Worst College Degrees

 

You regret that you will graduate…with a degree in Latin. Or maybe you still have a couple more years to go and are rethinking that Music Therapy major. With the current recession and unemployment, undergrads have begun to reconsider their majors. Based on salary, job opportunities, and ease, here are the degrees college students deem most worthless:

 

5. English Literature: Poetry might be your first love, but the general consensus is that Wordsworth will not help you that much in getting a job. While a B.A. in English will not leave most of us unemployed, we probably won’t land a six-figure salary the moment we toss our caps either. Unless you’re the next Seamus Heaney, further studies in graduate or law school should help.

4. History: Penn State (Altoona) senior Ashley Kendle argues that students cannot do much with history, aside from teach. “Most of the classes require you to read a million books, write a million papers, and take a few exams. It’s not very interactive and doesn’t sound very enjoyable,” she says. However, if you do want to teach, a dissertation on the Bolshevik Revolution might be the way to go.

3. Film: Whereas studies in film can be exciting, most of us won’t win an Oscar. Further, the average film major earns around $45,000. Job prospects are limited and competitive, but if you’re lucky, you may get a job with a production company. Try interning while in college.

2. Philosophy: Once again, students stress the lack of opportunities. “Philosophy has close to zero prospects job wise,” recalls UMBC junior Natasha Myers*, “There’s not much you can do with philosophy.” Also, most philosophy majors do not have a career in a philosophy-related field. You might not have a job…but you’ll know why.

1. Social Work: Unless we’re psychopaths, we all want to help people. However, according to Lynn O’Shaughnessy, financial journalist and author of The College Solution, the starting salary for social work majors is around $33,400. If you want to fight the economic recession, consider a second major. If not, we laud the kindness of your heart.

 

Of course, a lot of us with these majors will make it big in the real world. But if you’re chasing job security and accomplishment, consider engineering or pre-medicine…

 

 

*names have been changed