What courses do you take for a general studies major?

A major in General Studies should be counting the 200 and 300 level classes from Literature, History, Philosophy, and such. Algebra should be repeated if you didn’t do B or better in High School or if it’s recommended by the counselor. 100 level courses in the basics are required of everyone.

I am an Engineer to feel free to ignore my advice as it is biased.

IMO if you are going to college you should be taking courses that give you skills that you will use for future employment or for setting up a business.
Last time I checked there were no new Philosophy or Sociology factories opening up in my area. However there are many new companies desperately looking for people with skills in almost every technical field: optics, biomedical, electrical, all types of engineering, etc. How many times will philosophy be rehashed? It might be useful if you want to be a Philosophy teacher or a debater. I know I will be criticized by some philosophy majors the minute I post this reply but the fact is, if I check the want ads right now, there are many openings for engineers – but none listed for philosophers.
What do you want to do when you leave school? Are you independently wealthy and do not need to work? What productive activity do you like to do? Take the courses that will help you move in that direction.

@LuckyGuy People who major in philosophy learn basic critical thinking skills that many others conspicuously lack. We are actually highly valued in the marketplace, and I garnered many job offers solely on the basis of having a degree in philosophy. In one memorable case, a potential employer was willing to overlook the fact that I met few of the formal requirements that the job listing had requested because he expected a philosophy major to be adaptive enough to get around the lack of background.

While an MA or PhD in philosophy is certainly of very little use for anyone who is not planning a philosophy-related career (and for what it’s worth, philosophy is “rehashed” every single day on hospital ethics boards and in capitol buildings), it is simply false to say that it a BA in the subject is a detriment—even if one takes a purely instrumental approach to education such that one sees its value only in terms of how much money one can make upon leaving school.

I personally do not think that such a view of education is correct. If it matters, though, I left school and immediately started making more than my father has ever made in his life. As a second PS, you do not see job listings for philosophers in your local want ads because we have a separate listing specially reserved for jobs related to philosophy. There are things beyond the realm of your immediate vision.

@SavoirFaire I love your response. GA (I hope you realize I was being a bit sarcastic about the Sociology factories, etc., just to make a point.) It is obvious I went to an engineering school and that is my strength. While there, I learned “critical thinking” too. I took philosophy courses as my required humanities electives. I took technical courses that taught me skills that have lasted a lifetime. Before I graduated I was recruited by a major corporation and I, too, earned more than my parents – making them proud.
I need employees right now for my company. Unfortunately, so many are spending so much time studying the “soft” stuff I cannot use. Good electrical engineers can write their own tickets. An Arduino jock can find a job or partner in a business venture faster than a philosophy major can look up what it is.
If I was spending my money and my time on education I would spend it on things I cannot learn on my own.
I know not everyone is not suited for a technical career. I just see a much greater demand for those that are. I’ve also discovered engineers with business backgrounds are in demand too.

@LuckyGuy Yes, I know you were being sarcastic. And I certainly have nothing against engineering. I am related to three engineers (an uncle, the wife of another uncle, and the husband of a cousin), and I have great respect for each of them. Advising people to go into engineering is certainly a respectable answer to this question. One of the jobs I held before going to graduate school involved working with architects and engineers, and I remember one of the happiest groups of people was actually the apprentice electricians. They loved their job and had a lot of opportunities for advancement.

I just wanted to put in a good word for the humanities, specifically my own field. I was encouraged to go into mathematics and/or science by several of my teachers, but it just never held the right allure for me. While I had all of the required technical skills, I knew I wouldn’t be happy on either of those career paths. I still get to use them: advanced logic is a formal science just like mathematics, making my strong math background quite helpful, and the natural sciences relate to various questions in philosophy. So do the social sciences (one aspect of my work is called “moral psychology”).

As you say, not everyone is suited for a technical career. And the reasons for that can be many and varied. Some will lack the necessary skills and have no interest in pursuing them, some will have the necessary skills but not wish to make a living off of them (or to apply them differently), and some will simply not like the sort of work life that an engineer has. The same could be said of any other field, though, so it is certainly good to be aware of all options.

Well thanks. I’m not inclined towards a math related field. But I’ve always loved english and history. I was curious.