DUmmies Discuss Useless Degrees

[GOBUCKS]

DUmmy asdjrocky has a daugher who's a budding moonbat, apparently on her way to an unmarketable education:

asdjrocky (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 12:28 AM
Original message
My daughter has to pick a major at the end of the year. Anthropology?
I don't need to say how proud I am of her, but I will. She likes science, she loves reading, she's a liberal and she's a beauty and she has a kind heart. She also has a dad that didn't quite make it through high school. I need help.

She's already light years ahead of me on brain cells and how to use them, she's a sophomore and at the end of the year she is supposed to declare.

Any anthropologists in the house? Anyone that can point me in the right direction so when she asks me about it again I don't sound like the blubbering idiot that I am?

What jobs? What's the best field of anthropology? She's good with Latin, and she's full on great at ASL, don't ask me how she got this smart, so I was thinking maybe Linguistics?

I know DU has the smartest people in the world, please help.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9230886
ASL whiz? She could get $8/hr. doing hand signals for moonbat campaign speeches. Great career.

EFerrari  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 12:33 AM
Response to Original message
1. I read a long time ago that most college students change their majors
a few times. So remember, her choice won't imprison her. She can always switch.

You lucky dad! 

Yeah, lucky. An extra three or four years of tuition checks.

asdjrocky (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 12:36 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. Yeah. I was thinking the same thing when she went to college.
I told he I didn't care what she got her degree in, and I expected her to change her mind many, many times.

Good advice: What you do doesn't matter, and there's no need to be committed to anything.
 

EFerrari  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 01:18 AM
Response to Reply #3
8. I doubled in English and Antrho and finally went with English.
It was the mid 80s but I had two kids and there was no daycare at Gombe. Also, the English faculty seemed to more genuinely enjoy teaching as opposed to dealing with us as an unfortunate chore. Where she is makes a difference.

Gombe?? Africa?? Anyway, poor, stupid Beth is a good resource. Her plan led her, after many years of struggle, to living in a little camping trailer out in the California desert, crammed in with her mother, two big dogs, and a hostile, mentally unbalanced brother. But in all fairness, she combined her English degree with an almost total lack of intelligence.

Kali  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jan-30-10 12:34 AM
Response to Original message
2. genteel poverty
Anthro is good for travel, teaching - not so much for financial success. If she is really good with hard science physical anthropology/bioarcheaology may be more satisfying than cultural.

Need a masters for sure, PhD is better.

With a masters in anthropology, if she's really cute, she can get a job making coffee somewhere. With a PhD, she may be able to teach the next generation of moonbat kids.

asdjrocky (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 12:39 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Thanks.
I've always told her to go after a passion (I know it's a cliche) and that really is what I want for her.

I also told her it sounded like she was walking into more school, and she was okay with that.

As far as genteel poverty goes, she's been with me all her life, so she can hang with that.

"Going after a passion" in college usually means "easy courses with no math". It also means nearly perpetual unemployment, or low paid hourly work after graduation. Lots of B.A. baristas.

Lex  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 12:49 AM
Response to Original message
5. Biotechnology?
Working on the human genome project and stuff like that?

Right. That would be like getting a useless degree in film, and then directing a Brad Pitt movie immediately after graduation.

 

asdjrocky (1000+ posts)        Sat Jan-30-10 01:52 AM
Response to Reply #5
10. Wow, I'll send that to her.
Maybe she'll be able to make heads or tails of it.

EastTennesseeDem  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jan-30-10 01:16 AM
Response to Original message
7. One of my anthro TA's is studying internet anthropology
I don't know what it entails but it sounds awesome.

"Internet anthropology" is more commonly known as "pornography".


Advice from a disillusioned moonbat:

Haole Girl  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jan-30-10 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. BA in Anthropology here 
If I had it to do over again, honestly, I wouldn't.

Unless your daughter goes all the way with it
she will have a difficult time finding employment .
Especially in today's job market.

[Vagabond]

My wife's BA is anthropology. She realized she didn't want to spen the next twenty years digging in the dirt with someone else getting credit.

