People with "useless" majors and degrees, what do you do now and do you regret it?

I majored in a hard science at a top 5 US college. Finished with honors, then made the big mistake of going on to a Ph.D program in a related field. Now I do academic research on short-term contracts, with little meaningful hope for advancement. Last year I made about 48k and I live in one of the world's most expensive cities. My wife and I are getting old enough now that the option of having kids will soon be off the table (may already be too late). I think about killing myself most days.

gdm wrote:

I majored in a hard science at a top 5 US college. Finished with honors, then made the big mistake of going on to a Ph.D program in a related field. Now I do academic research on short-term contracts, with little meaningful hope for advancement. Last year I made about 48k and I live in one of the world's most expensive cities. My wife and I are getting old enough now that the option of having kids will soon be off the table (may already be too late). I think about killing myself most days.

Luckily, many liberals are following in your foot steps to extinction.

4 Real wrote:

Luckily, many liberals are following in your foot steps to extinction.

What compels you to say something like that? Just because someone has different political ideologies than you doesn't mean they should feel like killing themselves. If someone said something like that to you, how would it make you feel?

I can't believe what this website is coming to, so many mean people.

That's not very nice wrote:

4 Real wrote:

Luckily, many liberals are following in your foot steps to extinction.

What compels you to say something like that? Just because someone has different political ideologies than you doesn't mean they should feel like killing themselves. If someone said something like that to you, how would it make you feel?

I can't believe what this website is coming to, so many mean people.

FYI, I was referencing his decision not to "procreate."

WTBS libtards are an evil lot of SOB's who have long been defeated by the American Citizenry.

Went to a good but not great state school and majored in business, perhaps the most useless and non specific major around. Average gpa. Did not enjoy my major but I'm not sure I would have enjoyed much given my lack of maturity.

Worked hard to interview with any company I could. Was lucky that my university had a great roster of companies hiring on campus. Managed to get one job offer but it was a good one with a major bank running a great training program.

Busted my butt once I started working. Worked long hours and made myself useful to the right people. Rose through the ranks as a junior banker. Got an MBA. Became a senior banker. Found a new bank once my old bank failed to pay me market value. You only get market if you leave or threaten to leave.

Now spending my middle years in a comfortable but challenging enough job to make it worth going to in the morning. Gets me out of the house and stimulates me from time to time. Sure it's not perfect, but the pay is better than the LetsRun ideal and it's stable. I never broke 4:10 in the mile though.

There's a certain soul sucking aspect to the job. Lots of underqualified, unprincipled, over competitive jerks fighting for the same opportunities. Politics are most important if you hope to rise above a certain level. Hate the political game personally. Being hard working and principled only gets you so far but beats selling your soul.

Overall this path led me to be able to do what I want outside work within reason. Stress can be tough but it's over by 5 or 6 most days and some days I sit here and read LetsRun. If I changed it would be to do something with more day to day variety.

For comparison i graduated in computer science and make north of 150k a few years out of school.

gdm wrote:

I majored in a hard science at a top 5 US college. Finished with honors, then made the big mistake of going on to a Ph.D program in a related field. Now I do academic research on short-term contracts, with little meaningful hope for advancement. Last year I made about 48k and I live in one of the world's most expensive cities. My wife and I are getting old enough now that the option of having kids will soon be off the table (may already be too late). I think about killing myself most days.

Don't kill yourself. You sound just like me in my 20s and 30s, except we had kids anyway. Things eventually turned around for me at 40 when I found a niche government research job. It was a long struggle that feels well worth it now.

4 REAL wrote:

That's not very nice wrote:

What compels you to say something like that? Just because someone has different political ideologies than you doesn't mean they should feel like killing themselves. If someone said something like that to you, how would it make you feel?

I can't believe what this website is coming to, so many mean people.

FYI, I was referencing his decision not to "procreate."

WTBS libtards are an evil lot of SOB's who have long been defeated by the American Citizenry.

Is that you, Hooyah Bob?

Other PhD wrote:

gdm wrote:

I majored in a hard science at a top 5 US college. Finished with honors, then made the big mistake of going on to a Ph.D program in a related field. Now I do academic research on short-term contracts, with little meaningful hope for advancement. Last year I made about 48k and I live in one of the world's most expensive cities. My wife and I are getting old enough now that the option of having kids will soon be off the table (may already be too late). I think about killing myself most days.

Don't kill yourself. You sound just like me in my 20s and 30s, except we had kids anyway. Things eventually turned around for me at 40 when I found a niche government research job. It was a long struggle that feels well worth it now.

Did you finally make assistant manager at "Starbucks?"

What? Where do you live that people thought mechanical engineering was some sort of crazy career choice.

krispy kremlin wrote:

Most people with degrees in social work and other equally useless diplomas use a strategy of "lie and deny" as they live out their lives of self-hatred and liberal voting.

Got my degree in social work a few years back. Currently in graduate school for my LCPC. Pretty sick.

