What would you tell your kid if they wanted to major in medieval history??

Your child will likely change his or her mind. Most people change their major something like five times.

There are LOTS of fun seasonal jobs at the Renaissance Fair.

You have 3 weeks to move out.

MarcusM wrote:

This is nuts?

Anyone who thinks that is nuts is nuts. Do you think that everything that isn't stem should just go away?

Odk wrote:

MarcusM wrote:

This is nuts?

Anyone who thinks that is nuts is nuts. Do you think that everything that isn't stem should just go away?

Of course not. Let the rich kids who won't have to worry about finding a job after graduation take it.

Not so smart for a middle class kid though.

Only the wackohs of US Marine Corps have any need for Medieval Hisory majors given their entire organization is based on medieval principles

This is one place where I think that the government should intervene.

There should be no more than 50 students accepted in that programs across the entire US every year. Only one University should be allowed to offer such a program.

Useless programs should be controlled somehow...

People just end up packing debt, studying useless stuff and then what? It's almost criminal...

some advice wrote:

Your child will likely change his or her mind. Most people change their major something like five times.

And that's why we have a student loan CRISIS in this country.

Most of the people who are so critical of these "useless" degrees are people who did not go to university. Most people who go to college don't end up using their degrees anyway. College just teaches you a way of thinking and processing information. It teaches you to think critically. This is something that is clearly lacking on this message board.

Rather than indicating this is a "bad" major choice, try to enlighten him on "better" major choices that tie into a viable career path after graduation. A rock solid statistic is to see what the on campus recruiting was like last year for different majors. Most don't get recruited directly. The common ones are business, education, and STEM (including Comp Sci).

I think it would depend on what the rest of his plan was. There are plenty of great careers that can be entered from any major. If the plan was "I'm going to complete my med school prerequs while majoring in medieval history," that would be fine. If the plan is "I'm going to major in medieval history and then ???," I might expect a bit more thought before I start paying the tuition.

tell him to track down others who have that major and ask them what they do now

There are no useless majors. Educating yourself is never useless even if a major never leads to a cushy job. If you end up selling cars because your major didn't lead to a fantastic career you're still better off as an educated car salesman than you'd be as an uneducated one.

As others said, ask him and then what?

If he doesn't have an answer, ask him if wants to get familiar with asking, do you want combo with fries and a drink?

HRE wrote:

There are no useless majors. Educating yourself is never useless even if a major never leads to a cushy job. If you end up selling cars because your major didn't lead to a fantastic career you're still better off as an educated car salesman than you'd be as an uneducated one.

The uneducated one won't be 75k in debt

I have a BA in Classics, with a minor in African Studies. I got into corporate IT straight out of college. I make a comfy $120kish per year in an area of the country where that's a lot of money (midwest). My classes taught me the ability to take a great volume of information from dozens of books, synthesize it and break it down into important ideas. Works well in my setting. YMMV.

Fhfgjfgjvn wrote:

HRE wrote:

There are no useless majors. Educating yourself is never useless even if a major never leads to a cushy job. If you end up selling cars because your major didn't lead to a fantastic career you're still better off as an educated car salesman than you'd be as an uneducated one.

The uneducated one won't be 75k in debt

That's another issue.

I say let them make their own choices and live with the results. I majored in Geology because I enjoyed it. My dad disagreed, because he saw low job prospects, but I have had a great career and will retire early. My best friend's daughter was an art history major. She probably makes more than I do, and met and married a person who is also well established in a great career- because he found her enchanting. I know a person who majored in French. She makes a huge income, translating for a corporation who does business with France.

Who knows? At least they followed their heart and enjoyed college. The rest of their lives might be less rewarding intellectually, but also might not be. In my opinion, it's worth the risk!

You either have to go to a great school or have a great major to show a decent ROI.

If you're at an Ivy or top 20 school like Duke, Chicago, etc., study Midieval History. If not, study CompSci, Engineering, Math, Physics, Pre-Med, etc.