How can you tell if your degree will really be "useless" or not?
I started college majoring in cybersecurity. It was boring as all hell and I couldn’t stand it so I dropped it and am now a Criminal Justice Major. I am looking towards getting some certificate in counseling and I may pursue that as a degree after my associates as I would like to be a victim/witness advocate.
I feel that I have a good plan and that I’m choosing a career I’ll enjoy and one that I want to do. I have a lot of people saying that CJ is useless. I try to ignore those people but even though I am super passionate about this and I love all my classes (much more than the IT ones) I sometimes feel doubtful. I don’t mind that it will be a stressful job. I feel that it will be worth it and same with the fact that most careers in the field don’t pay well. I don’t mind that. As I said, I feel it will be worth it and that this isn’t a useless degree. But how do I actually make sure it won’t end up screwing me over? (I am doing related clubs at school and will be doing other extra things once I get a car to help me stand out and gain experience)
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No degree from an accredited college or university is worthless. It is worth what you make of it.
Most degrees demonstrate the ability to pursue and complete a course of study and have learned to evaluate and make decisions. Most people use very little of the specifics of their major in real life.
You can’t. My undergraduate degree was in French History.
Have I ever used it in any way? Never.
But I will treasure forever the time and discovery I had at college.
Having said that, CJ is actually a pretty useful degree, especially when you learn about abnormal psychology (and its relation to crime). That’s interesting and applicable.
If the majority of graduates still live at home past 35.
Having a job that pays well but makes you miserable will only leave you miserable and stressed out. Having a job that you love although it doesn’t pay as much will make you excited to go into work every morning and reduce the stress from work. You might not be able to buy as many “things” with the lesser paying job; but if you’re happier, you won’t miss those things
There’s millions of IT people competing for the same job where maybe there are less CJ graduates going for the same job. Being passionate about your field will show through in the interview process and you may well be in greater demand when it comes to hiring
Money isn’t everything
I strongly suggest that you look into volunteer work in a local public defender’s office, where I guarantee that if you can last 2 months without being thoroughly disabused of your passion for the field and emerge with your idealism intact—you should not regret your choice.
If there is a demand for workers in your major or a closely related major then it isn’t a waste of time.
You can tell by how much money you’ll make over your lifetime as compared to someone who has no degree.
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