I think even then a degree in Underwater Basket Weaving still sets you up to earn more than someone with just a HS diploma.
Used to - but the amount of debt you incur to get your basket-weaving degree is a problem that didnât used to be there.
Iâm old - do people still do minor degrees? I majored in biochem with a minor in English lit - which I enjoyed.
MM MD
2 Likes
I was 2 years with a mechanical engineering major, took a semester upper division thinking I would switch to physics, then switched to math then added English as a double major, got to the point where I pushed up against the maximum units cap, paid about half my own way through it and graduated with about $2k in student debt.
Community college then cheap state school.
Heh - I donât have a bachelorâs. Got into med school a year sooner than I thought I would, so I still owe them a language and humanities class. Probably going to go back and get the degree once Iâm retired.
MM MD
I disagree with the notion of a worthless major entirely. In both the business and academic worlds, in both technical and non-technical fields, and in many different kinds of roles, some of the most valuable, and most thoroughly evaluated, output from people is⌠writing. One has to be a good writer to be a good scientist, or a good marketer, or a good lawyer, or a good executive, or a good version of just about any sort of office drone there is, and undergraduate STEM courses donât have enough of that. If you look at someone who is a womenâs studies major or a medieval Asian art major or whatever, you know for sure that they are someone who has produced a shitload of writing on subjects that a lot of people find boring, and that is valuable. Sure, maybe itâs not good writing, but there are poor science majors too.
1 Like
I had a lot of issues with my service academy education, but one that I 100% agreed with, then and now, was the gigantic amount of core classes I had to take that were outside of my major.
I was an aeronautical engineering major, and I had to take PoliSci 101/202. History 101/202, Philosophy 101, 4 semesters of english, Law 101, Econ 101, Management 101, plus at least 1 semester of every other engineering discipline, Chem 101, Bio 101, psych 101, plus 4 semesters of PE.
Of course, the PoliSci majors also had to take the 1 semester of every engineering disipline, several semesters of math, all the science core, etc.
Unfortunately, like everything else at the service academies these days, I donât think itâs the case anymore, and theyâve greatly reduced the core requirements.
By the way, if youâre looking at that and wondering how I could have taken all those classes plus my majorâŚthe average course load at the AFA when I was there was 22-23 credit hours per semester.
But you know what? On top of being able to understand the math behind fluid flow and Bernoulliâs equation, I know how to write, I understand legal precedent and how to make a logical argument, I know how to wire a switch in my house, I know how to kick a soccer ball (not well), I know how to calculate interest, I know why the roads by my house have potholes every winter and that the only true way to fix the issue is to tear it all up and start over with a proper roadbed, I know why throwing a brick of sodium in a lake will explode, and I know how to read and enjoy poetry.
A lot of my classmates bitched and moaned about boring core classes, but I wouldnât trade it for the world, and itâs one of the highlights of my time in college. It bugs me when I meet engineers who canât write, and writers who donât understand the most basic math or science.
4 Likes
People knock it, but weaving baskets while under water is a difficult endeavor and develops numerous skills transferable to the workforce.
3 Likes
I obviously disagree with it, but thatâs a great cartoon lol
You can still EASILY incur 50k+ doing that. I would know because I went the same route. I was fortunate to have everything paid for by the state.
1 Like
Double major and a minor. 5 years of full loads. Had to petition to go over the unit cap.
This is the move a bunch of my friends made. Sure they miss out on underclassmen hijinks but it is the most practical move barring a scholarship.
These grammatically-correct paragraphs are brought to you by ENG 101.
Thereâs plenty of writing in lower division science. I had to take 2 writing classes, one writing/literature class, and a public speaking course just to get into my university. Then I had one upper division writing course and a bunch of humanities that required a ton of writing.
College wasnât intended to be vocational school. A graduate had a breadth of knowledge that rendered them fit to be a citizen of the world. An educated person worth of making decisions. Worthy of investing in for a higher calling. (Doctor, lawyer, engineer, priest, politician)
Does higher education even recognize that ideal today?
College didnât used to cost two arms and a leg to get thru in four years, either.
Iâd GUESS that a humanities degree from an Ivy-type place still will open some doors - but if youâre getting a history degree from a state school, youâre pretty much guaranteed minimal job prospects with a honking student loan debt. I read the history reddit pretty frequently, and a common thread topic is âshould I major in historyâ - the consensus from people in the field is that youâre better off getting a combination of rabies and AIDS. No jobs, no hope of jobs, ever.
My wife and I know four or five doctors families with kids who went to decent private colleges and got degrees in stuff like French, Eng. lit, history, music - theyâre all back at home without jobs, during a (supposedly) hot economy. Theyâre 100K plus in debt, and fucked.
The world has changed, but the colleges havenât adjusted. What theyâre doing to kids and their families is malpractice.
MM MD
1 Like
Agree 100%.
Debt that is not dischargeable in bankruptcy is an especially pernicious and predatory policy.
1 Like
This could probably be its own thread - A large problem with the college industry (and it is an industry) is that they are still pushing this false narrative that you can study whatever you want and youâre such a special little snowflake you can make it work and btw hereâs all the jobs you can get with a history degree!
While at the same time they have been drastically lowering admission standards and hiking tuition prices. Itâs mostly a con in my opinion. If you need remedial english or math in your first year of college (very common at my old uni that 40% of incoming freshmen would need some remedial courses) then you do not belong in college. Go to CC and try again later.
But schools will gladly gobble up the tuitions and spend resources on people who honestly probably dont belong there in the first place.
Appleâs most expensive computer will be U.S.-made after tariff exemption
Phew, imagine if they had to pay tariffs on their $6,000 computers, what a nightmare that would be for their profits.
1 Like