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<p>Perhaps your kid will end up in government or President; that’s just a risk all parents face. ;)</p>
<p>I have twins-- both totally different. My daughter who is at college is following her path-- researcher. One of my son wants to go into Political science and other is thinking of civil engineering. The Pol. Sci has a higher GPA…</p>
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<p>It’s easier to get a high GPA in pol sci and related humanities classes than in engineering and related math and physics classes.</p>
<p>Anthropology and sociology could be useful in a security, a marketing or a communications department…</p>
<p>When I went to college, the first wave of my parents’ friends were starting to divorce. Many of the wives had no skills and nothing to land on. My mother had a masters degree and had worked on and off through most of my childhood, because she wanted to, not because she had too. Both my parents had a strong sense, well before it was the norm, that women had to be self sufficient and able to support themselves.</p>
<p>My parents required that I major in something that led to employment. No English degree for me. I was lucky because I was easily able to double major and got one professional degree and one liberal arts degree. I have done a whole host of things, including graduate school, where both degrees were essential to the task at hand.</p>
<p>My college student is majoring in a professional field because it is his passion. I am lucky because we haven’t faced those discussions about what comes next. He knows his direction and his compass only points one way.</p>
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<p>The world is full of people with English degrees that led to employment.</p>
<p>Lastminutemom - I was taught the same thing. Whatever you do, you HAVE to be able to support yourself, and whatever children you decide to bring into this world, independent of anyone else.</p>
<p>That lesson served me well.</p>
<p>My parents were both educators. Elementary Ed. and Secondary Ed - English major. They told me they would send me to school to be anything I wanted to be EXCEPT a teacher. LOL. The truth was, they were not at a place in their lives where they could afford to send me to school at all. I got a 2 year technical degree which led to a very lucrative technical career.</p>
<p>Well said, Classof2015.</p>
<p>lastminutemom196–I agree with Consolation, English is a very good springboard to a lot of careers. A couple friends were English majors and are now MD’s. Some family friends were both English majors and now own a multi-million dollar publishing company after starting their careers as high school English teachers, etc. As people have said, it’s all in what you DO with your degree, not so much what your degree is in.</p>
<p>SteveMA</p>
<p>There is some truth in what you say, but if you need to work straight out of school, have a professional earned during your undergraduate years may make things easier. I graduated during a regional recessional and it was harder for those with liberal arts degrees to find any work in the area than those who had earned business degrees, etc. (In some states, you have to have a education degree or a teaching certificate to go along with that English degree to teach. In my state, you absolutely have to be certified to teach. It may not be right, but it is what it is.)</p>
<p>For parents who want their kids to easily be able to support themselves, after earning an undergraduate degree, it is something to think about. If you are truly ok with the living in the van concept, than that is great.</p>
<p>To the poster who has asked about political science degrees, your student needs to be working and doing internships in their field of interest. In many areas, work experience is as important as the degree you earn.</p>
<p>lastminutemom196–again, I disagree, even going into the workforce right out of college with an English degree, or most of the degrees talked about here, is not really any more difficult than most jobs. It’s what you do with your schooling that matters. I know PLENTY of kids that have engineering degrees that can’t find jobs or had jobs only to get laid off. Same goes for pretty much every field. The biggest mistake anyone can make is majoring in something just to get a job. Your lack of excitement for that field will come across in an interview and you won’t get the job.</p>
<p>More data released this week by US Census Bur.:</p>
<p>[Report</a> links earning power to college degree; engineers top list - News - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2012/10/11/report-links-earning-power-college-degree-engineers-top-list/JY9ft22NbkppcgoFOHhPYK/story.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1]Report”>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2012/10/11/report-links-earning-power-college-degree-engineers-top-list/JY9ft22NbkppcgoFOHhPYK/story.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1)</p>
<p>Direct link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-10.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-10.pdf</a></p>
<p>and</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-04.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-04.pdf</a></p>
<p>Not shocking findings…but I would point out that salaries for sciences (such as chem & bio) are not as bad as people on this board make them out to be. The below average areas are Education, Arts and Humanities (and the anlysis considers just the BA and grad degrees for different employment sectors).</p>
<p>While it is clear that we want our children to find careers that make them happy…that may not be the best advice for all. Students without safety nets (i.e., they are paying for college on their own, not likely to inherit $$, or get help with a downpayment for a house) really should consider the salary projections for prospective majors before they take out loans.</p>
<p>Looking at the sectors, careers that require management skills combined with science & technology skills pay the highest (thus the science and engineering student should acquire a strong liberal arts education too …to bolster communication skills, perspective taking and global understanding).</p>
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For pre-law I’ll switch my recommendation from English to PE. ;)</p>
<p>“The biggest mistake anyone can make is majoring in something just to get a job.”</p>
<p>Do you think the average college student knows what to major in? The days of “finding ones self” in college have been made much tougher due to the ridiculous cost of college. I don’t think it is unreasonable for a parent who is paying for their child’s college education to expect them to study something that will make them employable. No need for a college degree if you are going to work in retail.</p>
<p>Again, no guarantee that any major will make them employable. Making someone study something they don’t like just to maybe get a job. Better to be engaged with your major and that will open up doors. </p>
<p>I’m in about the least marketable major you can imagine and I’m only the fourth graduating class. No one has not had a job offer or decided on graduate school upon graduation from my major in our few short years of existence.</p>
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<p>However, when considering the whole range of age 25+ people with bachelor’s degrees, remember that some of the biology and chemistry majors have professional degrees (MD, DDS, etc.), and the job prospects for older people when they graduated decades ago may have been better than they are now (so they are now the incumbent workers – it is much harder for a new entrant to get a job than an incumbent worker to keep a job).</p>
<p>* No need for a college degree if you are going to work in retail.*</p>
<p>Most people change fields at least once in their lifetime. Without a degree, you wont go much above entry level unless you own the company.</p>
<p>I am a college student, and I do not understand the motivation of some posts here.
It is true that, for matters of employment, many things outside the student’s major become relevant.
I also believe that it may very well be the case that some of the posters know people who were successful regardless of their major.
However, this does not disqualify the hard reality reported on the statistics that were linked here. Why do people want to argue agains the fact that college major has a significant impact on earnings outcome, at least in the beginning of a person’s career?<br>
I think a more helpful post would say “If you want to follow your passion, go ahead if this suits your life plan. You you want to major in X? This is also fine. You can always put X to a good use. However, be warned that the odds you may find a good paying job with some majors is much smaller than those for other majors”.</p>
<p>Because the “facts” don’t tell the whole story. It does nothing for an INDIVIDUAL student. Just another way for some people to put down liberal arts majors.</p>
<p>I disagree. Statistics tell a lot of the story. More than personal anecdotes.
If you want a personal anecdote, here we go. A friend of mine goes to a top state school. She told me that according to data from the career center recently published in the students’ news paper, some technical majors such as Computer Science earn double upon graduation than some other majors such as Philosophy (which is a major that I like an respect very much, b.t.w.). Nevertheless, the “facts” are that for every “individual” Philosophy major student from that university that may do well in the job market, most of her colleagues will not do well.
So yes, if a student loves Philosophy, or other humanities majors for that matter, go for it… but be aware that the odds are indeed against you to find a job that pay as well as the jobs that Computer Science folks are getting.</p>