[NHSparky]

Unless there is some engineering or pure science (i.e., Physics, Chem, Bio) involved, she better get used to running the fryolator for a while after graduation.  Even the engineering grads are having a tough time getting jobs--I don't even want to imagine what the people with degrees in underwater basket weaving are having to do.

[Tucker]

Maybe the Moonbat's daughter can answer the question; if man came from Apes, why are there still Apes?

[Lord Undies]

Maybe the Moonbat's daughter can answer the question; if man came from Apes, why are there still Apes?

If dinosaurs turned into today's birds, where did the birds come from back in the time of the dinosaurs?

[Splashdown]

A nursing degree or a degree in the medical field would allow her to walk into a job and actually help people. Libs love to help people, don't they?

[The Village Idiot]

If dinosaurs turned into today's birds, where did the birds come from back in the time of the dinosaurs?

lol

Her favorite show on TV is BONES, right? She thinks it must be "cool" to do that. I have a 15-year old niece who thinks like that, I help her with science homework. lol.

[Lord Undies]

A nursing degree or a degree in the medical field would allow her to walk into a job and actually help people. Libs love to help people, don't they?

No, they don't.  But they love to be dishonest about it.  They especially hate individuals, which is how the medical profession works - treat the individual.  

The lefty's loathing of the individual is why most of their propaganda and lies spotlight faceless groups and imaginary collectives.  They can tolerate humanity only as long as it is being represented by lefty myths.

[Mike220]

Unless there is some engineering or pure science (i.e., Physics, Chem, Bio) involved, she better get used to running the fryolator for a while after graduation.  Even the engineering grads are having a tough time getting jobs--I don't even want to imagine what the people with degrees in underwater basket weaving are having to do.

Architecture here (for grad school). The job market has 4 years to get better...

[Specbid]

she's a liberal and she's a beauty and she has a kind heart. She also has a dad that didn't quite make it through high school. I need help.

You need help huh? Well, here we go...tell her to get a tramp stamp and start practicing her lap dances. At least she'll have work for a decade.

[NHSparky]

Yep--the ultimate goal of most DUmmies:

[franksolich]

Gombe?? Africa?? Anyway, poor, stupid Beth is a good resource. Her plan led her, after many years of struggle, to living in a little camping trailer out in the California desert, crammed in with her mother, two big dogs, and a hostile, mentally unbalanced brother.

Doug's ex-wife does lead a rather, uh, interesting fantasy life, doesn't she?

The invention of ancestors--including one who hobnobbed with Leon Trotsky in Mexico--half a world away from her real ancestors, her "struggles" among the suppressed of the lettuce fields, her "intimate friendship" with a one-dimensional internet personality, and now this, her studies in Africa.

Which, oddly, Doug's ex-wife has never mentioned before, in her tens of thousands of campfires and comments on Skins's island.

I suspect Doug's ex-wife just got done reading a biography of il Duce Bo's late mother, or something like that.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I know DU has the smartest people in the world, please help.

 

[ScubaGuy]

Look at the bright side.  In 4 to 6 years we'll have a new primitive on the island pissing and moaning about her advanced degree and her minimum wage job.

[diesel driver]

A nursing degree or a degree in the medical field would allow her to walk into a job and actually help people. Libs love to help people, don't they?

Libs only like to help the people that help THEM....

Or at least SAY they will help....

[Celtic Rose]

lol

Her favorite show on TV is BONES, right? She thinks it must be "cool" to do that. I have a 15-year old niece who thinks like that, I help her with science homework. lol.

I wanted to be Dana Scully when I was in high school. I sometimes still wish I'd gone that route, or nursing. 

However, I have a "useless" BA in History, and I'm employed with a really good job that allows me to use my writing skills.  BA's aren't useless, but you have to be willing to take an entry level job and prove yourself at it.  That said, I'm currently studying for the GMAT and considering applying to Graduate Schools for an MBA.

[zeitgeist]

I wanted to be Dana Scully when I was in high school. I sometimes still wish I'd gone that route, or nursing. 

However, I have a "useless" BA in History, and I'm employed with a really good job that allows me to use my writing skills.  BA's aren't useless, but you have to be willing to take an entry level job and prove yourself at it.  That said, I'm currently studying for the GMAT and considering applying to Graduate Schools for an MBA.

