If You're not going to college for STEM, You should go to trade school

[daboywonder2002]

I disagree. Mostly because jobs like project managers and executive level roles of companies are paid well. (director, vice president, etc)

 

[WIA20XX]

It depends, there are certain state and federal jobs that the minimum requirement is a bachelors degree in any major.

State jobs don't scale either.

That's one of the problems in the developing world.
Lots of educated young people, and the only place they fit in the economy is with the state.

If we're just talking about the US - most state/Fed jobs are hard to get. The exceptions being teaching and policing.

 

[acri1]

It depends. STEM is obviously safer, but I don't think you need to skip college just because you don't want to be an engineer.

The more important thing is checking the job placement prospects of whatever you want to major in. That said, trade school is a better move for some.

 

[Vandelay]

I totally agree tbh.

But looking at the playing field in 2024 and understanding the pipeline for STEM students* - it's still a much better economic bet to go STEM if kids go to college. *not everyone is good at math, especially the way it's taught in America...

If they're not STEM inclined, they should be in the trades.

Most everything else, like 60-80% of the other majors - over supply of degrees and under supply of jobs.

Is it better to be 20-40k in debt for a degree you can't use, or just hold a high school degree and some training classes at the community college?

Folks used to argue that the degree is better, but I think the times are changing.

If I was 18 right now, I would say get the best education you can for the least amount of money, and maybe even pursue it on a part-time basis only while working full-time somewhere. We don't know what this future is going to bring so I wouldn't put all of my eggs in one basket, saddle myself with unpayable debt, and make my skillset as diverse as possible with a focus on 2 or 3 specialties.

Not fully versed in the recruitment process, but colleges should have a cap on the number of students for a particular program. I know schools have a max acceptance rate, but they should have it for individual schools within that university; correct me if I'm wrong.

A school should not be churning out 500 fine arts Majors a year or 1000 broadcasting Majors a year, etc...

Again, multi-hyphenates don't scale.

Networking doesn't scale either.

We already have people in the gig economy, that are doing multiple things at once.

It's the level of specialization that seems to be in flux right now.

Gainful employment will always be repressed if everyone is doing the same thing on the same platforms; you’re essentially not special. You're not going to get rich doing Uber or Fiverr because 15,000 people in your metro are doing the same things in the exact same way.

I'll have to think on that

If that were to actually happen (which is arguably the Red States, where seemingly every able bodied person is a machinist, carpenter, plumber, mechanic) - then the prices of goods and services (but not real estate) should correlate...

Who am I kidding, the prices for it all will stay high and it's just general degradation as wealth accumulates to the top - wealth that can only ever seek return

There's 158 Million working adults in the US. Not even 10% or 11 million; and this is being generous, so its not covering all red states (1); are doing construction. We obviously don't know how many are off the books; but off the books labor is cheaper further proving my point wages will go down. Even if the numbers only double within that respective industry, the price of labor will drop, supply and demand...and even if the industry can SUSTAIN doubling in employment, that won't cover all of the jobs lost from AI or someone choosing to major in something unproductive.

(1) Employment by major industry sector : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

[FTBS]

I get the overall sentiment that a lot of degrees on their own arent super helpful with some being straight up useless. And I agree that people should look at trades. Its a more than viable alternative and you will make just as much and often more than most of those majors.

But I dont think you can just throw them out. There is a place for those majors and they can be necessary if you are looking for certain graduate degrees. So the real key here is having a solid idea of what you wanna do and what you need in order to do it before you go to school. Going just to go or to figure it out while you there is not gonna work with these tuition prices and this job market.

 

[WIA20XX]

I get the overall sentiment that a lot of degrees on their own arent super helpful with some being straight up useless. And I agree that people should look at trades. Its a more than viable alternative and you will make just as much and often more than most of those majors.

But I dont think you can just throw them out. There is a place for those majors and they can be necessary if you are looking for certain graduate degrees. So the real key here is having a solid idea of what you wanna do and what you need in order to do it before you go to school.

A lot of these non lucrative degree programs need to be either

• Shut down
• Not eligible for student loans (public or private)
• Extremely low cost - working at McDonald's during the summer should pay for an English degree.
• Possibly done only online

And that means firing a lot of tenured professors and downsizing/rightsizing campuses.

This of course would destroy the classic idea of college, but that ideal doesn't serve the society anymore.

Going just to go or to figure it out while you there is not gonna work with these tuition prices and this job market.

The last time this worked was in the 50s with the GI Bill.

Days are long gone.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Disagree, there are a ton of high paying jobs that aren’t STEM. And a degree from an elite university gonna open more doors than STEM at a generic or bootleg school. I know plenty of English and pysch majors from my undergrad making more than engineers from sus schools

 

[WIA20XX]

And a degree from an elite university gonna open more doors than STEM at a generic or bootleg school.

And getting a degree from an elite university is definitely within reason for the typical person making this decision.

I'll just go to Harvard

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

And getting a degree from an elite university is definitely within reason for the typical person making this decision.

I'll just go to Harvard

Your post said nothing about the average person. And on average, there are still a ton of jobs that will make what a stem major makes from a average to below average school.

 

[UpNext]

Psychology is fine if it comes with a plan to go to post graduate and actually practice in some capacity. The mental health field is probably gonna require a lot of folks in the coming generations.


And you definitely can't be advocating for STEM but not pushing to kill the H1B programs. Gen Alpha STEM gang gonna be assed out between that and AI.

 

[Paper Boi]

didn’t go to college for STEM, doing fine

most STEM people I have to deal with at work seem socially retarded

 

[WIA20XX]

The mental health field is probably gonna require a lot of folks in the coming generations.

Are they gonna pay?

Lemme rephrase, is the mental health field going to be able to lobby more money out of the insurance industry, who will then pass the costs to the insurance base?

If I just watched YouTube, Better Help makes it seem like everyone is getting therapy now....(and paying out of pocket for it)

 

[UpNext]

Are they gonna pay?

Lemme rephrase, is the mental health field going to be able to lobby more money out of the insurance industry, who will then pass the costs to the insurance base?

If I just watched YouTube, Better Help makes it seem like everyone is getting therapy now....(and paying out of pocket for it)

Psychiatrist Salary Guide 2024 - PsychologyJobs.com

psychologyjobs.com

The average annual salary for a psychiatrist in the US is $247,350.


Looks like some pretty good bread to me. But that probably falls under the M in STEM

 

[Sir ZDuke]

We back in 2013? People still parroting this nothing but STEM talking point, and I’m saying this as someone with an Applied Math degree . You should talk to a recent computer science grad, and see how they’re doing.
I’m sorry but the golden era is over, even for STEM, just different levels of suck(pause)

 

[Kyle C. Barker]

Nah, can't cosign the bio/chem disrespect. Those degrees open too many doors and you'll have a much easier time taking an entrance exam for any allied health profession.


Also if your goal is to go into some type of professional school, you're better off majoring in something you're truly interested in and ace-ing all of your classes.