Author Topic: Choose Your College Major Wisely  (Read 7520 times)


Retired To Win

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2015, 06:55:41 AM »
You gotta listen to your inner self, though, when it tells you what it would love to do.  It took me THREE tries to get that right.  Thank goodness I figured out ways to pursue my college education adventures without going into any debt!

COMO

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2015, 07:49:10 AM »
That is one side of the story but leaves out a lot. I also don't like how they lump engineering in with architecture.  From what I have seen engineers are much more readily employed in well paying jobs than most architects.

big_slacker

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2015, 08:26:58 AM »
I'm a college dropout and I'm off the right end of their earnings chart. Median statistics aren't people.

Pick your career based on how much money you can make rather than if you actually enjoy it eh? Pick your spouse the same way then? Let me know how that works for you.

Much better is to live a lifestyle like that aspired to on this site and do something that gets you excited to wake up every morning! Try buying that with your degree that averages $20k more a year. :)

Sibley

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2015, 08:12:59 PM »
It's the people who go to college because they're "supposed to" without any clue of what they want to do, then waste the time that worry me the most. Hopefully they stumble into something they can earn a decent living with, but too many get a useless degree or none at all.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2015, 06:58:14 AM »
I went to college as a petroleum engineering major.  My friends who stuck with it got jobs paying $80-90k first year out of college.

But I HATED it.

I would much rather be poor in the education field (starting salary out of college- $30k, but 10 years out with a master's I'm doing pretty well)- then rich in a field I hate.

Choosing a college major for a paycheck is a stupid idea, IMO.  (But taking out $100k in loans for education for the sake of education makes no sense either. Get scholarships or work through school if you want to study something with no job prospects!)

But I'm of the opinion that a university is for learning and research, not for job placement.  Job placement is a secondary function.

ash7962

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2015, 07:12:23 AM »
I'm all for picking the major that makes you money, especially if you know that your passion likely will not make money.  Do the job that makes a lot of money, save it for ~10 years, use free time to follow your passion, retire in your 30's and then spend the rest of your life doing what you want full time.  Passions change and there's no guarantee that music degree will always be what makes you happy.  Instead, give yourself the gift of always having the means to pursue what makes you happy at the time without having to worry about money.

Gyosho

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2015, 08:35:04 AM »
When I went to college in the 80s, college was still inexpensive enough to be viewed as a time to have fun and find yourself. I majored in Greek and Latin (!), had a fantastic time, never regretted it.

I now make well over 6 figures (not as a lawyer, which many of classmates became) and have such a huge stash that I could retire tomorrow, if my job stopped being fun.


My motto is "follow your fun".



ysette9

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2015, 08:42:40 AM »
I think that earning potential out of college is not the ONLY thing that should be considered when choosing a major, but it needs to be front-and-center in the decision-making process. I see so many people choosing a major based on what they think best aligns with their inner needs or will fulfill their soul or looks the easiest or some other silly reason. I have many friends who majored in something that looked like fun in the end but years later are working jobs that are completely unrelated, didn't need that college degree, and they still carry around that student debt.

In my view there is nothing wrong with choosing a major that will likely lead to a low-paying job or require further study to be useful. People should only go into that with fully informed though. I find it really sad when the first-generation college student manages to pull themselves up out of poverty to go to college and graduates with a degree like psychology which then does not lead to to prosperity as a college degree is purported to do. We need some truth in advertising here.

Gyosho

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2015, 10:03:55 AM »
Agree entirely! As I mentioned, I went to college in the 80s. My tuition was, if I remember correctly, $2000 a year, so I wasn't burdened with the student loan debt that students take on today. Fun is only fun if it is free, or pays you to have it (like my job)!

TheAnonOne

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2015, 10:07:57 AM »
I feel like software development/engineering/architecture is underrepresented in that chart as well. Any halfway decent consultant can average well over $150k a year is most metro areas and over $200k in any techhubish area.... (Cali, Tex, MN, NY)

If anything software should have the widest bar, people can start at 40k but the sky is really the limit...

Schaefer Light

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2015, 11:11:01 AM »
I'm all for picking the major that makes you money, especially if you know that your passion likely will not make money.  Do the job that makes a lot of money, save it for ~10 years, use free time to follow your passion, retire in your 30's and then spend the rest of your life doing what you want full time.  Passions change and there's no guarantee that music degree will always be what makes you happy.  Instead, give yourself the gift of always having the means to pursue what makes you happy at the time without having to worry about money.
I tend to agree with this.  Just wish I'd saved as aggressively right out of college as I am now.  It sucks to know I could have been finished if I'd just saved more when I was younger.  Better late than never, though.

thd7t

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2015, 11:44:32 AM »
That is one side of the story but leaves out a lot. I also don't like how they lump engineering in with architecture.  From what I have seen engineers are much more readily employed in well paying jobs than most architects.
Architects were hit disproportionately in the last crash, because construction fell off so quickly (and has been slow to come back), but this chart looks at wages from 25-59, so that range isn't too unreasonable.

libertarian4321

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2015, 12:19:42 PM »
So, as a semi-retired engineer, it wouldn't be wise to go back to school and blow $100k to get a degree in African American Womyn's Modern Art Appreciation?


GetItRight

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2015, 12:53:47 PM »
I'm a college dropout and I'm off the right end of their earnings chart. Median statistics aren't people.

