Some college degrees in Virginia never pay off. Others provide an immediate return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the none-boring, innovative, exciting, revolutionary futuristic interesting stuff are coming out of Tech. 
Most of these risk taking passionate self-made billionaires are from tech - Bill Gates, Jurkeberg, Jeff Bazos, Elon Musk, etc. etc.
Compare it to history english philosophy psychology LOL

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the none-boring, innovative, exciting, revolutionary futuristic interesting stuff are coming out of Tech. 
Most of these risk taking passionate self-made billionaires are from tech - Bill Gates, Jurkeberg, Jeff Bazos, Elon Musk, etc. etc.
Compare it to history english philosophy psychology LOL

+1

Except it's not true. A lot of what the tech companies are informed by are studies in linguistics, in psychology etc. that inform how we communicate, how people think and act. Tech is just monetizing and operationalizing what is studied elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Some of the people who attend T14 law schools go into public service, government, and academia. To get the top public interest fellowships and jobs, you pretty much have to come out of a T14 these days. Sure, most go into corporate big law. But not everyone.

[Anonymous]

Yes, English Philosophy Psychology History Art etc. are all needed,
but much much less.

So if you have those in mind better be able to get in to apretty selective school to be considered seriously.
Huge luck if you do those in a mediocre school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a load of bullshit.

"Cool story, however the reality is that student debt is becoming a national crisis and these people are demanding debt cancellation and forgive at the expense of tax payers.
I bet all these people were thinking like you in the beginning."

My kid was admitted to VCU Arts. It would cost less than half of what we saved in their 529 account. They're going to a SLAC instead where they major in philosophy and pursue their art interest on the side. They'll still have money left over in the 529 when they finish that degree thanks to merit awards. I have zero concern that they'll figure out how to make a comfortable living doing something they enjoy. Pushing your kid to do something that pays $X upon graduation is for small minded people. As someone else said, why limit them if you can afford to let them expand their world?

I attended a HSYP and a T14 law school. Tons of my classmates majored in art, philosophy, Afro-American Studies, Latino Studies, and so on. We're all doing just fine financially. But more importantly, we do work that makes us happy to wake up in the morning.

Very few T14 lawyers like their work. Very few

+1 I was gonna say...obviously there are some more interesting paths in the legal field but the typical big law path that so many take? Ugh, absolutely soul crushing...

My wife and I are both third generation lawyers, and probably the last generation in our respective families. I'm not actively discouraging my kids from going into law, but close to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, English Philosophy Psychology History Art etc. are all needed,
but much much less.

So if you have those in mind better be able to get in to apretty selective school to be considered seriously.
Huge luck if you do those in a mediocre school.

I'm not sure why people keep bringing up Philosophy, History, English and Art majors in this discussion. They make up a pretty small percentage of bachelors' degrees conferred every year in the US. They don't even break into the top 10. Is there really a glut of unemplyed people with these majors?

The #1 major in the US is Business and Management, by a significant margin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://richmond.com/news/local/education/some-college-degrees-in-virginia-never-pay-off-others-provide-an-immediate-return/article_2c73cc6f-c508-51c0-8fb4-7960bd1402dc.htm

Not a news, but specifically for VA schools.

Of course CS is King.
Good luck to humanties folks such as philosophy, English, Psychology, etc. as well as dance, fine art, drama, etc.

Hasn't this always been the case? I mean, CS would have been Engineering in general, say 20 years ago.. I can't recall a time when "philosophy, English, Psychology, etc. as well as dance, fine art, drama, etc." were considered hot..

Good ole boy boomers in the 60s and 70s who graduated into economy where a degree, any degree, guaranteed you management track, a big house in the suburbs, two new Buicks every year, a stay at home wife, and a country club membership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, English Philosophy Psychology History Art etc. are all needed,
but much much less.

So if you have those in mind better be able to get in to apretty selective school to be considered seriously.
Huge luck if you do those in a mediocre school.

I'm not sure why people keep bringing up Philosophy, History, English and Art majors in this discussion. They make up a pretty small percentage of bachelors' degrees conferred every year in the US. They don't even break into the top 10. Is there really a glut of unemplyed people with these majors?

The #1 major in the US is Business and Management, by a significant margin.

Psychology ranks pretty high and not too far behind Business.

[Anonymous]

I still don't think major matters all that much if you make sure your kid does two things:

- keep GPA in the 3.8-4.0 range.
- be aggressive about internships.

A psychology major with a 3.95 GPA and a deep resume of summer internships is going to have zero trouble fielding great job offers before graduating. Or, will have the option to pursue law school or some other such prestige grad school track.

But a weak degree + sh*tty GPA + iffy resume = good freakin' luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still don't think major matters all that much if you make sure your kid does two things:

- keep GPA in the 3.8-4.0 range.
- be aggressive about internships.

