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Overrated/Underrated Majors

edited December 2007 in General
What are some overrated and underrated majors?

I'd say Philosophy is an underrated liberal arts major. I'd say engineering can be overrated, all things considered.

Your turn.

Comments

  • edited December 2007
    Busiess is overrated, in my opinion. I've taken some econ classes with business students and a lot of them seem to think that they're going to be the next 25 year old CEO of some internet company or maybe work at Goldman Sachs and in both cases retire at 35 .... (and all this time a lowly liberal arts student beat them by 20%+ on the midterms). I also kind of hate the attitude that is instilled in them - that every social situation ever is a networking opportunity. It's like, I'm your friend, I've known you for years, and you still leave phone messages and sign your emails to me with your full name (plus the pompous middle initial). Part of me wants to scream "get a life".

    Underrated... probably math and philosophy. I've taken courses in both, and although neither of them are my major subject I would love to have time to explore them.
  • edited December 2007
    overrated - biology majors
    underrated - actuarial science majors
  • edited December 2007
    Why would philosophy be under rated...I mean what are you really getting out of that...I could see it help in law for helping with arguments and the such...but with just a BA in philosophy is that specializing yourself for anything at all. If I was on a desert island with someone with an MA in philosophy I think I would shoot myself.
  • edited December 2007
    Under rated: History. I just hate it when people ask if I am going into teaching after I finished my BA. There are more options out there for history majors, right? Also, history is very important because there are people like those in this video exists.



    Over rated: Computing Science. It is not like there will be that many computing science jobs out there once you graduate.
  • edited December 2007
    kt_uvic;18943 said:
    I've taken some econ classes with business students and a lot of them seem to think that they're going to be the next 25 year old CEO of some internet company or maybe work at Goldman Sachs and in both cases retire at 35
    God, business majors are so dumb when they talk....they think that they're the bestest thing ever. But in reality, I do think that a business major is one of the best things to major in, so maybe they have a right to act like that....i dunno.

    Im wondering why im even doing my major (Communication)....it seems like all of the courses that I am taking will lead me nowhere and they're such a joke. Like, what the hell am i learning at school, i mean really. Oh well, too late to change it now.
  • edited December 2007
    kt_uvic;18943 said:
    Busiess is overrated, in my opinion. I've taken some econ classes with business students and a lot of them seem to think that they're going to be the next 25 year old CEO of some internet company or maybe work at Goldman Sachs and in both cases retire at 35 .... (and all this time a lowly liberal arts student beat them by 20%+ on the midterms). I also kind of hate the attitude that is instilled in them - that every social situation ever is a networking opportunity. It's like, I'm your friend, I've known you for years, and you still leave phone messages and sign your emails to me with your full name (plus the pompous middle initial). Part of me wants to scream "get a life".
    HEY! Don't stereotype =P
    I'm not like that, for sure.
  • edited December 2007
    i think that the hate directed agains the business majors more has to do with the culture associated with people majoring in the field rather than the major itself...as long as youre not coming from a BS school, a business major can be a very flexible major to have after graduation. despite this, graduate programs for this pay off much more after doing undergrad in something else
  • edited December 2007
    overrated: a major that people think can land them a job right after graduation, and they're set for life. in general, business. most people probably think this field will never run out of jobs, but since so many people are doing business now, it's just going to get even more competitive.

    underrated: i'd say generally liberal arts degrees. or degrees where people think it's useless just because it doesn't lead to a direct career path.
  • edited December 2007
    As best said by my one professor:

    People usually in Engineering, and Business are studying those fields to get a job. That is a problem. University is to gain knowledge in a certain field. If you want a job, go to BCIT.
  • edited December 2007
    ^ I agree with that statement, but then why has the workforce adjusted it's requirements to include degrees? So it's not the students fault, it's the people out there hiring. And even then, it's hard to blame them because now that times have changed, more people (if not double) are working so in order to be more competitive, I assume that they included "undergrad" from "no degree" people so that the 'fewer' with degrees were considered the better candidate.

    And now that's even inaccurate because clearly everyone's caught on and voila, universities are harder to get into.

    A never ending cycle!

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