10 worst majors for your career

While it's true that college graduates as a group earn more than those who do not have degrees, there are some glaring exceptions.

By Caitlin Dewey, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine

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maneater89
Oct 9, 2012 5:17PM
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my greatest sucess in life would have me sincerely happy! no matter how much you get paid, if your necessities are taken care of, you love your job and hate to see the day end, then you are the most sucessful person!
Mangostita
Oct 9, 2012 5:07PM
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Art is not something for the weak, the mindless, the cowardly. It is something for someone who's up to the CHALLENGE. To DEFY those who are SADLY WRONG. It takes a brain capable of CREATIVE EXPRESSION to CREATE EVERYTHING that freaking exists in your daily life. We KNOW how to COMMUNICATE, to EXPRESS OUR IDEAS, and we certainly DO NOT just paint pretty pictures or play pretty music. We DESIGN your everyday gadgets, cars, buildings, hell, even MACHINES and WEAPONS. WE ACT in order to COMMUNICATE and MAKE LIFE BEARABLE. WE FREAKING EXHAUST OUR BRAINS IN ORDER TO CREATE. We are THINKERS and DOERS; we are PROBLEM SOLVERS. WE ARE MANIPULATIVE LITTLE BASTARDS. SCIENCE is INCAPABLE OF EXISTING without art. BOTH actively DEPEND ON EACH OTHER, because they are what makes us HUMAN. When are people going to grasp the IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP of ART and SCIENCE? It's is a beautiful thing, and sadly it will forever go unnoticed by many.

I am freaking tired of people DEHUMANIZING each other for their degrees and talents. We should instead be CONGRATULATING and CELEBRATING EACH OTHER FOR OUR BRAVERY TO TAKE ON THE BEAST THAT IS LIFE. Remember kids, it's not about what the degree is, it's about HOW YOU USE IT. USE IT TO FREAKING DESTROY THAT BASTARD AND SHOW HIM WHO'S BOSS.

p.s.

The art world is brutal. You get eaten alive and vomited back up just so you can suffer some more. It is one of the most competitive fields out there, and you can't just rely on talent. To say that "everyone can draw something on a piece of paper" is an insult to those who are working their asses off just so you can live in your house watching TV, wear your clothes, eat your food, and ****ing LIVE.

And don't even get me started on Business and Art. You never know if a doodle and an ambition turns into a big ****ing business that only feeds on money and souls. Who knows? Maybe that business will feed on YOU.

tl;dr

don't be stupid, choose the career that will unleash your inner potential

Palestein
Oct 9, 2012 5:05PM
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A person is judged by his or her overall knowledge and comfort in one's own skin as well as.....vocabulary and the ability to write. A willingness to accept critiques goes a long way too. I went through my freshman and sophomore years one or two classes per semester while working as a riveter in an airplane factory. There were times I was worn out but I was motivated enough to stay out of the bars and stay in the classroom. In the end I found that the degree is just something to put behind one's name, or at a minimum, to get in the door.  What got me noticed was a willingness to take on other skills by attending after-hours company classes and asking other employees about what they know. In the end, I was asked if I'd like to teach the same classes I'd attended as an employee. I made a decent career of the whole thing. Next came a career as a Probation Officer. How does one go from manufacturing to something like that? They took me on because they liked the way I listened and learned in my first career. Did I pay some dues in that job? Big time! I came close to quitting at one point, but I learned what it took and stayed - for twenty one years! I still am learning. 
Jinglebob
Oct 9, 2012 5:03PM
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Half the students in college should not be there. many "trade" or craft jobs now out pase college degrees because the need for them is there. Get your hands dirty, learn a skill that satisfies a frustation, need or want and you will always have a job. Too many companies have this "paper chase,' hiring only graduates from college because it looks good for their corporate culture when a well educated High School graduate could perform in the job just as well. With the continuing higher cost of college we will see few traditional college students and more Community/Junior college students. Example, try to find a spot in a quality nursing program today.
Sydney Carton321
Oct 9, 2012 4:47PM
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This is another galling example of our society's choice of money over everything else. The article itself is not offensive, but to me the extreme pressure to conform or bend your career path strictly for financial reasons is. I'm very happy to be able to choose what it is I would like to pursue, but it disappoints me greatly that our society has become so socially inadequate as a whole. There is no balance. If your not wealthy you have to work to hard to have time for cultural enlightenment if you wish to. And some of the power players now equate that wealth and spending power with culture and class, when the truth is they have neither. It must be nice to own multimillion dollar paintings that you needed an assistant to let you which ones are worth anything. And all those wall street guys who wear 500$ Ferragamo's but there 2000$ suit is two sizes too big. Just sad that you can"t pick a career you love and be sure that you'll be able to feed your family even if you do the right things and have a degree and our good at your job. You have to love capitalism.

