Best College Majors...

[Endangered Specie]

Ones that require the most work, pay the most money, benefit society the most.


IMHO the fairly obvious choice would be Engineering :)

[DebJ]

1. it is not necessary to associate most work=most money

That's a fallacy.

[Endangered Specie]

2. I know this.

I wasnt suggesting they are equal, I was just listing the criteria for considering which majors are the "cream of the crop".

[WillyBrandt]

3. Applied Mathematics / Economics

If you want to make some serious cash.

[bo44]

7. question from a brain dead

How so?

[WillyBrandt]

27. If you're smart about it, and work hard

You can move up very quickly in finance and get paid. I knew quite a few people who did this.

If you get stuck in a shit finance job, then there's not much good to it.

[Red State Rebel]

10. What do you do with that major?

One of my students is graduating from Washington University with a degree in Economics and Business, what type of work will she be ready for?

[xcmt]

13. Have you ever seen Office Space?

It also happens to be my major. She should be ready to spend the majority of her professional future sitting in a cubicle, performing menial research and writing tasks for rich guys in suits on Wall Street, or somewhere with affiliations to it. Investment banks, insurance firms, broker/dealers, possibly commercial banks with large corporate offices.

That is, if she plans on taking the most direct route from diploma to career.

[Red State Rebel]

26. Yikes, sounds like a drag... n/m

[midnight armadillo]

4. Physics

Then again, maybe I'm biased ;-)

[Nikia]

5. Sometimes I wish that I majored in engineering

I didn't because many of the course discriptions for the required classes sounded boring and often required more required classes than most majors. Now that I am in the work force, I realize that many engineers have well paid interesting work without having to get an advanced degree. Many programs also required internships, often full term internships, which greatly helps one get employment after college.
What they don't tell you about most science majors is that you need an advanced degree to actually do science. There are lots of tech positions out there that involve performing lots of lab tests that the real scientists tell you to do and don't pay very well.

[TheMightyFavog]

6. Cannibisian Botany

:smoke:

[Kamikaze]

8. Japanese!

It may not fit all three of your criteria, but damnit, it is the best. :D

[Fleshdancer]

25. My husband agrees with you. He got his BA in Japanese

He read Shogun when he was 13 and fell in love with everything Japanese. We lived in Japan for two years because of it. :)

[On the Road]

9. Whatever Field You Want to Enter, Select a "Harder" Major

Not in the sense of more difficult, but in the sense that physics is a harder science than environmental biology. Scientists generally respect the field that's one step harder; the same works outside science.

Personally, I majored in psychology, which is a broad field. If I had it to do over, I would have read less Freud and Jung and concentrated much more on the biological side (or on the statistical side for testing and experimentation). A classmate of mine did this and eventually got a nice highly paid position in LaJolla, CA as an expert in brain damage specializing in accident victims. If he had taken social psychology or personality theory, that would not have been possible.

A lot of students including me major in "interesting" subjects that tend to be softer, and really limit their future this way. College is the best time, and may be the only time, to master the basics. It's much easier to move toward a softer field than away from one.

So, here are my recommendations for which major to choose:

Career           Major
Psychology       Biology, Statistics, or Biochemistry
Biology          Chemistry
Chemistry        Physics
Physics          Mathematics
Business Mgt     Economics, Math

It depends on what options you want to have. Just something to think about. :)

[realisticphish]

14. on psychology

yours is a good idea, but i question biology and statistics being a good "harder" major for psych..how does it apply? just curious on your reasoning

edit: sorry, didnt read the whole post; i see how it would apply to experimental psych; im leaning towards counseling/therapy psych, so i was in the wrong mindset...my bad


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[politicat]

22. The money's in experiemental psych as it happens.

Expect to spend your first 10 years as a therapist either working for state and local governmental agencies for very low pay (25-30K a year :eyes: ) or as a junior associate in a large practice (for not much more and a difficult client load.) Once you've amassed enough capital to either go out on your own or buy into a practice, expect to spend $50 K either way - malpractice insurance, premises, a transcriptionist, reception. Do not have your office in your home. Go to your clients' homes if you can't afford a premises. If you buy into a practice, it will cost about the same.

Also, make sure you have a good relationship with a psychiatrist - prescriptions being one of those things we can't touch.

Good luck. If you'd like to know about the business of being a therapist, pm me.

Politicat

[On the Road]

44. I'm Way Past That Point Now

I eventually got an MBA and have worked for a local telco for years.

But I've thought a lot about the choices I made in college.

