Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 18:12     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:My dd is a freshman and an international relations major with a minor in Spanish. She loves it, but is very concern about employment prospects. She is considering switching to a different major like accounting or even nursing which she has zero desire to do. She says she really wants stability and financial security and is very worried. It doesn't help that everyone she's close to is pre-health or engineering. What advice would you give her? She does not want to go to law school, perhaps business school but she'd like good employment prospects post college.


One possible strategy to be an employable humanities or social sciences major:

If the students can handle math, they should emphasize that by taking statistics and data analysis courses and, ideally, getting a math or statistics minor.

They should be active in student organizations, and they should have student organization positions, work-study jobs and internships that show that they have useful work skills.

One reason that humanities and social sciences classes are a little easier than physics or biology is that the students with those majors are supposed to be out running a fraternity, a school newspaper or a community service group.

The students should recognize that humanities and social sciences majors started off as pre-law, pre-theology, pre-public affairs, pre-journalism and pre-teaching majors. They need to go into single majoring in the humanities or social sciences understanding that, unless they get very lucky, they might have to get a graduate degree in one of those areas or something similar to be employable. That’s simply how the humanities and the social sciences work.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 17:54     Subject: Humanities majors
OK, Op, but we can't be helpful if you don't mention the school. GMU is GREAT at getting internships/ full employment. Most SLACS are awful. Where is your kid?
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 14:39     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN


I'm curious as to why! Can you share more? (Not my line of work.)


Me too. I have a relative in their senior year of college studying nursing. They are happy and have a bright future.

I wonder if the idea is that you can become a nurse more quickly without it. But education for the sake of education is also a good thing. Nursing is a broad field. There are many career paths. What is right for one person is not right for another.

Not if that's the only goal, unless you have family money to fall back on. College is too expensive to go there just for "education for the sake of education". Even OP's DC is worried about getting a good paying job, as most college students are.


I want my children to be educated. I want them to be exposed to and engage with great thinkers. To ask questions, think critically, and communicate. This education will carry them through life and help them professionally. A great many employers value education.

A nurse who has studied ethics and Theology is going to have that inside them when interacting with patients. It can help with empathy and decision making. Writing and critical thinking skills are obvious assets to many career paths.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 13:59     Subject: Humanities majors
OP, make sure her IR coursework has some emphasis on econ/statistics. Social science majors learn how to work with and interpret data and then apply it to other things. AI will be able to process unprecedented data and there will be demand for people who can figure out what to do with it.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 13:28     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN


I'm curious as to why! Can you share more? (Not my line of work.)


Me too. I have a relative in their senior year of college studying nursing. They are happy and have a bright future.

I wonder if the idea is that you can become a nurse more quickly without it. But education for the sake of education is also a good thing. Nursing is a broad field. There are many career paths. What is right for one person is not right for another.

Not if that's the only goal, unless you have family money to fall back on. College is too expensive to go there just for "education for the sake of education". Even OP's DC is worried about getting a good paying job, as most college students are.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 12:02     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN


Ditto this. Another RN.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 11:43     Subject: Humanities majors
OP, that is exactly my degree. I even doubled down with a Masters. I can’t say I completely recommend it but it’s a degree, an education, and you can do a lot with it. It’s not a profession, like nursing, or a trade.

My “mega corporation” hires people with those degrees out of college. Many mega corporations do. The field I work in involves international trade. I’ve been able to do lots of different things and have never (knock on wood) been unemployed. She might have to get creative but we all have to do that.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 11:01     Subject: Re:Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
OP - Been there and done that so many years ago and back then got my first job because I could do word processing! What I found was that I had learned something in a few areas such as a language, an area content, economics, - but not enough to be able to offer specific skills to an employer. But today, actually have junior in high school granddaughter who is fluent in Spanish and already using it in a summer job and volunteer work, is interested in business with a focus on Latin America. BUT she does not know what to combine with the language skill and business interest. She is wise to be looking at larger universities where she can develop a minor which for her may be in the sciences and point her in a reasonble occupation cluster. Selecting a larger university will also give her and your daughter the opportunity more easily change majors if they assess the current job market in government is not going to be that stable or hiring for the next few years. Skilld to focus on are strong writing skills, being able to read and analyze information and communicate your analysis to others seeking your input.