J in Oklahoma
Oct 9, 2012 4:46PM
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No surprise that any of these are on the list.   I would have though degrees like Art History and Library Science would be on here too.  Those are non unworthy professions, we just dont need many of them and most of us have to do other work to support hobbies like going to an art museum or library.   The best course it to find something you enjoy doing, you are good at, and are willing to live with the likely pay.   If you do major in Art History, dont complain that you end up working at JC Penneys.
mtnblueskiess
Oct 9, 2012 4:46PM
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Here's another job. If you want to be a police officer, no college will tell you that you won't be hired because of age. 27 -30 is too old. So. If you are considering a degree in this field, start as soon as you leave high school. It's bad enough your chances are low if you don't have connections in the police force.
huuh
Oct 9, 2012 4:35PM
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steer way clear of architecture
gunnshop
Oct 9, 2012 4:29PM
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How many engineers and those with advanced degrees that featured high math skills, have been recruited away from their chosen professions in the last decade, by the promise of huge commissions, to engineer financial instruments like derivatives, cynically based on highly speculative, profit first models, that created a ton of wealth for alleged financial services firms, but destroyed the very underpinning of the world's economy? Yet we hear about a shortage of skilled professionals in engineering, for example, even though we have a desperate need to renovate our physical infrastructure. Misplaced priorities for short term profit, is the hallmark of philosophically bankrupt economy, that could benefit from some ethics infused by some philosophy majors.
Someone (gbj1)
Oct 9, 2012 4:28PM
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There is no bad degree or not having a degree, it all comes down to HARD WORK! You are owed nothing, I'm 55 yrs old left college after 2 yrs. Have worked 40 hrs+ a week since I was 15, probably have averaged 60 hrs a week since I was 20. I make 6 figures, house paid off by 50, put 2 kids through college with no loans, keep vehicles 10 yrs and pay them off earlier. Partied as much as anyone (still do) been all over the world and hope to do it till the day I die regardless of what I have. No Democrate or Republican has ever made a difference in my life, only me by busting my a$$ and sacrificing. I feel sorry for the "self esteem" "every body gets a trophy" generation my generation created. Do what you like but don't fool yourself it ain't easy, for those that say money isn't everything, try living with out it.........oh wait, way to many already do on my dime!
Lexapro
Oct 9, 2012 4:24PM
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Nothing necessarily wrong with any of them, but you need a marketing plan, and a business plan for yourself! sitting around waiting for the Gov. to hire you or business will not work, we are all independent contractors today, an EMPLOYEE is a liability to a company! with EEOC, SS, health care, medicare, workers comp, etc a employee is costly to hire, keep and layoff. NO one wants too many of that! especially in Obama world.
IveFallen
Oct 9, 2012 4:18PM
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It's this simple.

The more people who want to work in a specific industry the less those people who do get a job get paid.

Why?

If you do not like the minor salary you are getting paid, then there are 100 more behind you who would gladly have you job.

Why?

So they can say they are a artist, a photographer, raise children, save the environment, hug a tree.

All very honorable professions, but do not pay squat as there are so many people who want to them.

GoOrangeBK
Oct 9, 2012 4:18PM
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Oops! I see I wrote "lever" instead of  "level!"  As an English major, I am ashamed!  But I stand by my statement: English majors are taught to read and analyze text on a rather deep and nuanced level, and that makes them desirable in a number of professions
gunnshop
Oct 9, 2012 4:18PM
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Do we really want to live in a society where everything is based on financial remuneration ? Recently, values driven by profit first, ethics last, endangered the entire economic machine. When so much capital is invested in fancy financial instruments, that create profit, but create nothing else of value for the economy or, the society at large, we divert capital away from those investments that would create more opportunity for everybody in society. Additionally, if everybody pursues degrees in fields that are based first on short-term economic rewards, we wouldn't have enough opportunities for all those with degrees in those fields. How many pursue degrees in the fields of shitty retail or, service sector jobs, that pay little and offer no ladder to a better life ? If it wasn't for people who pursue degrees in fields with less initial opportunity in a down economy, who would fill those jobs ? Nobody is guaranteed a job in any field in which they spend huge resources to obtain a degree.. But to evaluate those degrees strictly by what easily gives you a well paying job, with a future, is a cynical economic and societal model, that has very skewed priorities, to say the least.
jason farrell (jason1983F)
Oct 9, 2012 4:16PM
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Here is what makes this story hilarious:

 

New Computer Jobs in the US: 150,000/yr

New Computer Grads in the US: 4,000/yr

 

And guess what, it even pays well.  Why more people arent jumping into this field, especially with areas of it just exploding (mobile, design, usability, etc) is simply beyond me.

Chuk Cornel
Oct 9, 2012 4:11PM
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1)  People write too much, they try to solve the troubles of the world in a 3 inch space.

2)  Be brief, "like" a college composition, you get marked down for being verbose.

3)  Try to be creative.  Write your remarks first, then read what others have written.

4)  Don't repeat what you don't like, or do like.  Be creative for pete sake.

GoOrangeBK
Oct 9, 2012 4:10PM
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English majors are often sought after by other professions because of their ability to read and analyze text quickly and at a rather deep lever. Law schools like English majors for that reason--although it could be argued that there is a glut of lawyers!

HikerGal65
Oct 9, 2012 4:03PM
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I finally earn a fair wage, but got my Radio-TV-Film degree in 1994, an my first paying job in the field was paying $17K (as a Arts Producer in N. Louisiana Public Radio).  To earn my present, average salary (for a woman, I'd add), which I'm thankful to have... don't get me wrong, I don't do radio work, that's for sure!

 

If I had it to do over, I'd have gotten a straight business degree, then maybe would have taken electives or minored in radio.  Ah, hindsight IS 20/20.   Perhaps in retirement, when there's no Social Security to help me survive & I have to work until I die, I can do work in radio instead of being a W-Mart greeter.

ctown1
Oct 9, 2012 4:01PM
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This article IS demeaning to people who work in Retail.  I work with alot of wonderful, intelligent people in the Retail field, and have for 26 years.  Believe me, it's not easy!  Beside all the physical work that goes into it, there is the fact that on a daily basis,  we have to deal with people who think we are inferior to them.  SImply because of where we work!  We have to put up with the rudest, most ignorant, and obsene "educated" customers you could possibly imagine. 

 

  

Badman21
Oct 9, 2012 4:00PM
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College=/=vacational​ school.

If you want a trade, take a welding course at the local tech school.

College should be more than that. I doubt anyone majors in sociology or theatre arts because they want to be millionaires. Most that I've met knew the score going in and were willing to take the chance. I also know engineers that chose their majors based on employment opportunities and in addition to hating college, now hate their jobs. They make great money, but are miserable.

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