Are only kids of wealthy parents in elite professions majoring in arts/going to elite colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:STEM degrees from state school is a dream for middle class.

Is this mentality keeping the MC from reaching the UC though?

Is getting a STEM degree from a state school rather than a liberal arts degree keeping the MC from rising? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a top 10 consulting firm. Most of the C level had undergrad degrees in liberal arts. A large number of philosophy majors which I thought was surprising.

What exactly were they doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But are people like us short-changing our kids in not providing them with a liberal arts education at an elite school so they can join the rarefied alumni clubs and networking opportunities that lead to the truly big bucks?

I'm not sending my kids to liberal arts colleges so they can earn big bucks. I'm doing it because I think it's how they'll get the best education.

Isn’t it kind of virtual signaling to say that you are sending kids to college to get a “good education” rather than the more crass, but not entirely untrue, “to get a high paying job”? Some people don’t have the luxury of studying the classics to expand their minds.

NP. It’s not “virtue signaling.” It’s “I have enough ($$$$$$$$) money to do what most people would consider wasteful.”

NP There's nothing wasteful about a Liberal Arts education -- it promotes a breadth of knowledge as well as critical thinking. The problem is how it is viewed in society. There are many successful (in business terms) LA degree holders, but more people and organizations need to realize the value of the skill sets these students build.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a top 10 consulting firm. Most of the C level had undergrad degrees in liberal arts. A large number of philosophy majors which I thought was surprising.

Philosophy is a discipline that trains you to really think deeply about the world. Most philosophy majors I know are wicked intelligent.

Philosophy is the hardest major and it's almost close to impossible to find philosophy professors - math major here.
Art is a huge business now and good artists make millions. Even the very commercial ones make 6 figures. Etsy and Saatchi made marketing incredibly easy and people use art as an investment and/or for money laundry purposes. I collect art and had an opportunity to buy Adrian Ghenie a decade ago and I'm still kicking myself for not being on top of it.

I majored in philosophy at a rigorous liberal arts college and loved it.

I took a class with Nomy Arpaly in undergrad and had to switch to Pass/No-Pass; calculus in 8th grade was a breeze. My peasant brain refuses to go deeper than semiotics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a top 10 consulting firm. Most of the C level had undergrad degrees in liberal arts. A large number of philosophy majors which I thought was surprising.

Philosophy is a discipline that trains you to really think deeply about the world. Most philosophy majors I know are wicked intelligent.

Philosophy is the hardest major and it's almost close to impossible to find philosophy professors - math major here.
Art is a huge business now and good artists make millions. Even the very commercial ones make 6 figures. Etsy and Saatchi made marketing incredibly easy and people use art as an investment and/or for money laundry purposes. I collect art and had an opportunity to buy Adrian Ghenie a decade ago and I'm still kicking myself for not being on top of it.

I majored in philosophy at a rigorous liberal arts college and loved it.

I took a class with Nomy Arpaly in undergrad and had to switch to Pass/No-Pass; calculus in 8th grade was a breeze. My peasant brain refuses to go deeper than semiotics.

This^. Some are good at STEM, some at liberal arts or humanities. No one is better than others, just differently strengths and weaknesses.

[Anonymous]

We will have an oversupply of CS people, like we had librarians, pharmacists, and nurses in the past. The top ones, with keen business sense and strong interpersonal relationships, will make top $ and know which startup to join. The rest will end up at Accenture, writing code and building databases for some tired federal agency, and getting paid $150K/year.

[Anonymous]

By the way, math can be liberal arts BA or natural science BS. Either way, favorite major of employers needing analytical skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a top 10 consulting firm. Most of the C level had undergrad degrees in liberal arts. A large number of philosophy majors which I thought was surprising.

What exactly were they doing?

To be fair, nothing. It's consulting. - NP here with H who worked at Bain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will have an oversupply of CS people, like we had librarians, pharmacists, and nurses in the past. The top ones, with keen business sense and strong interpersonal relationships, will make top $ and know which startup to join. The rest will end up at Accenture, writing code and building databases for some tired federal agency, and getting paid $150K/year.

Or will end up designing websites and doing IT work at the local parochial school.

DCUM is really, really naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the way, math can be liberal arts BA or natural science BS. Either way, favorite major of employers needing analytical skills.

Go enter a state school into the BLS database and see who’s getting the highest starting salaries at that school. It’s certainly not the math or chemistry majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will have an oversupply of CS people, like we had librarians, pharmacists, and nurses in the past. The top ones, with keen business sense and strong interpersonal relationships, will make top $ and know which startup to join. The rest will end up at Accenture, writing code and building databases for some tired federal agency, and getting paid $150K/year.

Or will end up designing websites and doing IT work at the local parochial school.

DCUM is really, really naive.

+100, DCUM bought into the "must have stem major". The smart money, however, is on liberal arts education.

[Anonymous]

Smart money is on smart students picking majors of their own interest, no matter STEM or liberal arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way, math can be liberal arts BA or natural science BS. Either way, favorite major of employers needing analytical skills.

Go enter a state school into the BLS database and see who’s getting the highest starting salaries at that school. It’s certainly not the math or chemistry majors.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/10-college-majors-with-the-highest-starting-salaries

1. Applied Mathematics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We will have an oversupply of CS people, like we had librarians, pharmacists, and nurses in the past. The top ones, with keen business sense and strong interpersonal relationships, will make top $ and know which startup to join. The rest will end up at Accenture, writing code and building databases for some tired federal agency, and getting paid $150K/year.

Getting a $150k starting salary with only a bachelors is a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will have an oversupply of CS people, like we had librarians, pharmacists, and nurses in the past. The top ones, with keen business sense and strong interpersonal relationships, will make top $ and know which startup to join. The rest will end up at Accenture, writing code and building databases for some tired federal agency, and getting paid $150K/year.

Getting a $150k starting salary with only a bachelors is a huge deal.

Yup. Way better than having to do 8-10 years of med school, residency etc to get $150k in primary care or pediatrics.