<p>The point of going to college shouldn’t be about earning huge amounts of money in the end. I’m going because it’s a great horizon-broadening experience. I also enjoy learning. No major is useless.</p>
<p>Anyway, a lot of people don’t work in fields that apply to their degrees. Just having earned a Bachelor’s shows prospective employees that you have drive and knowledge.</p>
<p>now that’s a statistical report for lawyers, not people with political science degrees, oh AND starting salary and moving on to six digits is relatively earlier than that of a mechanical or chemical engineer…not to mention tort and business lawyers make double that amount working for any huge corporate enterprise. Did I also mention some of the richest people in america did NOT go to college?</p>
<p>And now I’m really laughing because to go into any type of law, you need to go to law school, and the fastest way there sir, is in fact, an english, or poli sci degree. Why waste your time working your ass off as an engineer when you will go to law school and chose your specified field anyways?</p>
<p>Lastly, the percentage of engineers who do go to law school is but a fraction compared to people with social science degrees. They usually just stick to engineering. It’s called grad school for a reason b/c people with social science degrees usually plan on advancing further and make more. You get what you work for and engineers just don’t stay in school as long as lawyers have.</p>
<p>just don’t bash other majors or careers is all I’m saying everyone has their own preferred and natural skill in different areas.</p>
<p>Employers realize that any math beyond the sciences is unnecessary and solving problems on paper for 4 years doesn’t show any versatility. The fact that it needs a coupling major is pathetic. Math = more useless than a used tampon.</p>
<p>Some of these majors are just personal enrichment courses for families or older folk. Area, Ethnic, Cultural, & Gender Studies. Some Family & Consumer Sciences.</p>
<p>Like I said, I’m a little older than most people here. The first time I went to college it was for psychology, then nursing, then sociology, then public policy, then math, then engineering. I kinda ran the gamut–I’ve definitely dabbled in a a lot of fields. And MY lesson in all that was to look for something that I can find immediate employment in. As someone with a family my PRIMARY concern is finding employment after undergrad. I AM planning on going to grad school BUT I have seen many students go straight to grad school from undergrad and when they finally do try to enter the work field they are overqualified (educationally), yet unqualified in terms of work experience and they have a hard time finding a job. Read the classifieds–most employers want someone with SOME experience and an entry level position is NOT going to pay what someone with a Master’s degree is worth. </p>
<p>But that’s beside the point.</p>
<p>My point was:
To specifically to counter the contention that engineers have very little analytical ability.
To point out that a person cannot do “a lot more” with an political science degree over an engineering degree; in fact it may be the exact opposite.</p>
<p>I did readily admit that the contention that we don’t have very effective communication skills was valid.</p>
<p>The post that I was trying to counter ended with:
“No degree is useless, it is the person that holds the degree that is useless if they can’t do anything with it.”</p>
<p>That is true, but it is NOT applicable to a person with an engineering degree.</p>
<p>It’s pretty intuitive what’s useful as an undergrad degree. Obviously the harder math and sciences are going to be more beneficial job wise. Take into account though that some majors are very obviously just preparation for grad school.</p>
<p>Biology, Chemistry, Etc… —> Medical School
Poli Sci —> Law School</p>
<p>Ask yourself if you’re planning to go to grad school. If so there’s nothing wrong with a poli sci degree. If you don’t intend on going to grad school, look at the the top list.</p>
<p>Majoring in something because you like it is fine and dandy, but also remember that you are INVESTING 4 years of effort and THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS into this degree. There’s no reason you can’t major in something that you like and is also a good career investment. I have friends who absolutely love engineering, they like what they do, and they’re gonna make good money doing it. Myself, I absolutely love economics. I enjoy learning it and it so happens to be seen favorably as a “useful” degree, so hell yeah that’s win-win right there.</p>
<p>the way to look at this is to put majors into two categories, practical and impractical. When looking at a practical major, this would lead to immediate career prospects. Impractical one would require more schooling to get a glance when submitting your resume. Typically, an engineering, mathematics, accounting or business, or economics major are in demand as they require no additionally schooling considering you have the degree and a decent gpa. Even with a gpa above 3.0 in engineering, you can expect good prospects. Engineering is a unique degree in that once you work with that degree for a couple of years you can still go into an mba program and expect a higher earning rate. This goes for mathematics, accounting, business, and economics.</p>
<p>Other majors outside this realm are usually impractical. With life science majors if medical school is out of the option, then it is out of the option. There is no turning back and getting a second bachelors in engineering at a UC considering the budget crisis currently. One with a solid gpa in a life science who complete necessary courses for medical school admissions can expect to get into at least one med school, if the applicant did not apply to all prestigious and rigorous programs and applied to many safeties. </p>
<p>Other majors are useless in the sense that you can’t demand a high salary from any employer once you are in the market. It is true that there are many subjects that are interesting to learn, but this doesn’t mean that you can sell interesting information, unless you are a professor who expounds knowledge to students, and with that you need a phd with more years in school. Because of this other majors are highly useless unless one plans to go to grad school or is extremely creative to market themselves to companies and even with this it is still difficult when you have your resume out for one or more years after you have your degree. </p>
<p>President Obama stated that he believed that this country would be better off with more engineers and less lawyers. This statement offers a lot of truth, because with engineering you are essentially creating something with the assistance of other engineers usually. Working collaboratively you are designing products to meet an end that is valued and used by others. The medical profession is the same as you are treating people in your typical day to day jobs. With the other majors, the only time you are expanding on your education is through getting your phd and teaching, its true that there is nothing else much but this. Look through statistics or prevailing threads in this and other forums, this is generally true. I’m not saying one shouldn’t major in an impractical major, but if monetary means are the end goal, and your ideal world is to accumulate as much monetary value and to contribute back, the practical majors such as engineering and the medical profession are the ones to go</p>
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