Why is “what’s the salary” the first question regarding careers?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Honestly, why is everyone so concerned with salaries? I can understand a certain quality of life is desirable, and I agree. But any college degree will provide an income that's livable.</p>

<p>If you’re like most people, the vast majority of your life (50+ years) will be spent working. Why spend it making a slightly larger paycheck doing something that you aren’t passionate about? </p>

<p>What do you plan on spending the money on? To buy a nicer car, a nicer house, a nicer watch? It’s all just stuff. Let's say you spend your money on vacations instead. If you’re spending the vast majority of your time at work, when will you use your stuff or go on vacation? The occasional weekend? A few weeks out of the year?</p>

<p>Even if money is your goal (and I pity you if it is), 99.9% of the time, you won’t get ridiculously rich working for someone else. Starting a successful company is the most likely way to make millions and it doesn’t require a degree of any sort. No college diploma will ever make you rich enough to retire decades early. </p>

<p>So I guess I’m wondering why students are so interested in finance, accounting, and (big) business, or any major that a student chooses for monetary reasons alone. If you truly enjoy the subject matter, all the power to you. But don’t confuse love of work with love of money. At the end of the day, the most valuable thing is your time. So don’t waste it chasing a paycheck.</p>

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<p>Do they really believe that on your planet or is it just an attack gambit meme to reduce competition?</p>

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<p>You seem to think lifes all about work, pretty sad.</p>

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<p>Because I want to be able to support my parents the way they supported me. They’re putting me through a great college, they should at least see some return on their investment and be comfortable knowing that I would be able to help them out later on if need be.</p>

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<p>Yes, I really believe that, though it seems most people on here don’t.</p>

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<p>Uh… no actually my point was the opposite. If you’re going to spend a third of your life time working, why not choose something you enjoy?</p>

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<p>That seems like an endless cycle to me. Of course supporting your parents is a noble idea. But don’t you think they’d want you to pursue a career you enjoy, and not just one that’s lucrative?</p>

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<p>Part of success in America is your income/social class (wherether or not you agree with this). The more you make the more “successful” you are, although this doesn’t have to be true. And like the poster above me said, to support your parents since they invested so much into you.</p>

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<p>also, “what you enjoy” and “what makes money” aren’t necessarily exclusive. if you enjoy engineering or computers you can enjoy what you do AND make money.
as for why i’d like to money, when i have a family when i grow up, i’d like to be able to support them and give them a good life. i cant pay my future child’s college tuition if i dont have any money.</p>

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<p>Money is important, it dictates your lifestyle. Its not like you are guaranteed to hate your job if you make a large salary.</p>

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<p>^ Yeah, why must you hate your job if you’re making a large salary? In fact, my parents (up until recently when housing market slowed down) and most of the people we know getting large paychecks seem to be happier since they aren’t always worrying about bills and things like that. And we actually took more vacations then; we haven’t gone on any this entire summer. </p>

<p>I mean, work hard and getting a large paycheck or work hard and get a small one. You have to see where that appeals to people.</p>

<p>However, working hard at something you love will always = happiness. It just so happens that for some, this will also mean making more money.</p>

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<p>Yes I understand that making money and being happy aren’t mutually exclusive. I addressed that in the first post.</p>

<p>I was referring to the people who go into a lucrative field for the sole purpose of making money. I honestly doubt every finance or business major truly loves their subject (but I’m sure some do); they are in it for the dough.</p>

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<p>“But any college degree will provide an income that’s livable.”</p>

<p>So you’re saying having a college education guarantees a good career? That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever read. It’s not that simple. That would be to easy. There are tons of people who graduate and can’t find a job on their field. They end up doing jobs they are over qualify for just to pay back their financial aid debt.</p>

<p>I know this one person who majored and have a degree in computer science. And guess where he works now??..IHOP!!</p>

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<p>Hell if I had the choice to have a job that I “hated” but payed a cool 500K a year, I’d simply work for 20 years and then retire at 45 to live out the rest of life in absolute happiness. :)</p>

<p>Money cant buy happiness, but it sure does help avoid all the problems many people have that makes them unhappy. Im very fortunate that once I graduate Ill have the chance to work in a field that I love which pays very well.</p>

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For many of those lucrative careers people are weeded out very quickly. In banking and consulting your first job lasts two years, if not less time if you are a horrible fit. I’d say the people who stick with it for a significant amount of time actually enjoy it, or the huge sums of money make up for the lack of job satisfaction. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you things to make you less sad.</p>