A psychology major with a 3.95 GPA and a deep resume of summer internships is going to have zero trouble fielding great job offers before graduating. Or, will have the option to pursue law school or some other such prestige grad school track.

But a weak degree + sh*tty GPA + iffy resume = good freakin' luck

You missed the most important part.
- Get in to a highly selective school for those majors.

Also it would be very hard to have deep resume of summer interships attending mediocre schools in the first place

The article has an example of Philosophy at VCU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was a professor in a STEM field and I remember once when I taught a kind of Gen Ed class in the field, one of the students was a history major. This student's writing ability blew me away compared to most of the typical kids in the STEM classes. I do think there is a place for the skills that are developed by the humanities majors.

This makes me giggle because my husband (who barely graduated HS, joined the military, then did an EE degree PT as a working adult) had me help him with some of his papers while he was at Mason. Many of them were group projects. Those kids were TERRIBLE writers.(Many of them were TJ alums, too-Just throwing it out there) My husband freely admits that writing was never his strong point, whereas my liberal arts degree involved LOTS of writing. I was the annoying person who wrote all my papers the night before and still got decent grades.

Of course, my husband makes 3X what I do because he has a STEM degree. Writing isn't necessarily needed for that degree.

[Anonymous]

I just skimmed the thread, which seems to be mainly an argument about the value of various majors. For me, the real news here is how much more valuable a degree from JMU and GMU seems to be than William & Mary. I am the only one who finds that interesting? As a grad of JMU with an art history major and working in a job that I set out to do with such a dumb major and a graduate degree from a top 20 university, I do have to remind my children who are gunning for top schools that JMU is absoluletly what you make of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was a professor in a STEM field and I remember once when I taught a kind of Gen Ed class in the field, one of the students was a history major. This student's writing ability blew me away compared to most of the typical kids in the STEM classes. I do think there is a place for the skills that are developed by the humanities majors.

This makes me giggle because my husband (who barely graduated HS, joined the military, then did an EE degree PT as a working adult) had me help him with some of his papers while he was at Mason. Many of them were group projects. Those kids were TERRIBLE writers.(Many of them were TJ alums, too-Just throwing it out there) My husband freely admits that writing was never his strong point, whereas my liberal arts degree involved LOTS of writing. I was the annoying person who wrote all my papers the night before and still got decent grades.

Of course, my husband makes 3X what I do because he has a STEM degree. Writing isn't necessarily needed for that degree.

So again it's another proof that good writing skill is much less of a value to the market and society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a load of bullshit.

"Cool story, however the reality is that student debt is becoming a national crisis and these people are demanding debt cancellation and forgive at the expense of tax payers.
I bet all these people were thinking like you in the beginning."

My kid was admitted to VCU Arts. It would cost less than half of what we saved in their 529 account. They're going to a SLAC instead where they major in philosophy and pursue their art interest on the side. They'll still have money left over in the 529 when they finish that degree thanks to merit awards. I have zero concern that they'll figure out how to make a comfortable living doing something they enjoy. Pushing your kid to do something that pays $X upon graduation is for small minded people. As someone else said, why limit them if you can afford to let them expand their world?

I attended a HSYP and a T14 law school. Tons of my classmates majored in art, philosophy, Afro-American Studies, Latino Studies, and so on. We're all doing just fine financially. But more importantly, we do work that makes us happy to wake up in the morning.

Very few T14 lawyers like their work. Very few

+1 I was gonna say...obviously there are some more interesting paths in the legal field but the typical big law path that so many take? Ugh, absolutely soul crushing...

My wife and I are both third generation lawyers, and probably the last generation in our respective families. I'm not actively discouraging my kids from going into law, but close to it.

Just like the medical field, I always say, unless you are really motivated and really want to be a dr/lawyer, there are many other options that don't cost a fortune to become and that you can enjoy yourself when going to work. It would suck to get so much schooling (multiple years of grad school and for medical years of residency before you get paid well and have a sane schedule). So take that path if you really feel a calling, but otherwise, find something you will love

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, English Philosophy Psychology History Art etc. are all needed,
but much much less.

So if you have those in mind better be able to get in to apretty selective school to be considered seriously.
Huge luck if you do those in a mediocre school.

I'm not sure why people keep bringing up Philosophy, History, English and Art majors in this discussion. They make up a pretty small percentage of bachelors' degrees conferred every year in the US. They don't even break into the top 10. Is there really a glut of unemplyed people with these majors?

The #1 major in the US is Business and Management, by a significant margin.

And that is a smart thing. It's where kids gravitate towards when they decide health sciences, pre med, engineering isn't for them. Have a kid who did just that and several friends who also became business majors after engineering wasn't their thing. Because a Business major gets you a degree, you develop critical thinking and makes you desirable to many employers. It's a degree that you know will help you get employees after college.