What's the college major that's most "useful" in the real world?

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Flammable
philosophy major

With a philosophy major, it's a door-to-door salesman type job.

*ding dong*
"Hello, I have a degree in philosophy. Might you need any thinking done today?"

Or just stand at a street corner with a sign: "Will think for food."

Originally posted by: Special K
The one you enjoy the most. Are you really going to be able to do a good job in any field if you hate the general subject matter?

Sure. I got mostly A's in high school, and a 3.55 GPA in college after 3 semesters. Thus far I've disliked the majority of my classes. I seem to do quite well at things I don't like, which makes it tough to figure out what to do in college. I'm in college right now for mechanical engineering. So far, it's not particularly interesting. It all seems like work a computer could be doing. But apparently employers are willing to pay good money for it, so I'm following the money.

I also really have no aspirations of getting to a 6-digit income. I don't want to deal with a high stress job where I'm on call 24/7, or expected to put in 60+ hr workweeks on a regular basis. I don't want a job to rule my life. Even a starting income of $40K is damn good money for one person, as far as I'm concerned. My parents managed to raise my sister and I on about that much, and I really don't feel like I've been deprived of anything. Don't spend carelessly, and your money can go a long way.

Doing what I like to do? I'm not even sure what that would be.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
engineering. Electrical Engineering or computer science.

Fields that are easiest to outsource.

Civil engineering pwns you.

materials engineering > *

materials engineering > mech enger *

but then again materials falls under mechanical so.........

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: bobdelt

Originally posted by: Xanis
I would guess Business... But you should be doing what you love, not what's "most useful".

Thats such BS. There's a lot of useless majors out there. The world does not need 10 million useless econ, soc, and film majors, for the most part they aren't practical. The jobs people get with those degrees have nothing to do with what they learned in school.

In some states you dont need a masters in accounting. And with the ones that do, the accounting firms will typically pay for you to get it. (not just tuition, but will actually give you some salary too)

you think econ, soc and film majors are useless. how about classics majors. *shudders*
i recently took a classics class and as much fun as it was i can't imagine a single use for it. or how about preservation of documents for a major.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
depends on what your definition of useful is

but generally speaking, engineering is the most useful because the whole world is in the process of upgrading decades old infrastructure systems

i think engineering is most usefull bacuse a non-engineer could never do that stuff while engineers can do many things other majors do.

 

[PrinceofWands]

My opinion, which is vastly different from that of most people, is that education is a combination of learning how to think while providing all persons with a baseline of common knowledge to work from. Therefore the 'most useful' degree would be one that focuses on those two areas. I believe programs like those offered by Reed College come closest to perfecting that ideal. Since the program serves those goals regardless of the specific major chosen, the major becomes irrelevant - only the program itself matters.

From a pragmatic standpoint there is still merit to this method. It's well known that the working world of today if far different than it used to be. It is highly unusual to remain in just one field for an entire lifetime (and only one job is nearly unheard of now). Also at any job you are working you're likely to utilize knowledge from several fields - logic, communication, math, psychology, computer science, etc. Therefore a broad education would be the most useful thing you could obtain. If your field requires very specific and specialized knowledge you can always obtain graduate degrees as needed.

I would also point out two serious misconceptions regarding education. First, that you get a degree only for jobs. If you define yourself only as worker then I suppose it's a valid viewpoint - but it's also very, VERY sad. Anything you do to improve yourself as an individual, citizen, and human being has value. If you love art then obtaining a degree in art is a completely worthwhile pursuit - even if you never hold a job in an artistic capacity. The second error in thinking is that you earn just one degree per level in your lifetime. If you have multiple interests or needs there's nothing wrong with getting multiple degrees. Personally I'm shooting for 1 AA, 1 AS, 3 BA's, 3 BS's, 2 MA's, 2 MS's, and 4 PhD's by the time I die. Why? No reason.

 

[jammur21]

Engineering, Accounting, Finance

 

[Apathetic]

Any type of science or engineering degree. Anyone can go into business without a business degree, but how many physicists, chemists, or engineers do you know who don't have a degree in that field?

Dave

 

[Inspector Jihad]

math no doubt

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Flyback

Originally posted by: Xanis
I would guess Business... But you should be doing what you love, not what's "most useful".

Ever notice the most successful people aren't business majors?

yep. seems liek the best people for business are those tha major in philosophy or some such. you know...the ones that get an actual education

 

[brandonbull]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
depends on what your definition of useful is

but generally speaking, engineering is the most useful because the whole world is in the process of upgrading decades old infrastructure systems

MIS.......FTW

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Anything that is professional in nature:

Engineering
Law
Accounting
Medical
Pharmacy

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Apathetic
Any type of science or engineering degree. Anyone can go into business without a business degree, but how many physicists, chemists, or engineers do you know who don't have a degree in that field?

