Colleges removing useless majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an English major. Now I’m a lawyer and I write a lot. I don’t think my major was useless but I guess wtf do I know?

+1. Political science and philosophy double major. I am a practicing attorney. My undergrad degrees, more so than my law school experience, shaped me into the lawyer and human being I am today.

My DD wants to be an English major. She's also a singer. So Voice and English. You English majors are fantatically interesting people who can communicate well. Half the people I work with cannot communicate clearly..writing, speaking. And they are college graduates.

Also, my DD has friends going off to these fancy schools for engineering and computer science. When she works with them on group projects, they can't spell or write good sentences.

Hooray for English and other liberal arts majors!!

yes, but the CS folks are the ones who created the machine your DD and you are using to post your drivel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have this argument every few weeks, doesn’t everyone get tired of it?

I was a government major, my husband English. We have always had very solid middle class lives and our jobs are in demand.

My kids are also more skilled in the writing, communications, analysis, areas and are social science majors. Neither will have any trouble getting a job, and a well paying one at that.

I was just with an association CEO recently who was an English major, and now probably makes about $450k. I don’t know why people who are obsessed with Cs believe that the whole world needs to pursue a career in that field. There are a lot of jobs out there that actually make the world go around, even running tech companies, that do not require a tech degree.

I have helped a nonprofit hire STEM grads for their entry level job. Nothing is sadder than a bio or Chem grad that decides research isn’t the career for them. These kids are making $45k out of college. Not worth pursuing those degrees in my mind.

I was with you until you made a weird comment about STEM majors. What's sad about that? That entry level salary is similar to what humanities kids might make in their first job as well. I'm surprised that nobody argued with the idea that "it's not worth pursuing degree in chemistry and biology." Imagine a world without HS science teachers, medicine and healthcare workers (I know a STEM degree isn't required for pre-med and nursing is it's own separate major but you cannot deny the bio/chem pipeline to healthcare jobs), food and agricultural advances, public health, patent lawyers, biomedical researchers finding cures and developing treatments for life-threatening afflictions, ecologists working to protect and conserve the environment, etc. On a thread arguing for the inherent value and applications of liberal arts majors, I hope nobody is seriously denigrating the worth of STEM majors.

I mentioned it because people on this board are always saying psychology, politics, english, history etc are all useful but say STEM STEM STEM. Well I have met tons of STEM majors who are lost when they graduate because they don't want pre-med or research jobs. All i'm saying is that going with STEM is not a guarantee of career success anymore than any other major. Kudos to those who pursue those majors but I know they are hard and then to come out and get $45K out of college in an major adjacent role? yeah that's a bummer. My social sciences kids fields are likely going to start in the 60-80K range, maybe more, so yeah $45K is sad and gonna be hard to survive on, at least in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

I meant all NOT useful in reference to psychology, politics english etc typos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

+1 lol

https://haas.berkeley.edu/undergrad/

^PP is a sad thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

This. When GM or P&G were willing to hire a massive class of fresh graduates every year and then train them, the world was different. Those same companies are now expecting entry level applicants with job skills. Your fine with a liberal arts major if you plan of graduate school or if mom and dad can set you up with internships that can lead to a job. A random kid majoring in art history at UC Boulder without family connections who doesn't want to be a lawyer is going to have a much tougher time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

+1

Other PP makes no sense. At UVA, you can't even enter as a freshman at the Business School, you have to apply at second year - and you may not even get in at that point!

Angry PP has very outdated information - may want to brush up -a lot- before your kids apply to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an English major. Now I’m a lawyer and I write a lot. I don’t think my major was useless but I guess wtf do I know?

+1. Political science and philosophy double major. I am a practicing attorney. My undergrad degrees, more so than my law school experience, shaped me into the lawyer and human being I am today.

My DD wants to be an English major. She's also a singer. So Voice and English. You English majors are fantatically interesting people who can communicate well. Half the people I work with cannot communicate clearly..writing, speaking. And they are college graduates.

Also, my DD has friends going off to these fancy schools for engineering and computer science. When she works with them on group projects, they can't spell or write good sentences.

Hooray for English and other liberal arts majors!!

yes, but the CS folks are the ones who created the machine your DD and you are using to post your drivel.

You know CS and Engineering is going to be taken over by AI in the not too distant future, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an English major. Now I’m a lawyer and I write a lot. I don’t think my major was useless but I guess wtf do I know?

You don't need English major to go to a law school, and become a lawyer.
Law school is necessity to become a lawyer, English major is not.

