Your major isn’t useless

The “worst majors to pick” lists are the worst

The “worst majors to pick” lists continue to plaster the internet and people’s news feeds. According to these lists, anyone not on the STEM track will be thoroughly disappointed to find that their major is most likely on the list, casting doubt for someone pursuing a degree they’re interested in, but the bottom line is this: just choose the major that feels like a good fit.

On these lists, majors are listed from what is essentially based off of employment rates and pay. Of course, college students want to know if they will have job security and a reliable paycheck that can comfortably support them while having the task of paying off student loans. However, these lists disregard the fact that there are still successful jobs available in the liberal and fine arts as well as the soft sciences.

Someone has to pursue a music major to produce the music people enjoy listening to on the radio. Someone has to graduate with a theater degree to perform in Broadway plays that entertain large audiences. Someone has to get their degree in English to write for the news sources that people rely on to be informed about the world around them. Even though these professions are not always saving lives or conducting the latest research, they still can serve as noble and fulfilling careers. Yes, the hard sciences are admirable and important, but not everyone has the desire or, quite frankly, the skills to go into that field.

The Career Center at CU Denver has an exercise for students to evaluate four areas to pinpoint a career they might be interested in. These include: things they like and are good at, things they like and are bad at, things they don’t like and are good at, and things they don’t like and are bad at. People with majors on the list could be good at hard sciences but don’t want to pursue it as career, or they could like hard sciences but be bad at them. But the thing is, that’s okay.

In a Forbes article, it said, “Businesses value these graduates’ [general liberal arts majors] critical thinking skills, communication abilities, and creativity. The breadth of focus gives the students knowledge that can help them thrive in a wide variety of fields.” This is reassuring.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who pursue degrees that stray from the hard sciences. There is no denying that the workforce is competitive for graduates with a Bachelor of Arts degree, but a job is feasible. The best advice for college students whose major is on these lists is to just ignore them and instead focus on the degrees that make them happy, because, according to Forbes, “to many employers, the name of your degree doesn’t really matter as much as you might think.”