Me too. As a dropout I'm amazed how many people I know who could afford to finish their degree and are either barely above minimum wage doing jobs unrelated to their degree or are in their desired field but earning far less than I do or under what seems to be median. The lesson is college is a scam. If you're moderately intelligent you won't learn much, you likely already know most of what you need to know or can easily teach yourself. Classes run at the dumbest common denominator will not help you. It amounts to a big money grab by schools, banks, and government.

Pick your career based on how much money you can make rather than if you actually enjoy it eh? Pick your spouse the same way then? Let me know how that works for you.
Much better is to live a lifestyle like that aspired to on this site and do something that gets you excited to wake up every morning! Try buying that with your degree that averages $20k more a year. :)

Picking a job or career is different than a spouse, particularly for the FIRE crowd here. A spouse is, we hope, for the rest of your life. A job, we hope, is not for nearly so long.

Plenty of people here suck it up and go to a job every day that varies between miserable and tolerable. I enjoy most of the actual work I'm supposed to do but it's the company and politics that make it unpleasant, as well as the scope creep and associated long hours of my job since the new ownership fired a bunch of people. Would I rather be doing some other work that I genuinely enjoyed far more, but earned much less then I do now? Absolutely not. If I didn't have student loans? Probably not, I'd rather suffer a bit in the short term to reap greater rewards over the longer term.

big_slacker

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2015, 05:44:35 PM »
Me too. As a dropout I'm amazed how many people I know who could afford to finish their degree and are either barely above minimum wage doing jobs unrelated to their degree or are in their desired field but earning far less than I do or under what seems to be median. The lesson is college is a scam. If you're moderately intelligent you won't learn much, you likely already know most of what you need to know or can easily teach yourself. Classes run at the dumbest common denominator will not help you. It amounts to a big money grab by schools, banks, and government.

Gotta pay for those football stadiums and new campus buildings somehow right? :)

I was shocked when I got to college and saw what the classes covered. I was working 30 or so hours a week, going full time and was like, "I'm paying for WHAT?" The pace of the classes was glacial, just gimme the friggin book and let me come in for 10 minutes of time with the prof to ask a few clarifications or opinions. I made it 1.5 years and that was probably too much but I'm stubborn.

Picking a job or career is different than a spouse, particularly for the FIRE crowd here. A spouse is, we hope, for the rest of your life. A job, we hope, is not for nearly so long.

That is true, and a very good point I wasn't thinking of in my OP. But there is always more than one path. For instance if you want to try your hand at being a pro athlete in a non-ball sport (MMA maybe, or mountain biking) you gotta do it young and you're not going to be making much unless you're top 10. But maybe you end up coaching and get to extend your career out and still retire at 40? Why not if you love what you're doing? It's not optimal from a FIRE perspective but it might be from a happiness and fulfillment standpoint.

If the absolute goal is FIRE a degree might not even make sense at all considering the cost. Skilled trades, or IT are two choices that get you working immediately post HS with no degrees or debt needed. I'm in the IT field and could take a smart 18 year old from high school to 6 figures in 5 years no problem. Retire before 30. :)
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 08:12:56 PM by big_slacker »

aschmidt2930

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2015, 05:58:36 PM »
Definitely don't think one should pick their major based off stats like this.  If your passionate about what you do and are willing to think outside the box (i.e starting own company utilizing your skill set) you can make plenty of money in jobs relating to the majors towards the bottom of the list.

On the other hand, I DO have an issue with lending kids outrageous amounts of money to pursue majors with low ROI.  How exactly that is remedied I'm not sure.. But I think we can all agree loaning someone 60k to pursue a Theatre degree isn't in anyone's best interests.

summitbound

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Re: Choose Your College Major Wisely
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2015, 09:06:33 PM »
Between my father, my uncle, and my own life, I have a good set of examples to throw down here.
My uncle went to college to study music. Now, for many people this is not super smart but he is a type A hard worker and he knew he was going to do something with it, but he just had to follow his passion. Well, he wound up director of the music department in a college located in one of the coolest towns in the country. He makes a reasonable salary-nothing crazy- after years of poor living, has a lovely small home filled with instruments and an awesome family, loves his job, spends all his free time trail running, playing sports, networking at local coffee shops, snowboarding, etc., gets more summer time off than the average and basically loves his life and would keep it up forever if he could. 

My dad went for the lucrative college degree in engineering, got a decent job, and has stuck with the same company for a long time. At 53 he's about to retire. He does not like his job- he's not super unhappy or anything but he's super excited to retire and move on to part time consulting. It pays large dollars and my family worked hard to save it so they could retire as early as possible. He doesn't regret it because they now get to live a pretty amazing life with total financial security and money to spare but he does admit he envies his brother quite a bit.

I think if I could go back in time and redo my college years I'd pick a program that was 1) reasonably interesting 2) very lucrative  3) where it would be possible after a few years to either telecommute or work at a great hourly rate part-time (eg 4 days/week) and live somewhere where I could pursue my favorite activities - which happen to be pretty low dollar beyond the equipment investments. Yay man-powered outdoor sports!
I'm working towards that kind of life but it took me way too long to realize that the lower key lifestyle and financial security mattered more to me than the actual job- beyond a certain point, anyway. I want to be a bit in the middle of my dad and my uncle's lives.

The moral of my examples is - don't just look at what you do at work... look at the really big picture. When picking career paths: what do you want a whole day to look like... a whole week... a whole year? Not just the 8 hour window or how the numbers work out.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 09:09:12 PM by summitbound »