Posted on 04/28/2011 9:55:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Some cities are better than others for college graduates. Some college courses are definitely hotter than others. Even some iPhone apps are better for college students than others. But when it comes down to it, there’s only one question that rings out in dormitories, fraternities, and dining halls across the nation: What’s your major?
With college graduation nearly upon us, two questions are running through the minds of nearly every soon-to-be-alumnus: Was my degree worth it? And: What do I do now?
While the most important factor in choosing a college major may be a student’s interests, a close second is certainly the likelihood of actually finding a job and making a living after graduation, especially when factoring in the high cost of tuition. Turns out that when it comes to post-college earning power, not all degrees are created equal.
To find the most useless degrees college students can get with their four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, we wanted to know which majors offer not only the fewest job opportunities, but those that tend to pay the least. The Daily Beast considered the following data points, weighted equally, with each degree’s numbers compared to the average for each category, to achieve a categorical comparison that accounts for differentiation from the mean. Data are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Payscale:
* Starting and mid-career salary levels, using the profession most associated with the degree.
* The expected change in the total number of jobs from 2008-2018.
* The expected percentage change in available jobs from 2008-2018.
For informational purposes, in this accompanying gallery, we provide the number of degrees awarded for 2008-2009, the most recent academic year available from the National Center for Education Statistics.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Here’s to you, Journalista Grads,
Starbucks has a place for you.....
Well that is fitting as for the most part journalists top the list of the most useless people.
I have a BA in history.
So far, I’ve had three careers...and NONE of them required a college degree to qualify, nor for advancement.
A college only proves only two things: That you are eudcable and really like beer.
How mechanical engineering and chemistry made that list, I have no clue. Agriculture to a degree, as well.
Sociology? Gender studies?
I was frankly a little surprised by the median starting salaries in some of those fields.
Oops Eudcable s/b educable. Hah!
Journalism degrees went the same way as Sanskrit.
A Lawyer has more credibility than today’s journalista.
That's gonna leave a mark.
#8 Mechanical Engineering Technology
Only 15,112 degrees issued 2008-2009
Job openings down 1.45%
Predicted job loss 2008-2018: -700
#9 Chemistry
Only 22.466 degrees issued 2008-2009
Job openings up 2,100
Predicted job increase 2008-2018 2.48%
So, what has lowering our educational standards, and importing H-1B Visa’s done to our future? We have sabotaged our future. We can easily live without Journalists and others - but who is going to engineer future devices? Who is going to use their Chemistry degrees to advance medicine, refineries, plastics, composites, mining and energy needs?
Oh yeah, we’ll just import more foreign technical workers - and further de-stablize the technology workforce. It’s cheaper to hire an H-1B engineer than a native american (no Social Security taxes alone is good for ~$20,000 per engineer).
As an engineer who has faced more than one layoff, plant shutdown and outsourcing - the fact that our politicians are creating policies that ENCOURAGE businesses to export my job, and then import foreign nationals to compete against me for my job (with tax advantages) certainly does not encourage me to recommend young people to consider a career in engineering.
Opened thread for this; leaving satisfied.
#8 is chemistry.
Only if you stop at the Associates or Bachelors level. A PhD in Chemistry is still a desirable degree.
That there is no market for programs that have for decades turned out predominently Walter Duranty and Jason Blair types who do a poor job and the market has collapsed?
Too bad.Cheer up MumbleBumbler, you can still extole the supposed virtues of the New York Times over that of Shelly the knitte's blog whenever someone posts a knitting story or some such.
We won't kick you when your down.
Very much.
Okay, we will. Having you carp about sources not being the legacy press on every thread however obscure gets real damned old, and your ridicule is well deserved and fully earned.
The old guard is going away. Pine over it to yourself - I not only won't miss it, I aim to keep helping to kill it.
To me a mechanical engineer is a P.E. who stamps the mechanical, electrical and plumbing pages on a set of architectural drawings. Not very useless in my book.
People near where the production plants are.As environmental regulations and inspection requirements for everything began to really really push manufacturing overseas in the mid to late 80s, those of us who read up on Austrian Economics pointed out that this would be an inevitable (Not just possible) result. Design won't remain on a different continent from where problems need to be solved indefinitely.
At this very moment, I am committing journalism by covering live a court hearing via my laptop.
Haven’t had the first journalism course.
Asking bloggers to post the full content here instead of driving traffic to a blog somehow constitutes "carping about sources"?
I think you don't quite understand the program.
That list is rather goofy. No way are those ten more useless than Sociology, or Library Science or Psychology just for starters. Or the field I love, History, for that matter. Chemistry useless?
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