There was once a time when having any
sort of degree would set you apart from the crowd. But those times have gone.
And the graduate market is highly saturated. It is important therefore to avoid
useless degrees – a list, that could be very subjective. For example, many
people would deem golf management to be a ridiculous option, but if you want to
manage golf resorts for a living, then it’s an absolute requisite.
These then are the 10 most useless
degrees in the world as listed by Shutterstock:
1. Culinary Arts
Budding chefs may
previously have thought that culinary college is a no-brainer, but recent
statistics actually suggest otherwise. With tuition costs rising out of line
with wages, the returns of an expensive degree simply aren’t there anymore –
and neither is the requirement.
Although some restaurateurs view culinary college
as an indispensable career step, most are of the view that academic credentials
are inferior to raw talent and experience. It’s better for your time and money be
spent in a kitchen rather than in the classroom.
2. Fashion Design
The primary issue is like many design-based
subjects, fashion design requires an innate artistic ability and a
strong aptitude for creativity – things that no school in the world can teach.
When you consider that competition for jobs in the fashion industry is notoriously fierce, with demand heavily outweighing
supply, developing a strong portfolio and a robust personality may well be a more
fruitful use of your efforts than getting a degree.
3. Art History
Art history is something of an easy target on lists
like this, but there is a compelling reason for it: William and Kate went for
it?
That’s fine, of course, except when you’re paying
upwards of $50,000 (£35,300) to distinguish your Monet from your Manet, you
need some kind of verifiable return. Unfortunately, this often presents itself as a choice between working
at Starbucks to pay back those loans or starting afresh in a different field –
complete with the extra debt that comes with it.
4. Music
Ask any successful musician how they made it in the music industry and they are likely to attribute their
success to a wide combination of factors: luck, hard work, stage experience
and, of course, those fabled 10,000 hours of practice. The one thing they won’t
have relied on is an expensive music degree.
5. Psychology
Psychology is a hugely popular degree choice these
days. As awareness of mental health issues becomes more mainstream, increasing
numbers of potential students are understandably drawn to the fascinating
prospect of understanding the human mind. Unfortunately, when you are one of
hundreds of thousands of people with the same degree, the chances of you
landing a role in the field are slim to none.
A doctorate is the minimum academic level needed to
reach to have any realistic hope of pursuing a relevant career, let alone
interacting with patients. Otherwise, undergraduates have to get creative; for example, you could sell your understanding of
human behaviour to potential employers in order to try and obtain a marketing position.
6. Communications
Communications is a strangely vague degree, in that
it is applicable to almost any form of media, visual arts or broadcasting; yet
at the same time, it is not focused enough to be of any real use. Then there is
of course social media!
As a result, communications is often seen as the
go-to course for those who are unsure of what it is they actually want to do. Maybe it is better to do law, theology or
philosophy!
7. Liberal Arts
Although liberal arts may be the go-to punch bag
for all those ‘dumbest degree’ barbs, this might be a little unfair; after all,
it encourages the development of critical thinking and other various soft skills that a university education is supposed to
arm you with.
The problem is that: that’s all it does. In a
STEM-driven economy, fewer than 2% of employers are actively looking to
recruit liberal arts graduates as a result of their lack of vocational skills
or work experience. Unless you’re willing to do additional qualifications in
order to bridge the gap, you are unlikely to find much return on your
investment.
8. Studio Arts / Fine Art
Arguably, the idea of studying studio arts is not
necessarily stupid, as no painter, sculptor or performer has ever gone out into
the world expecting to get rich (the term ‘starving artist’ wasn’t coined by
accident). What is silly, however, is spending upwards of $50,000 to pursue
something that you can do in your parents’ basement.
It might be a far more practical idea to freelance your creative talents on top of a more secure
income source; photographing weddings might not be your cup of tea, but it may pay
the bills while you work on developing a more creative portfolio.
9. Performing Arts
Many budding actors take
the plunge into drama school, but like all of the creative professions on this
list, the key ingredient to success isn’t taught in any course curriculum:
talent. Although some famous actors have followed this path, many haven’t – the
only constant is that an expensive college degree is not a requirement to be
able to act, sing or dance.
The best way to break into such a ruthless industry
is by constantly attending auditions, learning to develop a thick skin and
volunteering on film and theatre sets in the hope of making a few contacts.
While the 1% may earn the big bucks, the harsh reality is that acting is a poorly
paid, unrewarding job; an existence tough enough as it is, without the
additional burden of crippling debt.
10. Anthropology and Archaeology
At first glance, the study of either anthropology
or archaeology are both attractive propositions; they develop sought-after
cognitive and analytical skills, are both genuinely interesting subjects and,
well, who’s never wanted to be Indiana Jones? Or, the Prince of Wales or even
Rosmah Mansor?
The only slight hitch is that neither offers a
realistic career path. Indeed, to achieve anything within either field requires
at least a doctorate, and even then – with all that debt, time and effort –
there is no guarantee of a viable career.
Although the unemployment rates and graduate
salaries for these degrees are among the worst, it doesn’t necessarily mean
that you should be put off; as in all walks of life, your motivation,
experience and aptitude will always be of more interest to employers than a
piece of paper. While STEM subjects may be more in demand, not everyone wants
to be an engineer, doctor or scientist. And
that’s fine – just make sure you are seriously aware of the implications of
your major before you start.
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