Currently the Junior CEO of a Generic Marshmallow Company that is the top seller in the Baltic Region, making 83,000 Rubles a year. I live on a Pontoon boat and haven't been to a doctor in 17 years. I have a Welding Certificate, a BA in Outdoor Physics and a minor in Early American Civilization, went on to get a Master's in Proton Engineering from a top 25 school where we designed the first ever Flux Capacitor and hearing aids for Dolphins. Then I took a break and I road my bicycle from Cape Horn to the boarder of Texas in 164 days without getting mugged, beaten or held for ransom. I started that trip with $23.67 USD to my name. During the trip I met a stranded tourist in Mexico who worked for the Marshmallow Company, he was so thankful for my help that he offered me a job so I moved to Lithuania and the rest is history. That's exactly how I drew it up when I left high school...

Graduated from a top school with a major in biochemistry and I totally regret it. Wish I would have majored in Women's Studies or something in that ballpark.

fullofregratz wrote:

Graduated from a top school with a major in biochemistry and I totally regret it. Wish I would have majored in Women's Studies or something in that ballpark.

My niece's five years and roughly $200K (all expenses, not just tuition, but not accounting for lost income in those years) spent on a theatre arts/some-sort-of -history ("I must follow my passions") degree at an elite college was surely worth it as she now is an assistant in a day care with no bennies and barely minimum wage changing diapers and entertaining 3-year olds. Desperate for a "successful" ie: "rich" husband to latch on to. She's no Kate Upton, so she's not getting many bites and bitches about so many of wealthy stay-at-home mom's drive up in new Land Rovers an dump their kids at her place to got to yoga and then out to lunch. It's a jungle out there Millennials.

Crazy small world. I grew up in upstate NY, ran at at D3 school in the SUNY system. I got my undergrad in marketing. Considered going to dental school, did the paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Decided against it. Spent 12 months doing labor for cash and running while splitting a college house with six people for cheap rent. Bought a one way to ticket Eastern Europe to see the world and ended up in Lithuania as a yack herder. I guess the pursuit of the degree is just another step of the journey sometimes.

What???

I grew up the son of a Yack herder in Lithuania, but my dream was to come to the United States. Along the way I began my athletic pursuits in running. I was fortunate to be good enough to get the attention of a coach who was visiting Europe and I had the opportunity to go to America to compete and pursue my education.

I attended two years at a community college and two and a half years at a D2 school. Upon graduation I returned home to take over the family farm, but my father was older and decided to sell it. So I answered an add in the newspaper for a marketing director at a Marshmallow company and ended up with the job, however my degree was in World History. Funny how life works out.

I attended a liberal arts university and got my BA in Music. To answer the question: no, I do not regret it. I graduated a year ago. I have probably made in the ballpark of $15k in the past year...but you know what, I don't care. There are some nice things about having money, but I wish more people would realize that money does not bring happiness, at least in the fullest, true sense. Regarding liberal arts education, if it is truly a classical liberal arts education, it is never a waste. Too many people today are only being taught skills so that they can have a successful career. This is important, but what value is that if the whole human person is not formed?

Anyway, I realize that to get a job in which I would use my major, I would never be making huge amounts of money, but as I mentioned above, that doesn't bother me. If I tried to right now, I could get a job which would pay $40-$45k, with opportunities to move up, but it is by my own conscious choice that I choose to do a different job. Right now I am an organist and choir director at a Catholic church, and it amounts to a part-time position. Since I am a Catholic who has strong opinions about liturgical music, I currently only choose to take jobs that will allow me to at least mostly only provide liturgical music which fits those opinions.

In the future, if I begin going on a path which is certainly leading towards marriage, I will certainly begin to make sure I can support a family - by no means do I have illusions of doing so on $15k per year (and possibly whatever my future wife would make). I will adjust as my life circumstances require me to. I'll close with a statement which many will probably disagree with, especially anti-religious people (but FYI I don't use this as an excuse to be lazy - I realize that we on earth must put forth effort on our end as well): I strongly believe that if one trusts in God and asks for His help and strives to live life as He wants, one will never be wanting for anything in this life.

I'll give you youngins a bit of free advice.

Go to college for whatever you are most interested in studying. Think about careers you actually have a passion for, and do what is necessary to get qualified for that. But, don't take out more college debt than your expected first year salary. After that, just learn to live on two thirds of what you make, don't go into debt, and save the rest.

I know a ton of people who took the road they were supposed to rather than what they were passionate about and lived to regret it. There are about to be a lot of frustrated, mid-career engineers and scientists in this country because we are pushing everyone in that direction.

If it is what gets you up in the morning, by all means pursue it. If not, do what you love and adjust your lifestyle to accommodate.

Bottom line is I am 50+ and the people I went to college with who had the "useless" degrees seem a lot more happy than the others to me.

"There are about to be a lot of frustrated, mid-career engineers and scientists in this country because we are pushing everyone in that direction."

+1