What major would you recommend if a child is open to suggestion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wrong attitude. Not everyone is going to be famous (make a name for himself). Most people are average and will spend their careers as worker bees. Plenty of people in my company have science / engineering degrees from no-name universities, and they have perfectly satisfying, well-paying jobs even though they never rose into top management.

I disagree. You don't need to be famous, but a lot of "worker bee" jobs are not high paying nor are they particularly intellectually satisfying or secure. Also getting a degree from a no-name university doesn't necessarily say much about how smart or talented they are, but often it has to do more with what opportunities were available to them at the time they were applying to college. When I was in a top graduate program in the sciences, there were plenty of people who got their degrees at various state schools for financial reasons who did very well. A lot of people who go into CS or engineering who are not really that good at what they do are the ones who freak out about their jobs getting outsourced.

When you have friends fired after 20 years of outstanding work and replaced with a kid from India, you may feel differently.

IBM layoffs

http://www.endicottalliance.org/jobcutsreports.php

IBM and H1B

Ibm Corporation has filed 16288 labor condition applications for H1B visa and 500 labor certifications for green card from fiscal year 2011 to 2013. Ibm was ranked 5 among all visa sponsors. Please note that 1274 LCA for H1B Visa and 87 LC for green card have been denied or withdrawn during the same period.

IBM and H1B Fraud

IBM reached a settlement with Department of Justice over allegations it discriminated against U.S. software and apps developers by favoring job applicants who held H-1B visas or foreign student visas, according to a statement by the Department of Justice on Friday. The Justice Department hit IBM for allegedly violating the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, when it posted online job openings for software and apps developers. In the job postings, IBM allegedly stated a preference for F-1 and H-1B visa holders. F-1 visas are issued to foreign students and H-1B visas to foreign nationals with technical experience in a specialized field. “Although IBM’s job postings were for positions that would ultimately require the successful candidate to relocate overseas, the anti-discrimination provision of the INA does not permit employers to express or imply a preference for temporary visa holders over U.S. workers, such as U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, for any employment opportunity in the United States,” the Justice Department stated.

I come from a family of engineers and many of our family friends are engineers.

The classes of happy engineers:

1. rockstars out in the valley who are at top places or got some equity at a smaller place

2. academics with tenure or PI's at top labs/research institutes.

3. engineers that went back to b-school and are now in management, finance (banks, hedge funds, trading shops), or strat consulting.

3. engineers with ts/sci poly either in .gov or contracting.

These are the classes of engineers that are resistant to h1b and/or outsourcing.

[Anonymous]

The way the game is played, computer science is a dead career, unless you plan to get a clearance and work for gov.

CS was a good choice in the 80s and 90s but now would be a mistake. Vested interests are organized to send these jobs to india and china.

More than 50 percent of the H-1Bs granted in the 2013 financial year went to offshore outsourcing firms like Cognizant, Infosys, Accenture, said Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Hira has been studying high skill immigration policy for more than a decade and has gathered data using FOI requests that points to H1-B workers being paid less on average than their American counterparts.

The figures show the median wage paid by offshoring firms to H1-B workers between the financial years 2010 and 2012 was between $54,000 and $69,000. In contrast wages for Computer Systems Analysts stood at around $82,000, he said. According to this data the offshore outsourcing firm Cognizant hired nearly 18,000 new H-1B workers between the financial years 2010 and 2012, a period when Hira said the firm took on very few new American workers.

[Anonymous]

I think a real in-depth aptitude test, rather than that one we took in high school that took 60 minutes, would be very useful. I am talking about the ones that take 6 hours over a couple of days and give you pages of feedback in different areas but no specific careers. But they do cost a good deal of money.

[Anonymous]

Engineering is a very tough major with lots of weed out courses. I wouldn't recommend it to someone without aptitude for and interest in it.

I got a degree in English and make beaucoup bucks in marketing. My writing and editing skills have proven invaluable.

My kids are majoring in criminology/criminal justice and computer science. My son getting a B.S. in comp sci is also getting a B.A. in classics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speech Language Pathologists make good money. Gotta be a good student though.

What do you major in for speech pathology? Also does it require a masters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speech Language Pathologists make good money. Gotta be a good student though.

What do you major in for speech pathology? Also does it require a masters?

