Anonymous
06/17/2019 14:32
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:I hate when people deride "easy" majors. Not everyone wants to do STEM. Not everyone cares about how much money they'll make. Sometimes people are really passionate about something and they follow that and they find deep personal and professional satisfaction in that field and don't care about the prestige or if they make high 6 figures.
I started off in a STEM major, yes, looking down my nose at "soft" majors. And then I struggled my butt off in advanced math; meanwhile, a professor told me I was a gifted writer and encouraged me to at least consider that as a minor. So I switched. I majored and writing and eventually added history as a second major.
I turned that into getting a MA in International Relations at a top 10. I wrote and published a book, and have a slew of newspaper, magazine, and journal clips. I do work I love every day. No, I am not wealthy. I'm hardly even what DCUM would consider well off. But I am happy with how my life has turned out. I have a roof over my head, people who love me, and I like to think what I do makes the world a slightly better place.
Maybe my pursuit and satisfaction of simpler things is not for you. Fine. But stop, for the love of god, with this suggestion that those of us who studied English or history or anthropology or childhood education are nothing but a bunch of slackers who were only looking for the easy way out and our job prospects being and end with "Welcome to Starbucks, how may I help you?"
For me, math was easy--but if I had, say, been a comparative lit major I would have struggled!
Anonymous
06/17/2019 14:30
Subject: Re:An observation on college majors & grades
Somebody I knew in college got an MBA from Columbia with a solid C average--and said she did better with job offers out of the gate than her peers. She had a liberal arts undergrad degree.
Anonymous
06/17/2019 13:14
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:I hate when people deride "easy" majors. Not everyone wants to do STEM. Not everyone cares about how much money they'll make. Sometimes people are really passionate about something and they follow that and they find deep personal and professional satisfaction in that field and don't care about the prestige or if they make high 6 figures.
I started off in a STEM major, yes, looking down my nose at "soft" majors. And then I struggled my butt off in advanced math; meanwhile, a professor told me I was a gifted writer and encouraged me to at least consider that as a minor. So I switched. I majored and writing and eventually added history as a second major.
I turned that into getting a MA in International Relations at a top 10. I wrote and published a book, and have a slew of newspaper, magazine, and journal clips. I do work I love every day. No, I am not wealthy. I'm hardly even what DCUM would consider well off. But I am happy with how my life has turned out. I have a roof over my head, people who love me, and I like to think what I do makes the world a slightly better place.
Maybe my pursuit and satisfaction of simpler things is not for you. Fine. But stop, for the love of god, with this suggestion that those of us who studied English or history or anthropology or childhood education are nothing but a bunch of slackers who were only looking for the easy way out and our job prospects being and end with "Welcome to Starbucks, how may I help you?"
fine but the reality is you got lucky. It is very hard to have solid income/job prospects in your field.
Anonymous
06/17/2019 13:06
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
I hate when people deride "easy" majors. Not everyone wants to do STEM. Not everyone cares about how much money they'll make. Sometimes people are really passionate about something and they follow that and they find deep personal and professional satisfaction in that field and don't care about the prestige or if they make high 6 figures.
I started off in a STEM major, yes, looking down my nose at "soft" majors. And then I struggled my butt off in advanced math; meanwhile, a professor told me I was a gifted writer and encouraged me to at least consider that as a minor. So I switched. I majored and writing and eventually added history as a second major.
I turned that into getting a MA in International Relations at a top 10. I wrote and published a book, and have a slew of newspaper, magazine, and journal clips. I do work I love every day. No, I am not wealthy. I'm hardly even what DCUM would consider well off. But I am happy with how my life has turned out. I have a roof over my head, people who love me, and I like to think what I do makes the world a slightly better place.
Maybe my pursuit and satisfaction of simpler things is not for you. Fine. But stop, for the love of god, with this suggestion that those of us who studied English or history or anthropology or childhood education are nothing but a bunch of slackers who were only looking for the easy way out and our job prospects being and end with "Welcome to Starbucks, how may I help you?"
I started off in a STEM major, yes, looking down my nose at "soft" majors. And then I struggled my butt off in advanced math; meanwhile, a professor told me I was a gifted writer and encouraged me to at least consider that as a minor. So I switched. I majored and writing and eventually added history as a second major.
I turned that into getting a MA in International Relations at a top 10. I wrote and published a book, and have a slew of newspaper, magazine, and journal clips. I do work I love every day. No, I am not wealthy. I'm hardly even what DCUM would consider well off. But I am happy with how my life has turned out. I have a roof over my head, people who love me, and I like to think what I do makes the world a slightly better place.