Why an MBA?  Would it assist in your current profession or an entrepreneurial endeavor?   I agree with your premise that BA's are not useless but MBA's seem to have become a dime a dozen with lots of people getting them with no real end use in mind. (I know one teacher who got one because she needed a masters to get a raise, didn't matter in what.  The district was paying and she found a fast pace executive course near by.)

[jukin]

Get a B*S degree and not a B*A and things will be much better.

[AllosaursRus]

I doubled in English and Antrho

Huh? WTF is anthro????????????????????????????

Sorry, someone else has 'probly asked this question, but I just started reading this BS!

ETA: Okay, now I understand. How the hell are the 2 connected? Anthropology and English???????

[Celtic Rose]

Huh? WTF is anthro????????????????????????????

Sorry, someone else has 'probly asked this question, but I just started reading this BS!

Anthropology. 

[AllosaursRus]

Anthropology. 

Yeah, I figured it out farther down the thread. Still I don't see any correlation. How do the two complement each other? You would think you would try to be some how close, wouldn't ya? After all, don't ya want your classes to be somewhat aiming for the same goal?

I must be missin' sumpin'.

[BlueStateSaint]

I wanted to be Dana Scully when I was in high school. I sometimes still wish I'd gone that route, or nursing.  

However, I have a "useless" BA in History, and I'm employed with a really good job that allows me to use my writing skills.  BA's aren't useless, but you have to be willing to take an entry level job and prove yourself at it.  That said, I'm currently studying for the GMAT and considering applying to Graduate Schools for an MBA.

And therin lies the problem.  Today's mentality is, "I studied for all this time; I deserve that $65,000 a year starting salary."  The DUmpster is rife with this 'tude.

[Splashdown]

And therin lies the problem.  Today's mentality is, "I studied for all this time; I deserve that $65,000 a year starting salary."  The DUmpster is rife with this 'tude.

That's the key right there.

I also have a "useless" degree (MA English); but I also enjoy WORKING! That's the key. Also, my BA is almost 20 years old; it was a different time back then.

[Celtic Rose]

Why an MBA?  Would it assist in your current profession or an entrepreneurial endeavor?   I agree with your premise that BA's are not useless but MBA's seem to have become a dime a dozen with lots of people getting them with no real end use in mind. (I know one teacher who got one because she needed a masters to get a raise, didn't matter in what.  The district was paying and she found a fast pace executive course near by.)

Honestly, I guess I've been looking at the income potential as I look at my job.  Eventually I could make some very good money, but that would be quite a ways down the road as far as I can tell.  Nothing I study would increase my income potential in my current job, and I don't particularly want to be a lawyer. 

I enjoy finance and economics, and looking at what MBA's make (assuming they can find a related job) I could make significantly more once I have one.  Also, I'm considering focusing on Accounting and getting a CPA because it seems like it would give me options.  I have a friend who is a CPA, and she has been able to stay home with her kids, but serve as an accountant for several small businesses to bring in some extra money. 

Plus, I have a dream of someday owning my own business, and an MBA would help with that. 

[GOBUCKS]

Why an MBA?  Would it assist in your current profession or an entrepreneurial endeavor?   I agree with your premise that BA's are not useless but MBA's seem to have become a dime a dozen with lots of people getting them with no real end use in mind. (I know one teacher who got one because she needed a masters to get a raise, didn't matter in what.  The district was paying and she found a fast pace executive course near by.)

MBAs are a dime a dozen only if you're reading about them in Time or Newsweek. If you're an entrepreneur, an MBA may or may not be valuable, depending on what you're doing. If you're straight out of school, and MBA still just about guarantees you will be able to get a job, and you will not be starting at the absolute ground level. Unemployed new MBAs that are constantly being interviewed for news articles are looking for a certain location, a certain industry, or a certain company. If you're already in a big corporation, regardless of the line of business, an MBA is worth its weight in gold. Success still depends on the quality of your work, but the MBA confers instant credibility and the opportunity to demonstrate your ability. It can accelerate career progress by years.