Definitely take consider some course work in data science, artificial intelligence within the desired field of choice. Also be sure DD understands that there is more to reading and learning in the field of international relations than what is on your iPhone. You need to have flexibility in your skills sets. If your DD can get to do some paid or volunteer work in her area of interest that would be a plus in helping her see what others are doing with the skills she is trying to acquire. For example, rather than thinking of becoming a nurse, perhaps the idea of health care administration at some level. Take adavantage of any opportunity to work with a professor on a project.

Meh, you can get a minor at any colleges and the largest colleges are the hardest to switch majors.


Not true. I'm a humanities prof. Where there's a will there's usually a way, and more course offerings mean more chances to catch up on requirements.

I mean you can pray all day, but that’s not going to get you a major in the college of engineering.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 10:57     Subject: Humanities majors
if she's so scared she's willing to spend 40 hours a week from now til when she turns 60 studying and doing something she has no interest in, she needs to do some work on the why of it all. why is she so afraid of the unknown? what is all this fear rooted in?

she won't starve. there are jobs. these. she can always get a teaching degree and teach.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 10:27     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN


I'm curious as to why! Can you share more? (Not my line of work.)


Me too. I have a relative in their senior year of college studying nursing. They are happy and have a bright future.

I wonder if the idea is that you can become a nurse more quickly without it. But education for the sake of education is also a good thing. Nursing is a broad field. There are many career paths. What is right for one person is not right for another.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 09:50     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I don't think people who are posting based on 10+ years ago applies to today's job market.

The world has changed so much even in the past 10 years.


You’re right—10 years ago everyone thought learning to code was the key to success, and now there’s a glut of CS majors.

I have hired humanities majors for 25+ years. I still hire them. The jobs I’m hiring them for haven’t actually changed that much, and the ways that they have changed are learnable. The jobs don’t pay six figures out of college, but they are good, stable jobs working with good people.

OP, I firmly believe there will always be a market for the skills humanities (and social science) majors learn. And many of those skills are going to be in short supply as people buy into the AI hype and fail to learn how to use their own brains for research, analysis, synthesis, and communication.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 08:56     Subject: Re:Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
OP - Been there and done that so many years ago and back then got my first job because I could do word processing! What I found was that I had learned something in a few areas such as a language, an area content, economics, - but not enough to be able to offer specific skills to an employer. But today, actually have junior in high school granddaughter who is fluent in Spanish and already using it in a summer job and volunteer work, is interested in business with a focus on Latin America. BUT she does not know what to combine with the language skill and business interest. She is wise to be looking at larger universities where she can develop a minor which for her may be in the sciences and point her in a reasonble occupation cluster. Selecting a larger university will also give her and your daughter the opportunity more easily change majors if they assess the current job market in government is not going to be that stable or hiring for the next few years. Skilld to focus on are strong writing skills, being able to read and analyze information and communicate your analysis to others seeking your input.

Definitely take consider some course work in data science, artificial intelligence within the desired field of choice. Also be sure DD understands that there is more to reading and learning in the field of international relations than what is on your iPhone. You need to have flexibility in your skills sets. If your DD can get to do some paid or volunteer work in her area of interest that would be a plus in helping her see what others are doing with the skills she is trying to acquire. For example, rather than thinking of becoming a nurse, perhaps the idea of health care administration at some level. Take adavantage of any opportunity to work with a professor on a project.

Meh, you can get a minor at any colleges and the largest colleges are the hardest to switch majors.


Not true. I'm a humanities prof. Where there's a will there's usually a way, and more course offerings mean more chances to catch up on requirements.
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 08:49     Subject: Humanities majors
IR is a good pre-Law degree or good if going into the Foreign Service (which pays civil service salaries and is competitive). Not many other career options.

STEM degrees and business degrees will have better job prospects than IR and likely will pay better long term also.
Anonymous
Post 11/15/2025 17:28     Subject: Humanities majors
Anonymous wrote:for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN


I'm curious as to why! Can you share more? (Not my line of work.)
Anonymous
Post 11/15/2025 17:08     Subject: Humanities majors
for the love of g0d, do not get a bachelors of nursing.

-- an RN