The 5 Most-Regretted College Majors

The story

American Literature.

Mark Twain, especially.

Pixie stuff.

So the complaint is they couldn't do anything without going to grad school? What do English majors think they are going to do besides get a Masters and teach? What does a pre-law major do when he tanks the LSAT and can't get into law school?

^^^ Dunno re: English majors, but THIS English major parlayed the BA into an MS in journalism, and went on to have an award-winning, 40-year career as a reporter. So there's that.

So you went to grad school to get a career, r4? I'm r3, also and English major, and I went to law school. My argument was, what does ab English major, or a pre-law (what even is that) plan to do without grad school?

I'm thinking #6 would be Theater major.

All the foreign language majors think they will tranlators at the UN. Nyet.

Well, I never thought literature of any kind - English or otherwise - was a good degree.

I'm surprised at the others - but basically they all mean they need to get graduate degrees. That's more of the norm now - which is rather scary.

How did other people in generations before manage to get the same degrees and do well? Different economy and fewer people with degrees, I suppose.

I think they should make business classes part of your degree requirements now - that's the only thing that makes sense.

Now that I think about it, an art history major can call themselves a "political analyst" and have a good career (but no lasagna!).

Who the heck does "pre-law" not knowing they must go to grad school (and pass bar exam) to even have a shot?

That being said unlike medicine there isn't a set standard undergraduate degree for law. You have to have certain classes I suppose, but any undergraduate major will do. In fact pre-med majors have been known to apply and be accepted into law school.

Others are just silly. Education major is a waste unless you're going to teach, and even then nearly every state requires a masters for primary or secondary education. At least in public schools, you might find something in private or charter schools.

While all those majors require advanced degrees to get anywhere in a related field, most of those majors have the benefit of being somewhat flexible. If you have a degree in social sciences or the humanities, you can continue on in those fields or go to law school or even business school. If you have a degree in bio sciences, you can continue on in those fields or go to nursing or medical school. Many in-demand degrees don't seem as translatable to other fields, especially since hardcore STEM majors have a reputation (often deserved) for being poor communicators with low emotional intelligence.

I have a PhD in Biochemistry and I have to point out how wrong the OP post is. It used to be a big advantage to have a higher degree for work in BioPharma, but now all the jobs out there are for bachelors or masters degrees because companies would rather have twentysomethings they can pay lower salaries and work long hours. This wasn't the case in the 1990s, but it definitely is the case now.

I double majored in Rhetoric and Queer Studies with an emphasis on Cis Studies and I don’t regret it one bit.

Funny that an English major would write "what even is that."

R4 try getting a decent paying journalism job these days! Those went bye bye when magazine publishing went belly up.

Education and Communication do not attract intellectual heavyweights. I think it is odd to lump English with foreign languages. The majors listed are ridiculously broad. What’s not included? Math and computer science? What else?

Womyn's Studies gave my life meaning and purpose.

I thought the reason for a foreign language major was to go into the diplomatic core, which requires a masters degree. Again, the complaint seems to be that all of these majors are gateways to higher degrees and not a final step.

One guy I know has a BA in Political Science and a Masters in Public Policy. He works in delivery fulfillment for a local supermarket's online orders.

In the last company I worked for, most of those employed in tech writing were lawyers, biologists, chemists, and zoologists, and who either got degrees/advanced degrees and decided they didn't want to work in the profession they spent so much money to learn, or they couldn't find a job in their profession.

Education has a value beyond just preparing you for a specific career (which may or may not exist by the time you get out of school--just ask all those people who trained for a "hot" field at the wrong time.) A good college education gives you a well-rounded knowledge base, critical thinking and problem solving skills, the ability to do research and engage in constructive dialogue with others. It's especially good for intellligent young people at a time when their brains can absorb all kinds of information in a way they couldn't as children and wouldn't be able to as older adults. Ideally undergraduates should have enough leeway in their introductory courses to find out what they're really interested in and good at and be able to concentrate on that even if there isn't a corporation waiting eagerly with a signing bonus at graduation.

[quote]the diplomatic core

Oh, dear.

Let me guess--you went to Trump University.

I was a Spanish major and while I never used much of what I learned in my career, it was an easy (for me) way to get a degree. And the degree let me compete for entry-level government jobs. I had to take more courses in my chosen field (NOT foreign language!) as I progressed through the ranks and I ended up with a good career making six figures and with a six-figure pension. So I guess I don't really have any regrets.

I attended Hudson University and had a very successful career in law enforcement.

Completely unsurprising. I wonder how many "race studies" students end up regretting their degrees?

Social services/social work is a honorable major but you need a masters to do anything with it and the pay is low for the crap you have to do and put up with.

Engineering "How does it work?"

Accounting "How much does it cost?"

Liberal arts "Would you like fries with that?"

I was a foreign language major and had a double-major in history. I graduated in the early 1990s. I planned to go to grad school, and eventually did, but I wound up working for a corporation for several years first. It did take me longer than business majors to get a job after undergrad, especially because I graduated during a recession. But I'm glad I enjoyed my undergrad experience and took classes I liked. That paid off when applying for grad school because I had good grades. Even if I hadn't gone to grad school, in my department at the corporation, I was being groomed to move up when I quit to go to grad school. Overall, no regrets.

Bachelor's in Sociology and Political Science, then JD. I used to be a trial lawyer and the sociology background was more helpful than the law degree.

Literature is a great major. How would you even know that most people live culturally impoverished lives without it?

Even people I know who have PhDs in Art History and English have a hard time finding jobs. You have to move to Oklahoma or Mississippi or some other undesirable place to get a low paid teaching job at a shitty state school. The Art History major is for people with family money.

R30

Tying that comment into another thread on DL; every single person one knows who has a art degree works for Sotheby's or some other auction house. A few are at the MET or Whitney.

They also live on UES, Greenwich Village, West Village or maybe UWS in great apartments because all come from family money.

IIRC one of Prince Andrew's daughters did a stint at some NYC auction house or museum. There is also a growing level of noise about how auction houses, museums, and other major cultural institutions in NYC aren't "diverse", at least when it comes to blacks or Latino-Hispanics; gays OTOH are well represented.

Thing is most of those jobs do not pay well at all; at least not enough to live decently in a high cost city like New York. So unless you're married to money, or come from it, they aren't the sort of positions many can handle.

I was attracted to the subject matter and flexibility of an English degree with a journalism minor. My career has covered editorial, PR, marketing and branding for a variety of industries. I wouldn't have done it differently.