English majors teach people to write and think in ways that other majors do not. How sad that this is being praised and accepted by ANYONE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

This. When GM or P&G were willing to hire a massive class of fresh graduates every year and then train them, the world was different. Those same companies are now expecting entry level applicants with job skills. Your fine with a liberal arts major if you plan of graduate school or if mom and dad can set you up with internships that can lead to a job. A random kid majoring in art history at UC Boulder without family connections who doesn't want to be a lawyer is going to have a much tougher time

How ironic. I was an art history major and am now a lawyer. You may want to sit this one out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the humanities. I have 4 degrees, and they were all completely free (1 degree is from overseas and 2 are Ivy League). I make a comfortable living in my field at a job I love that really gives me the chance to help students. I never took a STEM course after high school and don't care if my kids do either if that's not their bliss; conversely, if they want that pathway, I will do everything possible to support them.

There's nothing useless about what I do or about the students who want to study it. It's just not CS or STEM. But I have a hard time believing my field shouldn't have the right to exist. If people don't want to study it, they don't have to. But humanities are actually pretty cheap to maintain at the University level in terms of costs. The main reason to discontinue programs is so that salaried positions can be eliminated, not because the programs themselves are considered to be intellectually useless.

Getting rid of the humanities is kind of like saying anyone who doesn't have the height shouldn't play basketball after age 16 because it's just a waste of energy since they can't turn pro. But there are lots of good things that can come from pursuing a sport on the nonprofessional level. The humanities are the same way: they train your mind in certain habits and skills that STEM presentations just don't do. Maybe you don't feel you or your student want or need those things. That's OK with me, but there are still plenty of folks who do want and need them. And as long as that's the case, I'm lucky to be part of it.

How many faculty slots should a department struggling to attract majors be allotted when other departments have to turn away prospective majors due to overwhelming demand?

Sure. Harvard should ditch their divinity school faculty. Because who needs any of that useless religion stuff anyways, right?

SMH

After 9/11, colleges and universities were scrambling to get faculty who could teach students and advise politicians about Islam.
With this supreme court and the rise of Christian nationalism (January 6!), people would be foolish to avoid the academic study of Christianity.
But, sure, understanding religion is really unimportant.

As if actual Christianity has anything to do with Right Wing American Christian Nationalism/Evangelicals.

they have as much in common as Al Qaeda has with Islam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was an English major. Now I’m a lawyer and I write a lot. I don’t think my major was useless but I guess wtf do I know?

+1. Political science and philosophy double major. I am a practicing attorney. My undergrad degrees, more so than my law school experience, shaped me into the lawyer and human being I am today.

My DD wants to be an English major. She's also a singer. So Voice and English. You English majors are fantatically interesting people who can communicate well. Half the people I work with cannot communicate clearly..writing, speaking. And they are college graduates.

Also, my DD has friends going off to these fancy schools for engineering and computer science. When she works with them on group projects, they can't spell or write good sentences.

Hooray for English and other liberal arts majors!!

yes, but the CS folks are the ones who created the machine your DD and you are using to post your drivel.

It’s almost like the economy is interdependent or something. There would be little use for the machines without the content.

[Anonymous]

https://youtube.com/shorts/2Kj3AswgaNQ?feature=share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

Why would you say that???

There is a reason most top schools (even ones with a business school) don't offer or recommend a business major for undergrads.

That's like 50 years ago mindset

MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Berkeley, etc.
Business programs are usually more prestigious and harder to get in.

This. When GM or P&G were willing to hire a massive class of fresh graduates every year and then train them, the world was different. Those same companies are now expecting entry level applicants with job skills. Your fine with a liberal arts major if you plan of graduate school or if mom and dad can set you up with internships that can lead to a job. A random kid majoring in art history at UC Boulder without family connections who doesn't want to be a lawyer is going to have a much tougher time

How ironic. I was an art history major and am now a lawyer. You may want to sit this one out.

Ah, the I have a liberal arts degree and went law school response. Do you think that everyone should just go to law school? Do we really need that many lawyers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad business major is a sad thing.

You're more sad.

+1 I was an undergrad business major in a low rated state school, and I've been making six figures for 20 years. I know of a history major, a STEM major, a few English majors, all at better rated schools making half of what I make. It's not necessarily your major. It's what you do with your major and how hard you're willing to work.

Largely agree. Do think one needs a certain level of proficiency, though that can happen at a range of schools, not just the better rated ones.

The mistake some grads from better rated schools make is assuming that grads from lower ranked schools are simply not as bright as them when the reality is that many of those grads had the chops for T10, 20, 50 schools, but not the bank accounts for them.

One of DH's HS acquaintances was good looking, sporty, etc. He didn't really have a plan post HS graduation other than partying. Drifting around became less appealing when most of his friends left town. Aced some CC classes, headed to a 4-year college, and is now an MD. His path wasn't clear for a few years, but it did come into focus.

Kudos to the PP for showing how it can be done.