Anonymous wrote:Are you interested in college to learn a trade or to learn how to think critically?

If you're looking for a trade straight out of college then I'd suggest:
Engineering (any flavor)
Nursing (big shortage of nurses - you can start working straight out of school and many employers will pay for you to further your degree --Master's or higher)
Accounting

If you're interested in learning how to think and solve problems:
If you go to a top school--almost anything but you should be prepared to pursue a graduate degree in the field of your choice either immediately following college or after a few years of work. My favorite types to hire are:
Math and hard science types (Math, chemistry, physics, etc.)
Social scientists (economics, psychology, political science)
Linguists

In a separate category all together are people in the arts. In this realm it really depends what part of the arts (fine arts, performing arts, etc). you'd like to enter and in what role.

not anymore. It's very difficult to find a job as a new grad nurse today. Most I know (I teach nursing) are working as nursing assistants.

Are you interested in college to learn a trade or to learn how to think critically?

If you're looking for a trade straight out of college then I'd suggest:
Engineering (any flavor)
Nursing (big shortage of nurses - you can start working straight out of school and many employers will pay for you to further your degree --Master's or higher)
Accounting

If you're interested in learning how to think and solve problems:
If you go to a top school--almost anything but you should be prepared to pursue a graduate degree in the field of your choice either immediately following college or after a few years of work. My favorite types to hire are:
Math and hard science types (Math, chemistry, physics, etc.)
Social scientists (economics, psychology, political science)
Linguists

In a separate category all together are people in the arts. In this realm it really depends what part of the arts (fine arts, performing arts, etc). you'd like to enter and in what role.

Accounting and engineering

In my observation...the subject you can get the best grades in. They really do matter a lot especially, like in the DC area, if grad school is highly likely, and are reasonably well corellated with subjects the student's likely to be engaged enough in to apply the effort and drive needed not just to get good grades but build an aggressive career.

Anonymous wrote:Accounting always seems to be good, especially for CPAs. Worried that engineers can get outsourced and also compete with H1-B holders (thank you Bill Gates). Interesting that people recommend quantitative fields - engineering, physics, math, even accounting.

Accounting is outsourced now too.

Women's Studies. Esp. from a second or third tier uni. Yeah, that'll be the ticket.

Anonymous wrote:Article in magazine section of Sunday NY Times talks about how value of a college degree keeps decreasing and how we are all going to be replaced by someone in Asia who works for $1.75/hour. Heck, even lawyers are having their work outsourced. So what would you tell someone to major in, assuming they could reasonably learn the material? I know, it would be great if this was the 1970s and you could major in philosophy and sociology and still get into a corporate training program but that day disappeared with black and white TV's. So what would you recommend?

Anything with an emphasis in engineering be it genetic, petroleum or otherwise.

And one thing hasn't changed - there's always jobs for accountants (CPAs).

That's why a masters in math.... Is the ticket. Not everybody can do it , obviously , but alot more can than do.

I'd argue that, in this day and age, the major is hardly important at all. What's important is the skills/capabilities you learn, regardless of major. Critical thinking, written & oral communication, problem solving, analytical reasoning, personal & social responsibility, etc.

Employers want people who can apply their knowledge. Major in whatever you want - but pursue good internships, research projects, do lots of writing, participate in service-learning opportunities, etc.

The research on the workplace is striking - people are being educated & trained left and right for jobs that will not exist in 5 years. Adaptability is the number one thing that college graduates need.

Add me to the list of people who hate the UMD booster. You are doing your alma mater a disservice by being so GD densely annoying.

The worse the school, the more important the major.

That's nice, UMd poster. But you lost my interest when you compared your school to others.

OP, to answer your question: the best undergraduate degree to give you job stability is a technical degree like engineering (I'd suggest mechanical, electrical, systems, or computer), accounting, nursing, or finance. With these degrees, you can get a job immediately out of college, or you can use them as a foundation for going into grad school. If you get a non-technical degree, you have to work harder to get a job right out of college (and compete with those that have techical degrees) and, if you want to go back to grad school, you'd be limited as to what to study (or have to go back to complete some hard requirements - probably while you're balancing a low-paying demanding job and, possibly, family responsibilities).

I'd stay away from pure science (as opposed to applied science) undergrad degrees (like math, physics, biology, chemistry) unless you know for sure that you want get a grad degree. And even then, your employment options would be more limited than a mechanical engineering major.

Best of luck.

This is why UMD is such a good school. It is highly ranked in all of these subjects ( the hard ones ). All engineering, math, computer science, languages, homeland security, physics. Thats why UMD has the most nobel wining alumni of any ACC school. (pulitzer and academy award too). Uva and Unc are good at the easy liberal arts stuff (although its funy that Umd has more pulitzers and academy award alumni). Umd crushes these schools with 1.1 billion in research funding next year. Umd has alumni that have made HUGE impacts on society ( google, underarmour, muppets, pulse doppler radar, syndicated baywatch, seinfeld, the wire, boondocks, apollo 13, retractable landing gear, the octane system, the universal price code, broke watergate, frequent flyer systems, the jumbotron, sirus satellite, the hybrid engine, linear programming, the automatic parachute, coronary stents, the imbedded insulin pump, ec,,, so on and so forth.) Uva/ Unc and the rest of the ACC schools don't even have one invention or creation of impact....look it up...it's astounding. Umd has ON OR ADJACENT TO CAMPUS...the national archives, NASA, NOAA, the national center for laguage studies, FDA, dept of agriculture, american center for physics, the center for advanced study of language....AMAZING and IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPETE WITH.

MATH.....you can do anything...computers,teaching,programming,real-estate, business. TOTAL security.