Reflection of ‘The Economic Guide to Picking a College Major’
Like every article, there were a few words that I couldn’t understand or comprehend. A few were Skepticism, fraught, Actuarial, correlation, and lucrative. Correlation means having a mutual connection between two or more things. The author used it in a manner of comparing a major of how popular and lucrative it is. Lucrative means to produce a great deal of profit. I came to the assumption of why the author put this in the text because, like I said before, the author had compared two key concepts when it came to choosing college majors.
As it says in the text that other students go for the major that earns more or the most income in their career. For example, graduating a degree in petroleum engineering’s, one of the highest paying majors, average income is $110,000, five times more than the salary of a degree in library science. There are clear differences in the income earnings between
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different majors. Another example would be the fact that actuarial science, a profession dealing with the measurements and management of risks and uncertainty, earns more that accounting majors. Inside the text it states that, “Economics majors, for example, earns $7,00-18 percent-more on average than ‘general business’ majors, but economics is also generally considered a harder more prestigious major, and therefore tends to draw more top students; it’s unlikely all those business majors could have gotten themselves a $7,00 raise just by switching to econ. Similarly, majoring in astrophysics won’t net a $62,000 salary for someone who flunks Calculus 101.” In the passage it is a fact that the unemployment and underemployment rate is rising. It also states that the connection earning and unemployment is surprisingly weak due to the fact that college students have an edge when it comes to choosing a career, regardless of what major they are graduating or graduated with. According to a report from Burning Glass Technologies finds that employers prefer employees with a bachelor's degree, even though some orthodox jobs don’t necessarily require one. In the passage it says, “ Nearly two-thirds of job postings for executive assistants now demand a bachelor’s degree, even though only about one-fifth of people currently employed in the field have one. As a result, the unemployment rate for young college graduates is 5.8 percent, compared to a 9.8 percent for those with a high school diploma but no bachelor’s degree,” suggesting that more and more jobs are getting more and more uptight about the education of their employers and employees. Many people, college graduates and students who end up in the underemployment get stuck in low-paying jobs such as waiters, janitors and retail clerks. Also, students majoring in cosmetics and culinary arts are the most unemployed, with more than a third working in low-salary service jobs. Theatre arts and drama are brimming the top of this list making the stereotype of artists working in coffee shops are more than just a little true. As I have said earlier, underemployment and unemployment is a real problem. A solution to this could be to make more careers and jobs that consist of more of the common majors, such as psychology, or to not make these majors an option to pursue. With all the talk about how there isn’t enough career opportunities is getting pretty iritating. If there is a problem with the majors given and the careers, try to at least solve the problem at hand instead of trying to beat around the bush and ignore it. There weren’t any sections of the passage that either confused me or misunderstood. The only thing that I don’t understand is why people pay such high tuition for their education only to have their dreams somewhat crushed in a way as they try to pursue a career with their new major, but sadly ending up waiting tables at a fast food joint. Why spend so much money on something like this only to be denied your dream of pursuing a career with a specific major? It doesn’t make any sense at all. As the beginning of the passage says, “Don’t be pre-med of you aren’t planning to go to medical school; don’t assume that all ‘STEM’-science, technology, engineering and math-majors aren’t the same; and if you study drama, be prepared to wait tables.” In addition to the question included with the passage, how strongly will salary factor in to my decision to find a career, won’t factor anything at all.
I don’t care about the salary, income, or profit that comes with my dream major. I want to major in Criminal Justice/Social, and am going to need a four year bachelor’s degree. The income doesn’t worry me as long as I will be pursuing a job that makes me happy and doing something that I love to do for a living. The salary for an FBI agent ( Federal Bureau of Investigation) is varied from about $43,500 to $69,900 depending on your status. The thing is, yeah I care for the salary, but it isn’t why I want to become what I want to be come. The reason for this is because this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to be happy at what I do and what I make isn’t based off of that, rather than working for a job that has a salary that I can live for but be miserable. As you wanting to be a teacher, and not a cashier at McDonald’s. Wouldn’t you chose the
same?
Thousands of people end up enrolling in college after they graduate from high school. Most of them want to further their education so they can make something out of themselves. It is a common idea among many, that college will end up increasing one’s average income. In the article, The College Payoff Illusion, by Edwin S. Rubenstein, he wrote that “In 1997, college graduates earned an average of $40,508 versus just $23,970 for non-college graduates”. The statistic shows that graduates are making more but does it have more to do with their college degree or their personality?
1. The Statement that best summarizes Nemko’s position is, “College is a chain saw. Only in certain situations is it the right tool,” because most of their argument talks about why college isn’t for everyone, and why more people should pursue an alternative path.
In Preparing for a Career, Bok said “The practical question then is not whether many students are unwisely choosing vocational majors, but whether both liberal arts and vocational programs could do a better job of reconciling the career needs of students with the other goals of a rounded undergraduate education” ( 341). According to Bok, many students majored in vocational college because it is more beneficial for them; vocational majors are in high demand and pay more than liberal arts. Bok argued that it doesn’t matter what majors the students chose but what can college do to help students in both field. According to Bok, “Employers who complain about the college graduates they hire grumble not only about the lack of sufficient technical and vocational skills but also about deficiencies in speaking, writing and other competencies long associated with a traditional college education” (343). Bok states that most college graduates are lack of writing, and speaking skills because students does not take liberal arts major seriously; they take liberal arts because it is a
Every parent wants their child to go to college in order to gain a higher level of learning, but is this truly the best option? In recent years, many have begun to question whether or not a college education is necessary in today’s world. It’s not. College is not worth its cost because of its financial burdens, lack of teaching hands on experience, and its very particular methods that don’t work with some people.
