Feeling a bit down about my degree?

I would find a different group of friends, immediately. You are hanging out with the wrong people.

“Ten Reasons a Liberal Arts Degree is Worthless” is just a silly, off-the-cuff space filler. Ask a fluther question and find out how many of us have Liberal Arts degrees and whether we found them useless.

What kind of jobs or employment would your degree prepare you for? What did you concentrate in.

I have a liberal arts degree, and it has afforded me a really interesting professional life.

My degree is supposed to help me get a job in graphic design or something in the “media” field. It’s a digital media degree basically. I want to eventually be a storyboard artist or creative director for movies, tv, or videogames.

Dude, stop complaining.

I graduated with a B.A in English and philosophy, and I did an M.A in philosophy shortly after. I went through only 2 private school interviews before one of them hired me almost on the spot. Granted, it’s not the job I want for life (I want to teach with a school board, high school or elementary) but it happened REALLY quickly and I hadn’t even really prepared for the interviews.

Bottom line: NO degree is pointless.

@gailcalled : I think you should take this person’s advice. Just go on monster and see how many things come up in your field. And you have science and engineering / technology integrated? You’re set, in my opinion. It may take a while but you will find something

@cutiepi92: Have you used the university job center to see what kinds of employment are availble in your field?

@gailcalled well it’s not like I don’t know what jobs I can use my degree for, I feel like I got the right degree for what I want to do. I just don’t know why there is this stigma that liberal arts degrees don’t mean much or that we don’t work as hard as other students. I have had people say to me that my work isn’t hard. That’s what bothers me

@cutiepi92: There is not a universal stigma, I promise you.

I think comments about Liberal Arts being worthless has to do with it not being a very focused degree that you can step into a specific job and get what most people feel is a good salary both right out of school and in the future. Also, there is a lot of noise out there right now by politicians and finance people wanting to get their face in front of people and get paid for their opinions, not to spend money on college when the degree might not have a big pay-off or when you might wind up with a huge debt from taking out school loans. Don’t confuse all that chatter with some sort of value judgement about your interests and degree choice.

Also, college years and just after graduation is one of the most scary and stressful times of life. Self doubt is normal, don’t let it overwhelm you though. The majority of people your age are wondering if they made the right choice for their major and for their career. The statistic several years ago was adults make 3 significant career changes in their life, so wherever you are now in what you think you will do, will change over time. Once out in the workforce you discover new jobs and careers you don’t even know exist until you are inside of an industry. It’s usually a windy path these things.

I wound up with a Marketing degree from the business school at my university. I wish I had tried a few classes in Packaging Engineering. I was very good at math, and had a real interest in the subject, I was just lazy and wanted to get school done. If you have pursued something you really enjoyed, really explored different subjects and classes, then I think that is great. I don’t think that can ever be a mistake. I am not bringing up the example because I happen to be interested in engineering, it is only to say I regret being lazy about my opportunities.

In my personal opinion, Liberal Arts is not a waste! No education is a waste. My grandma used to tell me I should always continue to go to school. I thought she was nuts, because I didn’t like school much when I was younger, but now I understand what she meant. Back in her day, even mine, school was not so expensive, you could go because you were interested, take a class, and not feel like you couldn’t pay a bill, I wish it was still like that. Now the economic consideration ruins it; makes it more complicated.

Since it seems your degree will be useful for what you want to do, I don’t think these other messages out there in the media or said by peers should bother you. They are just repeating things and making themselves supposedly sound clever. You just need to answer right back your plans and that you love the subject matter you study and feel confident in your choices. If you are afraid you made a wrong choice change it, but if you just are letting people get into your head and make you feel badly, forget that mess.

@cutiepi92 I just don’t know why there is this stigma that liberal arts degrees don’t mean much or that we don’t work as hard as other students. I have had people say to me that my work isn’t hard. That’s what bothers me.

Welcome to the life of a stay at home parent. You should hear some of the remarks I’ve heard about my choice to not work outside of the home, and some of the remarks came from my own family members. Do what makes you happy and what is best for you. It’s your life. If someone complains about the choices you have made for your own life, it defines them, not you. Ignore the negativity.