Dave

Agreed. Business is mostly for suckers who can't handle the hard stuff. Sure you see people pursuing MBAs after engineering degrees. I love watching people talk about how they're pre-business in undergrad and then they take the easiest classes in the world. However it does suck to see myself taking 5 engineering classes in 1 semester and suffering from all the work I have while people are taking 2 econ classes ><

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Anything that is professional in nature:

Engineering
Law
Accounting
Medical
Pharmacy

:thumbsup:

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: Farang
No offense to engineers who enjoy their work, but that seems to be the dumbest major for most people to get into. They see the starting salary and their eyes light up. In reality the salary of an engineer isn't hard to obtain in other disciplines, and it is really quite pointless to go that route just for the money or for its percieved "usefulness."

Take my brother for example. He graduate with a business degree. He had the brains to be an engineer but business suited him better. First year out of college, he has already earned a $56,000 comission on top of a $26,000 salary in the commercial real estate business. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be making well above six figures within three years. Meanwhile engineers are flatlining at around $60,000.

My other brother majored in mechanical engineering. He went on to get is MBA and is now working for Intel. His starting salary was $80,000. He will not top out like engineers usually do, instead his salary will rise higher and higher.

I guess what I'm trying to say is finance/economics/business degrees are much more useful than anything technical. Myself, I'm a political science major, but that is just because I'm not too interested in my starting salary and have other priorities.

Engineers don't flat line at 60k. I just started at about 60k and I live in an area where the cost of living is dirt cheap.

Engineers that don't attempt to grow in business and stick with bachelor's technical jobs usually flat line around 80k. Engineers that grow into business and management make much more.

 

[kaymin]

Comp Sci - hardly. You learn all this conceptual crap that is a complete utter waste of time and impossibly hard. You can easily teach yourself java or C sharp much faster and skip the BCNF crap.

Yeah, the most useful are the 'professional' majors i guess - like nursing, medical, pharmacy and law. I wouldn't count engineering though since that covers so much area.

But seriously, do something you like.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: dighn
I don't know what's most "useful", nor do I believe there is such a thing, but engineering degrees are pretty "useful"

Yup.

To be more general, I would say that degrees that teach you "hard" skills are the most useful.

Funny thing is "soft skills" are what is most useful as these can migrate to any industry or hard skill.

So all those COMM classes you think are useless? They're the most important.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
engineering. Electrical Engineering or computer science.

Fields that are easiest to outsource.

Civil engineering pwns you.

Is that why Civil Engineering, on average, starts out 10k less than Computer, Electrical, and Chemical?

 

[KarmaPolice]

I would say anything that gives you a skill.

Computer Science
Business: Managment, Accounting, Finance
Engineering
Pharmacy

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: kaymin
Comp Sci - hardly. You learn all this conceptual crap that is a complete utter waste of time and impossibly hard. You can easily teach yourself java or C sharp much faster and skip the BCNF crap.

Entirely depends on the application. Smart CS majors can program much more efficiently in C, C++, and assembly and use more intelligent algorithms with much lower Big O.

In terms of higher level languages, I think that graphical programming (like Labview) will eventually replace java and C sharp. I don't think many people are adopting C#, because its trash that tries to make everything a class.

 

[trigun500]

Accounting

 

[patentman]

Depends on What you want to do:

Science? Something with "engineering" in it, i.e., chemical engineering, biochemical engineering, electrical engineering etc...

Business? Depends on what type, Finance, Economics, and Marketing all have their uses

Art? The most secure paying jobs are probably in graphic design and 3d modeling these days.

Politics/Law? Political Science, Public Administration

Medicine? Nursing or a hard science (biology or chemistry in particular)

List could go on and on Think about what you want to do, then make the logical connection. Don;t think you are going to have an easy time getting into business with a psychology degree.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: kaymin
Comp Sci - hardly. You learn all this conceptual crap that is a complete utter waste of time and impossibly hard. You can easily teach yourself java or C sharp much faster and skip the BCNF crap.

Yeah, the most useful are the 'professional' majors i guess - like nursing, medical, pharmacy and law. I wouldn't count engineering though since that covers so much area.

But seriously, do something you like.

If you want to be a bad web-app code monkey the rest of your life, go ahead and teach yourself whatever flavor of the month web language.

Once you get into real software development, you actually apply concepts.

 

[duragezic]

Well a Nursing degree/RN/CNA/whatever they are seem to be the most likely to get a job anywhere, easily, and with good pay. And the demand for them seems as if it should continue to grow more and more.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Legend

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
engineering. Electrical Engineering or computer science.

Fields that are easiest to outsource.

Civil engineering pwns you.

Is that why Civil Engineering, on average, starts out 10k less than Computer, Electrical, and Chemical?

ah, some poor civie didn't realize that a ladder of engineering exists, and on said ladder.. civies are the lowest rung

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: kaymin
Comp Sci - hardly. You learn all this conceptual crap that is a complete utter waste of time and impossibly hard. You can easily teach yourself java or C sharp much faster and skip the BCNF crap.

I definitely disagree with that. You at the very least should get exposure to data structures and big O if you want to be a half decent programmer.