How important is a "practical major"

[Anonymous]

Our child wants to major in psychology or anthropology. She is a humanities or social sciences kid.
Is a practical major important?

She doesn't have any interest in business, econ., engineering, hard sciences.

[Anonymous]

FWIW **I** didn't have a practical major at all 35 years ago, and am just fine. And think generally it's fine. But I do wonder if things are different now.

[Anonymous]

I majored in engineering and have lots of classmates who majored in "impractical" fields who are doing much much better than I am. In fact, several of the smartest tech grads in our class are close to the bottom of the college grad financial totem pole.

[Anonymous]

Those majors are fine. She just needs to spend time learning about different careers related to them and get practical work experience on campus and in summers.

A "practical" minor could be worthwhile (business, statistics, etc)

FWIW, my career is marketing research and a lot of my colleagues were psychology undergrads. Company president majored in anthropology.

[Anonymous]

Any major where she learns to write and think critically is helpful, whatever she chooses to do.

[Anonymous]

She needs a job she loves, great mental and physical health, and master personal finance.
I retired early, because I understood how important knowing how to manage money was.
I made over $40k a year only once in 29 years. I still have every penny I have ever made and then some. I retired 15 years before early retirement age.
Young people got to learn personal finance as teenagers, college students, and continue as they build their career. It's an insurance against hard times, losing a job, changing jobs or even going back to college.
I made $50k the day after elections as I slept. All this was possible, because I took knowing all there is to know about money seriously. I had to or the minimum wage job was going to take my health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She needs a job she loves, great mental and physical health, and master personal finance.
I retired early, because I understood how important knowing how to manage money was.
I made over $40k a year only once in 29 years. I still have every penny I have ever made and then some. I retired 15 years before early retirement age.
Young people got to learn personal finance as teenagers, college students, and continue as they build their career. It's an insurance against hard times, losing a job, changing jobs or even going back to college.
I made $50k the day after elections as I slept. All this was possible, because I took knowing all there is to know about money seriously. I had to or the minimum wage job was going to take my health.

Gee, is there a link to how I can also make 50K while I sleep that you might be able to show us we can invest in?

[Anonymous]

Learning for learnings sake is important, and if you can afford it, let them study what they want, because they'll figure it out and attend grad school at some point.

[Anonymous]

It depends, does she have family money to fall back on in case of unsteady employment in her early career years?

Kids who pick "practical" majors often times don't have this. They need steady income right away after college graduation.

[Anonymous]

Putting major aside, does your DD have any idea what career she wants after college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends, does she have family money to fall back on in case of unsteady employment in her early career years?

Kids who pick "practical" majors often times don't have this. They need steady income right away after college graduation.

That was me, majored in engineering because $0 from family and had to be able to pay off loans and living expenses right away. I don’t really know what to tell my kids though, times have changed and with AI being able to replace a lot of hard skills who know what is practical anymore

[Anonymous]

My dd is struggling with this as well and is also considering Anthropology, a foreign language and Zoology (which pays terribly). I think it used to be an easier choice 20, 30 years ago. Young people these days are worried about career prospects so much more. We are in the "rich enough to go to college debt free and offer some support" camp, but not rich enough to fund a whole life the way some people can. So she is aware of this and knows she needs to stand on her own two feet at some point.

[Anonymous]

The major is often different from the career you end up pursuing. What's important is to choose something that's in their wheelhouse, otherwise they're not going to last 4 years and it's your money down the drain.

That being said, you can advise them to tweak their choices to protect themselves. My son loves history and military strategy. He chose an International Affairs major, with a concentratino in security policy, and at my request, is doing a Bachelors of Science version that includes a ton of data science courses. Because the data science will come in useful for analysis positions in his field, or for switching to a different career.

[Anonymous]

From my perspective as the parent (aka, person paying the tab), it also depends where my kids are going to school.

I would not pay $90,000 a year to a small LAC or other private school for an unmarketable degree. If we're talking about in-state at a public school, I would be more lenient in choice of major.

As a small example, DD is at a pricey private college, majoring in economics. She would have preferred to get a BA in econ, because it's easier. We are making her take the harder math classes so that she ends up with a BS in econ, which is much more marketable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From my perspective as the parent (aka, person paying the tab), it also depends where my kids are going to school.

I would not pay $90,000 a year to a small LAC or other private school for an unmarketable degree. If we're talking about in-state at a public school, I would be more lenient in choice of major.

As a small example, DD is at a pricey private college, majoring in economics. She would have preferred to get a BA in econ, because it's easier. We are making her take the harder math classes so that she ends up with a BS in econ, which is much more marketable.

I think I might feel the opposite, because a very pricey LAC is going to give them a legup (presuming it's well ranked etc.) over a state school.