I forgot to address the stigma that the work isn’t hard, I would say that there is some of that stigma out there, but so what. I really empathasize. I am told all the time I should be doing better, doing something that utilizes my brain power. It makes me feel like shit. I have been told this since I was a kid. Sometimes I was being lazy, but sometimes I just had different interests. I do think some degrees are easier, but that has nothing to do with how successful you will be, because career success has to do with hard work, ambition, and pursuing interests, and always putting one foot in front of another.

You are around a lot of “brain” oriented people probably. Their self identity is very closely tied to their IQ. They are told they are smart maybe more often than anything. They are tying together being smart with career choice and in my opinion valuing being smart disproportionately to other things that are important, like being kind, happy, and fulfilled. Some of those same people are doing a degree because they are smart enough to do it, or their family expects them to, instead of because they really want to. They will have their own career choice crisis eventually.

You are around a lot of “brain” oriented people probably. Their self identity is very closely tied to their IQ. They are told they are smart maybe more often than anything. They are tying together being smart with career choice and in my opinion valuing being smart disproportionately to other things that are important, like being kind, happy, and fulfilled

This.

And yeah growing up I was always told that I should be an engineer but I was completely against it. I had teachers tell me that it would be a waste of my intelligence (I was a great student) and it is part of my duty to use it to better the world or something. Thing is, I feel like what I chose to do makes me happy and betters the world, just in a different way. I hate being judged for that.

I appreciate all of your words of encouragement. It’s just sometimes hard to ignore all of the negativity :(

Maybe these guys will think differently when you hire them to produce a video or an animation for you. You have artistic skills and understanding of digital media. Sounds good to me. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Liberal arts degrees are worthless only if you consider education as an investment toward making lots of money and being able to buy lots of shit.

That is lowest common denominator kind of thinking. Distance yourself from people who think like that.

Not an engineer! OMG, you may be condemned to a life no more successful than dropouts like Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain), Charles Dickens, Harper Lee, Jack Kerouac, William Faulkner, H.G. Wells or George Bernard Shaw. Wealth and fame might as easily elude you as it did college dropouts like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren or Mark Zuckerberg. How could you so handicap yourself? Given what happened to the list above, you are clearly doomed—but only so long as you think you are.

You made your bed now sleep in it.

What did you expect people who slave away at rigorous degrees to think of your midstream change? Especially when you were one of them once.

” but why do people have to belittle other people’s education? ”

I think you too young to know the difference between schooling and education.

Still, it is your life and so do as you will. Will you be this easily swayed by peoples opinions, true or not, all your life?

There are always going to be judgments made between disciplines and departments, especially between the arts and sciences. It goes both ways, it isn’t just science looking down on arts. Once you have your degree and are working among people who have similar interests and values, you will stop noticing it. I wouldn’t be too concerned about what other people think of your choice of career. It takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round.

Whoa now… it’s not about your degree. Full disclosure, I’m an engineer. I did not like engineering school, it was refined hell. It was much much more work than my other degree that I don’t use and is functionally worthless. I LOVE building and tinkering though and I was blessed to find a job that allowed me to do that. But… It did require the degree, so I had to put up with all of the B.S. in engineering school. This is what the B.S. is actually for….it weeds out those who can’t AND those who don’t have an interest in doing that kind of work. That said, it’s just a sheet of expensive paper. What you do comes from your skill, talent, drive and the demand for your particular chosen trade. Engineering school is less education and more scientific training, liberal arts is more education and less training. Apples and oranges… just because you go to the same place to get them does not mean they are equivalent or have the same purpose. You should be proud of your degree regardless of its worth on the job market. Find a skill/trade you enjoy and follow your passion, success generally will follow. I have a sister with a degree in psychology and makes a great living in music. I have several good friends with lucrative careers in graphic arts. Graphic design is a good field and in demand if you know how to market yourself.

@bookish1 The idea may be that people with a Liberal Arts degree don’t want to end up at Starbucks, being secretaries or doing menial office labor. It’s all well and good for now.