<p>You have to find a balance between job satisfaction and salary. If on a 1-10 scale a job that rated a 10 paid at a 2 and a job that rated at a 8 paid at a 7, I’d take the second job without thinking twice. You don’t work 24/7. If you really love something you’ll make time for it. In fact, the whole overjustification effect says that if you get paid to do something you love, you won’t love it as much (yay psyc 1!).</p>

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<p>If you have a college degree, you’re in a far better position than most people in the world.</p>

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<p>I hate it every time I hear someone say something like “yeah, I’m going into nursing school because I’ll have a job”. The same happens with teaching. Whatever happened to doing what you like? I’m not going to pay for college tuition if I’m not doing something I enjoy. The only way I know I won’t have a job in my prospective career is if I don’t go out there and do my best to get one.</p>

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<p>As a person who would love to have a career thinking about academic things, I can still see why one may choose career based on salary. Not everyone finds satisfaction primarily in the career. Some would rather work like dogs over a few years, make a lot of money, then switch to a low key job and have a great family life, go to parties, and enjoy life otherwise. Some don’t care so much what they’re doing for their careers.</p>

<p>People like me have to look very much outside of our own preferences to understand these others, because I myself couldn’t imagine doing something that didn’t stimulate me intellectually for a career, even if it was a lucrative thing…</p>

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<p>For someone who is poor and especially if they have no parents, I think it makes sense to pursue a degree or career based on how much it makes. Not having to worry about money if that’s what you’ve always done must be extremely liberating. And if you are middle class or upper class, why would you want to take a step down from your lifestyle? I’ve always viewed math and science as my tormentors and the desire to not have to worry about income and extremely appealing to me. However, I can’t deny that majoring in something I don’t excel at and have no interest in would be extremely stupid. Engineers make awesome money if they’re good at it, but from what I’ve read if you’re not good at it you will face tons of competition and not make as much money so it’s not even worth it at that point.</p>

<p>People who love engineering/math/science/business are at an advantage where they can do something they love and make money, but not everyone is so fortunate. Some people can do what they love and make a lot of money because what they love is more valued and rarer than something someone else loves. It annoys me to no end that people can pursue something they love and make a lot of money while I have to worry that I’m making a huge mistake. Pharmacists used to be in short supply and had it a lot better, but now that there’s so many it’s not as valuable and they work twelve hour days in understaffed retail pharmacies, working at other pharmacies on their days off the earn more money. Hopefully, with all the articles broadcasting the high salaries engineers make, more people will pursue it, lowering the salary. ;)</p>

<p>There really is no need for people to rationalize their decisions by putting others down. I know, it’s tough because if you bring up majors or careers it often turns into a debate where the people not interested in making money epically fail at forming an argument. </p>

<p>Money actually doesn’t buy happiness. According to a sociology course I took, surveys show people with more money typically aren’t any happier than those without money. Having money comes with its own problems. My boyfriend used to make 50k a year in Florida. He was able to buy tons of crap he didn’t need, own a car, and pay his own rent, his sister’s rent, and his mother’s rent. He told me that it didn’t matter how much money he made, he hated his job and it made him miserable. He moved out to California, works as a contractor for the same employer and makes probably about 20k a year, and he’s actually happier than he was. There are other factors to happiness than a paycheck, but it varies person to person.</p>

<p>I will admit, I am giving up the idea of being an illustrator for being an animator because they on average make 20k more a year and an animator has all the skills an illustrator does anyway. I also refuse to have children and have no parents, so I’m free from making decisions based on those two factors. I’m pursuing art, but I’m trying to be smart about it so I can find employment and cut top ramen out of my diet. ;)</p>

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Did psych 1 also mention intrinsic motivation motivates people better than extrinsic motivation? As in, if you’re doing something you’re actually interested in you’ll do better than if you pursue something for a reward such as monetary gain? Yay high school psychology!</p>

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<p>It’s not about being rich, it’s about having enough money to support yourself. To be finacially secure. Do you have any idea of what things cost? Try adding up mortage/rent rates in your area, cost of electricity, water, heat, food, gas, a reasonable car payment, car insurance, medical insurance…it adds up. </p>

<p>No, money itself won’t buy you happiness, but if you can’t pay your bills, can’t eat, can’t buy clothes…how happy do you think you will be?</p>

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It did, but that didn’t help the point I was making.</p>

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<p>You act like working at a “lucrative” career is the only way to pay bills. Newsflash: the majority of college grads are liberal arts majors. </p>

<p>It’s entirely possible to live comfortably on 40-70k, which is roughly what most people end up starting and finishing at.</p>