwhelming. The plain and simple truth is that since you spend so much sweat and effort into becoming a successful human being, that many people in those particular professions are highly respected. This is what draws many indians to these professions. I am not saying that other professions are bad.. i am just stating from the viewpoint of a typical indian. And not all indians are like this, many try to find what they are passionate about and chase their dreams.</p>
<p>BTW: its not just for the flipping money, if it was just for the money, why would we be spending an arm, leg, and a brain to pay for our college tuition, while spending years beyond years in college to become a doctor/engineer/lawyer. No one is stupid enough to do that. Oh and if we are regretting it later in life, why is there not a shortage in doctors if you claim that all asians/indians act so abnormal and go into these professions? I suggest you think before you post stupid comments, they can be offensive. Get the real story before yacking.</p>
<p>I really agree with you, and I can totally relate.</p>
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BTW: its not just for the flipping money, if it was just for the money, why would we be spending an arm, leg, and a brain to pay for our college tuition, while spending years beyond years in college to become a doctor/engineer/lawyer. No one is stupid enough to do that. Oh and if we are regretting it later in life, why is there not a shortage in doctors if you claim that all asians/indians act so abnormal and go into these professions? I suggest you think before you post stupid comments, they can be offensive. Get the real story before yacking.</p>
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<p>I am with you with the rest, but really, it is for the money...</p>
<p>In fairness, you can learn history on your own. Same with reading good literature. </p>
<p>More demanding fields, it's unlikely you'lll learn it on your own. However, I would say that economics, logic/philosophy, pure maths, etc. fall into this category.</p>
<p>I agree with OPs statement about engineering and pre-med, but not business. Business is NOT something you need to study in a classroom. Even finance is silly if your smart enough to study math. You can learn financial mathematics at grad school if you study undergrad math, and make 10X as much as a finance/business undergrad.</p>
<p>So, to lollybo, I hope you see that I do have a plan, am not from an affluent family, and agree with you on many points. I would just say not to be overly influenced by traditional wisdom-there are many new fields which are very lucrative that make use of more abstact knowledge, i.e. physics, economics, stats, even international relations...</p>
<p>This stereotype that engineers are all in it for the money has got to end. It is almost as if people on cc look down on engineers with the assumption it is for the money.</p>
<p>Or perhaps I am one of the few who likes math/physics/engineering.</p>
<p>I like math/physics/engineering too. Good thing premed requirements satisfy the first two.</p>
<p>^ I’m a pre-med engineer. All three !! :)</p>