Maybe my pursuit and satisfaction of simpler things is not for you. Fine. But stop, for the love of god, with this suggestion that those of us who studied English or history or anthropology or childhood education are nothing but a bunch of slackers who were only looking for the easy way out and our job prospects being and end with "Welcome to Starbucks, how may I help you?"
Anonymous
06/17/2019 11:18
Subject: Re:An observation on college majors & grades
In case you can't see the trend here
It's common to have a 3.0 after Freshman year
Major classes are entirely different
Math and Science classes have lower GPA
GPA doesn't matter long term
It might matter for Med Schools, Law School (easy majors no problem) and business (to get a better first job but it's just a first job people generally switch again before 25)
It's common to have a 3.0 after Freshman year
Major classes are entirely different
Math and Science classes have lower GPA
GPA doesn't matter long term
It might matter for Med Schools, Law School (easy majors no problem) and business (to get a better first job but it's just a first job people generally switch again before 25)
Anonymous
06/17/2019 11:18
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Glad to hear your daughter is doing well, OP! Good for her!
However, I would say that the key thing to getting employment with some of these degrees that you're deriding as being easy is that you have to do the research to figure out what you want to do and then you have to do informational interviews and network to get connected.
However, I would say that the key thing to getting employment with some of these degrees that you're deriding as being easy is that you have to do the research to figure out what you want to do and then you have to do informational interviews and network to get connected.
Anonymous
06/17/2019 11:11
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this. My kid is in engineering with less than a 3.0 after freshman year. I was an elite student and my own prejudices make it hard for me to think there can still be success for him.
You should be proud of your daughter!
There is hope! My engineering major DC had a 2.8 first semester and GPA has been increasing - just got a 4.0 for spring semester sophomore year to end up w a 3.35 cumulative GPA!
My kid thinks it will go easier once he's out of the big intro classes. Sounds like that happened for your kid. Mazel Tov!
Anonymous
06/17/2019 11:06
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Many elite firms care more about your alma mater than your major. If you did reasonably well at a highly selective SLAC, Ivy-caliber private, or public Ivy, it matters far less what your major was than had you gone to a good, but not tippy-top college. In other words, you have a better shot of getting your foot in the door as a history major from Amherst, than a chemistry major from AU even with the same GPA. No company publishes GPAs--but they all publish alma maters.
Anonymous
06/17/2019 10:18
Subject: Re:An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:She’s lucky to have a job, no? But if she does her job well, that’s good. School is not for everybody.
Applaud your self realization. I have no doubt you will guide your children well.
Anonymous
06/17/2019 07:16
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Of course GPA is not the final say on whether you'll be successful.
But the OPs claim that her kids friends has easy majors thus got good grades is ridiculous.
It moves all their success away from their hard work. And it feeds into this truly false perception that liberal arts majors can't get jobs.
the research shows that is simply not true in spite of people's beliefs and individual experiences
It's that short-sighted an uninformed posting that other people are reacting to
But the OPs claim that her kids friends has easy majors thus got good grades is ridiculous.
It moves all their success away from their hard work. And it feeds into this truly false perception that liberal arts majors can't get jobs.
the research shows that is simply not true in spite of people's beliefs and individual experiences
It's that short-sighted an uninformed posting that other people are reacting to
Anonymous
06/17/2019 07:07
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this. My kid is in engineering with less than a 3.0 after freshman year. I was an elite student and my own prejudices make it hard for me to think there can still be success for him.
You should be proud of your daughter!
There is hope! My engineering major DC had a 2.8 first semester and GPA has been increasing - just got a 4.0 for spring semester sophomore year to end up w a 3.35 cumulative GPA!
Thanks for posting -- mom of a 3.0 Engineering freshman
Anonymous
06/17/2019 06:56
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Depends... if you want to go to med school you should pick the major where you can have the highest gpa possible so you’d rather do sociology over engineering
Anonymous
06/17/2019 03:22
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this. My kid is in engineering with less than a 3.0 after freshman year. I was an elite student and my own prejudices make it hard for me to think there can still be success for him.
You should be proud of your daughter!
There is hope! My engineering major DC had a 2.8 first semester and GPA has been increasing - just got a 4.0 for spring semester sophomore year to end up w a 3.35 cumulative GPA!
Anonymous
06/17/2019 02:20
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
I'd find out what the mean GPA is at his university. My engineering school curved to a 2.6 so by definition most had sub 3.0 GPAs.Anonymous wrote:Thanks for this. My kid is in engineering with less than a 3.0 after freshman year. I was an elite student and my own prejudices make it hard for me to think there can still be success for him.
You should be proud of your daughter!
Anonymous
06/17/2019 02:18
Subject: An observation on college majors & grades
Your daughter was not a good student but has a good job despite that. Good for her!