Posted on 06/02/2017 12:18:07 PM PDT by DeweyCA
College, generations of Dads used to say, is a time to make your mistakes and learn from them. Now, a major new research project into education after high school reveals that the biggest mistake a majority of Americans feel they made was going to that college in the first place. Or picking their majors. Too late now.
Taking the time to learn from youthful errors may have worked better before college became a seller’s market, forcing students and families to take out mortgages to finance tuition, room, board and books. Now, selecting a college and a field of study are decisions that will live with graduates often over decades of repayment plans and, worse, job hunts.
Reading these findings may prompt policymakers to rethink blind encouragement of high school grads to move onto campuses and fields of study they picked for reasons of geography, family tradition, emotions or “comfort.” Then again, that’s probably too much to hope for.
Gallup and the Strada Education Network have joined for a three-year research project called Education Consumer Pulse to “provide regular insights from current, past and prospective education consumers about some of the most pressing issues facing post-secondary learning today.”
The first topic: Do you regret your college choices?
Turns out, most do. (Are you listening, college presidents?)
A majority of Americans (51%) who continued education after high school said if they had it to do over, they would choose a different school, degree and/or major field of study. So much for all those college visits, guidance counselor consults, kitchen table discussions and snap decisions by students at the know-it-all age of 18.
The greatest regret is their choice of a field of study — 36% would do that differently again. More than a quarter (28%) would pick a different school altogether. And 12% would pursue a different degree.
Of course, in today’s dynamic society the relevance of a chosen field in the modern workplace can change drastically over time. The demand for Greek philosophers, for instance, has been waning now for some centuries.
Making decisions about higher education, of course, is far from a science. But Pulse researchers did detect some patterns:
People who completed their college degree at a later age are happier and more satisfied with their choices.
Those who earned a Bachelor’s degree are more likely to regret their degree choice than those who pursued technical, vocational or associate degrees.
And those who majored in engineering, science, tech and (yuk) math are far less likely to have second thoughts about their degree and career choices. That deeper satisfaction could be because they’re nerds. More likely, it’s tied to the occupational reality in today’s economy that they remain employed, in high demand and well-paid as opposed to — oh, say — journalists, many of whom don’t.
I would probably switch to more infantry and heavy weapons.
The hard science and math professions really do need it, but the majority of liberal arts degrees are just a piece of paper.
If I could jump back 35 years I’d skip college and get into a trade school. Underwater welding. Excellent pay, travel the world on the company dime.
“Looking back, would you change your college choices? You’re not alone”
Not a chance....wouldn’t have had my wife of 50 plus years.....
I switched while I was in college. Started out majoring in Drama and Theater Arts, finished up with a degree in Technology and Management.
I figured I might want to support myself some day.
“Looking back, would you change your college choices? You’re not alone”
Not a chance....wouldn’t have had my wife of 50 plus years.....
After high school, I had the idea to become a petroleum engineer. A guidance counselor talked me out of it, saying that the field was saturated and the only way you could get a job was if somebody died. Damn, was he wrong! Of course this was before the oil embargo and the oil price hikes.
I chose a field that was in demand and being subsidized by the government. By the time I finished my degrees, that field was glutted and there were 300 applicants for every job in my area.
I guess the lesson is......it’s hard if not impossible to predict the future.
My college choice: Skipped class and played pinball in the student lounge. But a few years later I took a COBOL course for 10 months of four nights a week and $2,700. That put me into a comfortable six figure income in the Seattle area for a few decades. :)
College is definitely over-rated.
I would like to see the dissatisfaction correlated to he time the degree was granted.
I suspect the older the degree, the more satisfaction.
Frankly, most people should NOT choose ANY college at all. It is one of the biggest scams in existence.
Knowing what I know now, I would have majored in business and minored in computers (whatever the buzz word for that degree is today). But all in all my path worked out well for me. I have just as good a retirement as my older sister who majored in math and minored in comp sci and went to work for IBM right out of college in 1967.
Over the course of my career as a COBOL programmer, I worked with two different people who had degrees in Chemistry, one of which worked at an oil refinery as a chemist.
Both went into programming because there was more work and it paid better. :)
I was an ‘A’ student grades 1-7. After my hormones kicked in I forgot how to concentrate on anything but the various aspects of the female and became a ‘C’ student. College was the same thing....only with more beer.
I finally hooked up with a education savvy young lady. She got me through Jr College, then we broke up. After that I concentrated on women, beer, cars, motorcycles, guns, hunting and fishing and women(I like women) till I met my wife 7 years later.
Never did go further. If I had it to do all over I would have found a way to concentrate on my studies from 7th through 4 years of college. (Though finding a live in girlfriend’ in 7th grade might have presented me with a problem)
My undergrad and MBA are from Drake. I don’t regret it; it’s helped me to an interesting career with my company. Beats digging ditches or working at Starbucks.
Lol!!
I would have skipped the 2nd degree in Accounting, gotten an MBA instead and then gone for a free PhD here.
But the 1st degree was perfect.
Looking back, I wish I had gone to FSU.
Yeah, Right!
Yeah, I could kick myself for not getting that Black Studies degree with a minor in Transgenderism.
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