In “Is college worth it?” the writer discusses which colleges and degrees will be better for their price and how the careers from these degrees will help pay off college debt. Throughout the article it is discussed how colleges that have lower scores and ranking will not offer financial help to students. To be able to pay off college debt, it is better to go to a college with higher scores. Since the cost of tuition is rising, more people are in need of financial aid, and to pay off this debt quicker, people are needing a career to do so. In order to have a career that makes a lot of money and pay off student loans, you need to get a degree that is in a field with a high demand.
College allows the student to choose their own path in life and not just take any job they can get. For instance, I have always wanted to teach and I like the added perk of having the summers off. Obtaining a degree will ensure that you earn your maximum earning potential. On average a person that has their Bachelor degree earns about $15,000 a year more than high school graduates, while associate degree holders make about $7,000 a year more (Graff, They say / I say: the moves that matter in academic writing, 2014, pp. 208-225). However, over time the gap significantly widens to almost $50,000 a year, in favor of the college degree holder. Some might would argue that not all degrees are equal with some paying significantly less. I agree that the type of degree one receives directly impacts their salary, but the benefits of obtaining a degree are still valuable. In an article written by Terry Caron, his researched showed that unemployment rates significantly decreased the more education an individual received (Caron, "College Graduates vs. Non - College Graduates: Unemployment Statistics.")As Freeman Hrabowski mentions, “College graduates are much more likely to be employed than those with only a high school diploma and earn substantially higher salaries” (Graff, They say / I say: the moves that matter in academic writing, 2014, pp. 259-263).
A college degree is one of the best educations that a person can get. It not only develops your mind, but it helps to develop you as a person as well. No matter what kind of degree you receive, whether it be a bachelors, associates, or masters you are more likely to get a better job than without it or with just a high school diploma. Workers with a college degree will earn much more and are much less likely to be unemployed than those with only a high school diploma. This paper will argue that with a college degree you are more likely to get a higher paying job than without a degree. I will support this argument with multiple scholarly articles and other valid sources to further convince you.
However, there are many cases where individuals follow their heart instead of marketability and major in something they like versus the community’s needs. Yet still end up working in a different field from which they studied in . Everyone has their own destiny and desire and what they choose to study in college is up to them, hopefully they are making decisions based off what they like and not what others think is best.
Making a decision for the future can be hard, but it can be even harder when people are torn between their passions and meeting other’s expectations. In today’s generation, most students are expected to have their career chosen by the time they are out of High School. They are trained to plan and map out their entire lives. Yet, college students still end up having an undecided major by the time they start their freshman year in college. A huge issue that is present in today’s society is that college students chose their major for the wrong reasons. Parents pressure students to pursue careers in business, medicine, politics, and law; however, unless practiced with passion, those careers are pointless.
In “Should Everyone Go to College?” there are multiple figures depicting the return of investment on different Bachelor’s degrees. Among the lowest ROIs include the majors of liberal arts, literature, and the arts (215). These are majors which on average, don’t pan out well for those who invest in them. As we often forget, college is an investment in a future career, and so there are certain majors which just aren’t good ones to make. Other majors, such as engineering, computers, math, science, and business, are fantastic investments based on the work-life earnings on different careers pertaining to these majors. These are the ones which are the best ones to invest money in if someone’s looking for a college route, and if they are having trouble finding a way to pay for it, they should consider looking to methods such as doing some time in the military, applying for scholarships, or going to a community college, in order to help them achieve their
“More than 95 percent of grads who studied computer and information sciences, for example, were employed full-time at the time of the survey and earned $72,600 on average.” This kind of security in salary and employment is seldom found in other fields, like liberal arts. Humanities majors make only $43,100 on average and tend not to be full-time employees. The average cost of living in the U.S. is around 20,000 dollars. Though graduates of both degrees make more than enough to cover the cost, the extra money earned by STEM graduates improves their quality of life, providing a comfortable situation for them and their children. A Princeton University study recently found that Americans with higher incomes had greater satisfaction in life, and people with lower incomes tended to have lower satisfaction and emotional well-being. With STEM majors having the higher income, their emotional health is also better than that of Humanities
Many people these days tend to believe that the higher the degree they earn the more money they will make. Thus far the more successful they will one day be. Although in some instances that may be true, that is not always the case. For example, my aunt graduated from
Indeed, a major is required, but it will also influence your education and the perspective from which you will view the world around you. You don’t have to worry too much about your job opportunities, so choose a major you like. It will not only make your education more enjoyable, so you can get the best out of it, but it will also provide you with a more positive view of the world and make your life more pleasant.
Majoring in engineering or the medical field can grossly increase annual salary and benefits compacted in a higher position. The amount earned all depends on a degree. A professional degree, such as the ones that belong to lawyers, are more likely to be placed in a greater payscale. From the informational text, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010, the median weekly earnings for someone with some college but no degree were $712, compared to the $1038 for a college graduate.” (Rotherham 79). This direct quote from the article, “Actually, College is Very Much Worth It” gives a specific statistic as to why college is more of a recommendation than a requirement. In some cases, it is required in order to obtain a stable financial standing in society.
College is a place where you open up your mind and see the different options that are set for you , ranging from sports, engineering, literature and many other subjects. Many high school graduates think that college is only a place you go to obtain a higher wage, while that is somewhat true, students should pursue a career which they enjoy, rather than a job that just pays a large amount. As Danielle Allen writes “But we don’t want to craft an environment where people fail to come to their own understanding of what they should try to do because as a nation, we are justifiably trying to increase the efficiency with which we match human capital to the labor market.”(2) Teens nowadays are pressured by parents and media to obtain the most valued jobs such as those in the medical and engineering field, but completely ignore the fact that they might not enjoy the job itself. While not completely ignoring the income in a profession, scholars need to learn that studying something they 're passionate about will become better for them in the long run because it 's something they will be working on for a long