There's so much breadth in psychology that it really depends what sub-discipline you want. The principle I was trying to communicate was to think what kinds of knowledge or abilities underly the jobs you want and have a background in those.

For polling, psychometrics, or experimentation, statistics is obvious. Biochemistry underlies anything to do with pharmaceuticals. Neurology or physiological psychology underlies any study of behavior which is influenced by the brain. Even something like engineering can be applicable in fields relating to human interfaces or robotics.

There are gut courses and fundamentals in colleges. Guts are usually more interesting, and I took many of them. Fundamentals give you more options later.

[politicat]

20. agreed with that, from someone who took that career path.

I've got an MS psych - not an MA. Lots of bio, pharmacology, chemistry, stats, math. Wish now that I'd bit the bullet and the loans and gone into neurology (which was medical school, which I could not afford on my own).

HOWEVER, from several advisors I talked to, if you want to go to med school, major in the fluffiest stuff you can and take the science requirements as electives. Med schools admit by major - when they get one English major with a 3.8 GPA and all the pre-reqs (and being able to write is damn desirable for a doctor!!) and 100 pre-meds with 3.5 GPAs and bad essays, the English major is very likely to get in.

The same goes for almost all grad school admissions.

Good luck.

Pcat

[WindRavenX]

11. biology

But I'm biased :D
yay for ATP!

[rucky]

12. Humanities or Education

for benefitting society the most.

:)

[TahitiNut]

15. Liberal Arts with a major/minor in science/humanities

Above all else, a Liberal Arts curriculum offers the raw material that's most likely to produce a better-thinking person. The 'specialty' schools (Injineering, Educamation, Soshil Wurk, Bizniz, etc.) are notoriously narrow and rote regurgitation of contemporary systems and jargon. I've yet to discover an undergraduate from a 'school' (even those that pretend to be colleges) able to cope with conceptualization and abstraction.

For quite some time, employers have generally favored undergraduates with a demonstrated track record in a formal discipline such as Math, Physics, Chemistry, or Biology. When they couple that with a minor emphasis in Philosophy(!), English Literature, Sociology, Psychology, or (sometimes) History, decent Personnel/HR people see valued individual contributors.

Too much of the rest is mere "Trade Schooling" - worthwhile as a follow-on degree for those truly interested, imho.


Far too many people overlook the value of education in enriching one's life totally independent of one's vocation. Even if I were working in a manual trade (carpentry, plumbing, machinist, etc.), my life would be enriched by the education that "tuned my mental engine" and allowed me to learn how to think, not what to think.

[KittyWampus]

16. TahitiNut Is Right. Especially If You're 18 & Fresh Out Of High School

:)

[TahitiNut]

17. One of the repeated tragedies I've seen ...

... is a middle-aged adult still doggedly trying to validate the ill-informed and naive decision of an 18-year-old chasing some fad career.

I started my college "career" with the notion I'd be career military. (Yikes!) The USCGA offered a General Engineering curriculum. After 2 years, I confronted the harsh reality (disillusionment) that I sure wasn't cut out for the military. I was horrible at hazing and nearly as bad at being "one of the boys" kissing the pack-leader's ass. I ultimately, after more than 5 years, wound up getting my undergrad degree in Math with enough college credits (in a broad array of eclectic coursework) to gag a mule. I thought I was a 'failure' in college. It's been stunning to me to discover that the coursework I did in philosophy, navigation & seamanship, theology, literature, economics, sociology, and other areas (to keep a full-time load during the deferment draft years) has been, by far, the most valuable. Math served to teach me the value of logic and valid reasoning, but the rest gave me an understanding of where I'd use it. My graduate work in Computer Science was what I finally did for career reasons - my "trade school."

It seems to take me a long time to learn some things. I wish I'd known all that before I went to college. I might've taken advantage of my National Merit Scholarship and learned even more. :shrug:

My family wasn't able to pay anything for my college - neither tuition nor expenses. Nobody in my family was a college grad. We were dirty blue collar. I knew nothing of student loans or the variety of assistance available. My high school was in a blue collar community - with few decent counselors. A U.S. Service Academy seemed to be a 'solution.' It can only be worse these days, I think.

[Mr. Blonde]

21. following this line of thought

it would seem a non certified teaching degree would be a good one. Then as you said follow that with a degree in something more narrow. The double major scary stuff that.

[TahitiNut]

30. I think of a pure teaching degree ...

... like a truck without cargo - looks good but doesn't deliver anything.