Some undergrad schools have a speech pathology or communication disorders BS degree. A masters is required. You don't need to have a bachelor's first, you can take the required courses for entry into a masters program. There are ususally 8-12 required classes. Some of these may be available at the undergrad level even at school which don't offer a BS degree in the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Computer science
Nursing
Chinese
Arabic

My relative graduated in 2013 with a double major in a liberal arts field and Chinese from a well-known university with a great reputation. He spent a total of 18 months in China so he's quite fluent in Mandarin. He has been looking for a job in the government or in consulting, the fields he was told would be "very easy" to get a job in as a Chinese speaker - and he's only been able to get short-term work as an interpreter or a substitute teacher (think day jobs). He's very intelligent, presentable, well-spoken, can hold a conversation with anyone - so, no obvious social problems that might turn off an employer. Being able to speak Chinese really well hasn't been, in an of itself, an entree to a career so far. I'd recommend pairing the language major with another set of skills in order to make yourself more marketable.

Well yeah, since one of five people on the planet speak Chinese natively, that ALONE won't do much for you.

[Anonymous]

Since he/she doesn't know their interests, major in something that is both versatile and competitive in the job market. This usually means Math, which I guarantee will get you more job prospects than any other major, Computer Science for something very practical, Economics for something that can get you a job anywhere. Don't major in engineering if you don't know your interests. Major in something more theoretical, like Physics. You can still get the same jobs, but Physics is probably more competitive and usually has better professors. The good thing about all these majors -- they all involve math. Try taking a class in all of these subjects and see what they like best

[Anonymous]

statistics with a minor in something that required papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since he/she doesn't know their interests, major in something that is both versatile and competitive in the job market. This usually means Math, which I guarantee will get you more job prospects than any other major, Computer Science for something very practical, Economics for something that can get you a job anywhere. Don't major in engineering if you don't know your interests. Major in something more theoretical, like Physics. You can still get the same jobs, but Physics is probably more competitive and usually has better professors. The good thing about all these majors -- they all involve math. Try taking a class in all of these subjects and see what they like best

I would slightly expand on this to say major in something HARD. Not everyone is good at math or science but I'd rather see philosophy or any foreign language on a resume than trendy cultural studies and some of the social sciences. I hire young liberal arts types and it's so painfully obvious who made the most of college academically and who defaulted to particular majors I'm not going to name but that don't go much deeper into a subject than a New York Times article. And if nothing else, minor in economics. It's incredibly practical and rigorous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since he/she doesn't know their interests, major in something that is both versatile and competitive in the job market. This usually means Math, which I guarantee will get you more job prospects than any other major, Computer Science for something very practical, Economics for something that can get you a job anywhere. Don't major in engineering if you don't know your interests. Major in something more theoretical, like Physics. You can still get the same jobs, but Physics is probably more competitive and usually has better professors. The good thing about all these majors -- they all involve math. Try taking a class in all of these subjects and see what they like best

Pointing a kid who is described as "not stellar" towards Math or Physics degrees is foolish IMO. Those are HARD majors where you really need an aptitude and interest. Just being a good student won't cut it.

[Anonymous]

statistics or accounting. Math, Econ, engineering may all be too hard.

physical therapy is good. but it requires a doctor degree now.

[Anonymous]

Is a masters degree in "Information Science" sought after and marketable? This degree is offered by graduate schools of "Library and Information Science" and is not the same curriculum as a library science degree. Anyone know?

[Anonymous]

OP here -- thanks for all your ideas. It really has given me something to think about for the future. My kids are too young to know or to need to know what they want to major in. I just wanted to get a littlel more current in my understanding of what majors are out there and which ones are actually useful in getting a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speech Language Pathologists make good money. Gotta be a good student though.

What do you major in for speech pathology? Also does it require a masters?

Some undergrad schools have a speech pathology or communication disorders BS degree. A masters is required. You don't need to have a bachelor's first, you can take the required courses for entry into a masters program. There are ususally 8-12 required classes. Some of these may be available at the undergrad level even at school which don't offer a BS degree in the field.

I have looked into Speech Pathology. I was amazed at some of the qualifications applicants to good grad programs have. GPA of 3.7 and above undergrad. Not too many spots in my SLP grad schools and tough to get into many programs?