Don't get me wrong; I think teachers (who have something to teach) are the most under-appreciated and overworked people in 'government' - even more so than military personnel.

I taught. Math. Catholic boys' high school. I was good. (My students would see me in public places years later and say "Hi!") I loved it. The pay was terrible - one of the lowest-paying jobs that required a college degree. It wasn't even enough to 'max out' on Social Security. I went corporate. GM. I got a 65% increase in pay for an entry-level job. :shrug:

I was very lucky in high school and even before - my teachers had degrees in the subjects they taught, often a Master's Degree. Very few of them went to a "College of Education." I've since worked with many teachers, mostly at the junior and senior high school level. The ones with only degrees in 'Edukamashun' are the worst. Superficial, bureaucratic, political, and authoritarian seem to be qualities that infest them disproportionately. Often no passion for the subject.

[short bus president]

33. Yeah, sure...

but you come at 'em 8 years after having earned a BA in philosophy, they KNOW you're just a lazy, pot-smoking amateur bullshitter. At least they tend to with me...

[TahitiNut]

34. Well, if they can't comprehend Kant's Categorical Imperative ...

... fuck 'em. How's that for modeling it? :evilgrin:

[porkrind]

35. As a university educated engineer,

I agree fully with your statement: "a Liberal Arts curriculum offers the raw material that's most likely to produce a better-thinking person." No doubt about it, it helps so much to have classes in philosophy, logic, history, ect. These help us to be exposed to the patterns and thinking of the past, so that we can identify them in the present. The world is desperately short on critical thinking skills and insightful common sense!

Regarding your derisive term "Injineering"... :) To set the record straight, "Engineering" is a fantastically broad and interesting field of applied science and mathematics. It has a long history that includes contributions from some of the greatest minds the world has ever known (Newton, Lagrange, Fourier, Gauss, Laplace, etc.) as well as a vast array of current geniuses. Everyday we enjoy the fruits of Engineer's work.

The difficult thing for one training for a career in science is the sheer height of the pyramid of knowledge that must be climbed. This pyramid gets higher every year. It leaves little room in the curriculum for a fully-rounded liberal education, but most universities require some basics. Keep in mind that three (astronomy, arithmetic, and geometry) of the seven "Liberal Arts" fall within the domain of science. I would criticize most liberal-arts programs as being far to weak in math. An advanced understanding of mathematics also teaches one to think for oneself in a powerful and logical way greatly lacking in our confused innumerate culture.

I couldn't agree more with your statement: "Far too many people overlook the value of education in enriching one's life totally independent of one's vocation." I think one should study what they are truly interested in (and what they love), regardless of a practical career.

Unfortunately, many people don't care. Ours is a depraved materialistic culture that worships vanity, greed, and stupidity. To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, (Corporate America) "is a shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs."
:dem:
P.S.: I always like your posts, TahitiNut. I think you're one of the best on DU. Thanks for your great economic analyses. Keep it up!

---

Read about the Right-Wing "Master Plan": http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-contents.html

Have you read "War is a Racket"?: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Read George Orwell's classic "1984" free online here: http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984

[Rabrrrrrr]

39. My God, that was lucid and wonderfully said

I, too, loved TahitiNut's post, and am glad you answered before I did.

I also trained for engineering first, and, as you say, the pyramid of knowledge is so steep, there wasn't a lot of liberal arts time. I managed to get a minor in liberal arts, cuz I loved it, but for the most part very few people at my college were interested in any of the liberal arts (it was all egineering majors at my school).

I especially love your reminder that studying mathematics is also an essential thing. We are indeed in a ridiculously innumerate society. We have people playing the lotto and at the same time thinking their chance of getting cancer from smoking is "negligible" and the chance a plane crash is "so high I won't fly" and they always drive.

Not to mention the lack of an ability to think logically and in a reasoned way, which seems to be a current hallmark of our country. So parents freak out and make their kids wear helmets and knee pads when biking, but meanwhile the battery plant on the other side of town keeps pumping mercury and other poisons into the lake and the mountains of West Virginia keep being removed to provide coal to power the battery plant, and feed those same kids processed foods like lunchables, campbell's soup, and Doritos.


Like you said, we worship greed, vanity, and stupidity.

[TahitiNut]

40. As an almost-injineer (MIS/IT) who entered the trade ...

... through the "back door" of a Math/Physics major/minor I was being somewhat more tongue-in-cheek than seriously derisive.

Critical thinking skills have been on the wane for over 20 years. (I tend to view it as inversely correlated with the ascendancy in 'popularity' of the MBA degree - a somewhat obscure sheepskin 35 years ago.) It's only through the paucity of such skills in corporate America that I could ever attribute the "kills" I enjoyed in Internal Audit and Operational Analysis ... where I emphasized backgrounds in the analytical disciplines in hiring and recruitment, leveraging on the "Rabbit from a Hat" successes I enjoyed. (It literally changed their staffing practices at the corporate level.) I staffed my projects with Library Science, Law, English Literature, Chemistry, and other Liberal Arts grads whose incessant questioning and explorations invariably found the rot and breakdowns in corporate practices. I valued an "uninformed" question (there are very few stupid ones) far, far more than a rote answer. The funny thing about examining any operation is that the 'uninformed' person isn't afraid to ask question that might make them appear dumb -- and that's where the problems invariably lie. (The 'experts' very rarely ask those questions.)


On edit: Once upon a time, I read a little book about the history of philosophy. In it, they described a herdsman who first formed the notion of the conversion of matter from one form to another. He formed an abstract generalization while pondering the sheep and cattle grazing. He's my hero. When I strive to imagine how thinking was guided in times before Newtonian physics pervades even the least educated world-views (cause and effect anyone?), it's almost impossible for me to imagine the mind that made the leap.

P.S. Thank you for the generous compliments! :pals:

[carpetbagger]

18. Pharmacists can't be outsourced.

The educational work is strenuous but not herculean, the pay is fantastic, and there's a shortage that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

You don't benefit society by going into A or B career, but by what you do within your career. So do what you like, but this one's got steady money.

[kariatari]

31. I used to be pre-pharmacy.

For 2 years, actually. But after I did two job shadows in different pharmacy settings, I quickly changed my mind.

While I don't at all envy what a pharmacist does for 40 hours a week, I do envy the job stability and starting salary of pharmacists though.

[Swamp Rat]

19. Music

Who here does not like music?

For some humans it is their first language.

[huntsvilledem]

23. Political Science

if everyone was required to take political science courses, there wouldn't be so many ignorant idiots out there who believe everything bush says.

[neverborn]

24. It's the only major to have, really.

[TahitiNut]

41. My nephew's degree is in PoliSci ...

... and he's working in junior restauarant mangement. :shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. One that you're good at and would like working at

I stayed in college teaching long enough to have students who majored in engineering or accounting because they wanted a guaranteed good job, even though they weren't particularly interested, come back to the school for vocational counseling because they were so miserable with their vocational choice.

All the money in the world can't compensate for absolutely hating what you do for 40 hours a week. Also, no major can guarantee a job. Think of all the unemployed computer science majors.

[Reverend_Smitty]

29. Thats so true...

all the money and success you can get from a high paying job doesn't mean shit if you aren't happy with your line of work.

[UpsideDownFlag]

32. the best major is political science, by far.

just read and write papers, and you know shit about politics.

[Christof]

36. I'm getting a liberal arts degree in Geology and Chemistry.

That's the best major, in my opinion. :)

[TahitiNut]

42. Ohhh... kewl!

Geology would be one I'd like to consider if I were beginning again ... that could be a ticket to travel and life-long learning in fascinating places. (Or, it might be handcuffs in the oil industry, God forbid.)

[JanMichael]

37. What ever happened to intellectual curiosity/growth as a goal?

You know, the progress of Mankind and such.

Why has education become such a racket?

[Malikshah]

38. History-- none pay the money these days

History beyond all the humanities, social sciences and "soft sciences"

(How can the "sciences" be considered hard sciences...in History, the answer is never found-- that's pretty damn hard if you ask me)

History requires the mastery of language, critical reading/thinking, expressing onself orally and in written form.

A solitary act in most cases, historical research provides more than names, dates, and a narrative of the past. It attempts (and in many cases) succeeds in helping us understand who we are and what we need to do right now.

We historians do not delude ourselves in thinking we are Cassandra-like, able to predict the future, however negative. Again-the answers in black and white do not exist--Historians realize this and endeavor to provide as accurate a discussion of events as possible.

Of coure, as a Historian, I'm biased. ;)

(Do NOT get me started on the wannabe history majors...yes, I'm looking at you all you mamby-pampy Pol Sci majors...:) -- after all, a Pol Sci major is simply a History major who failed to cut the mustard when it came to languages... ;))

[PittPoliSci]

43. quite simple...

i bet you know i what i was going to say...

[Kire]

45. Anthropology and Geography