www.thegrindstone.com: You already know that college is expensive. In fact, a lot of you are yikes.still paying off your student loans (and even more of you may be paying those off for a really long time). But two certain college majors may be a lot more expensive over time than others.
10 comments:
This is really sad, but I am not surprised. Many people go to college thinking that their college degree will guarantee some sort of relatively acceptable paying job. For people that go to certain schools and major in certain majors, this is not the case, and then those people end up having to pay off a giant amount of loans. It's good that this information is out there for people to make an educated decision on where they decide to spend their money on. I do think that, to some degree, it does not really matter what you major in, but it does matter how hard you work and who your connections are. I also feel that it does matter where you go to school more than what you major in at school. While I am in the College of Fine Arts at CMU, I feel prepared enough to make it in the business world (not that I would necessarily want to.) However, I do not know if the same would be true for a school that only concentrates on the arts and does not have any other majors available.
I don't think that that any college major is a waste of time. The skills that one learns in college I think are incredibly valuable. This idea extends beyond the classroom. Just this past year I have learned a ton socially that I hadn't know. College is a time where we really grow and learn as humans on this planet. No matter what our major is. That is why I think that college is so important.
I just want to put something out there real fast: Didn't we already know that teachers are severely underpaid? Or are teachers the only ones that realize that they do way more work than they are paid for? I think the reason that these jobs don't get paid a lot it that the people paying them don't understand the amount of work it actually takes to produce something in these departments. I mean, do rich people just looking to fill their halls really know how much work and effort went into making that simple landscape? Do they know how much of the artist went into that portrait?
I totally agree with Jason. College isn't just about the schooling and degree; it is about the life experience you gain from it. These are the reckless years when you are no longer living in your parents' house but do not have complete responsibility yet. College is the place where you find out who you actually are; you are allowed more freedom to explore things. Now, I'm not discrediting the degree or underestimating the cost of getting a degree, but I don't think that is really the goal for every major. There is a reason that the university has gen ed requirements; they want well rounded people coming out of their programs. College is an expensive social event, but a good investment none the less.
It's kind of funny that the two of the most expensive college educations are to prepare people for careers that are, on average, not particularly lucrative: Teaching and an artist. As a Musical Theatre major, I guess I can put myself in the latter category, and am confident that my time in college is not being wasted. The things I am learning are invaluable to the longevity of a career, so I still feel like I am best preparing myself for the future, even at the costly CMU. It worries to me to think the price of these sorts of education are dissuading some of the younger people from pursuing these two invaluable career paths, art and education, but the article is fortunately hopeful that the current statistics could shift in the near future.
Well at least CMU Drama didn't make that list. But I suppose we already knew that our school wouldn't be on unfortunate listings such as this. That being said, I wonder if the "Arts" category includes performing arts and fine arts together.
Categorization aside, I feel that my training here will not just prepare me to go out into the world as an artist, but as a versatile worker and manager. Here's to hoping that my college major is no a waste.
This website is the weirdo ultra-sexist "business woman Barbie" one, isn't it. I highly doubt anyone going into the arts or education is looking to make gazillions of dollars. I'm also confused about how their statistics were generated. Surely a lot of these colleges aren't costing $200k for four years, even with student loan interest. Maybe they're also taking into account grad school? Maybe also how it's easier to get better jobs without a college degree in some parts of the country than others? A lot of these numbers feel weird to me, especially because someone who wants to go into education needs a college degree regardless of where it's from.
YEY Carnegie Mellon is not on the lists! I did not think it would be but it is nice to be 100% sure. I would disagree with Jason some majors really are a waste of time, especially because the economy is not too nurturing to artists and writers these days. The skills that school of drama teaches (the DP department anyway) are invaluable and transferable to many different carrier opportunities. Other schools and majors do not teach the same broad curriculum.
I think such a big part of determining the success of a future occupation is dependent on where you go to school. I hear so many people say that it doesn't matter where you go to school, you can get an great education anywhere. I really disagree with that and feel that that's just what people say to themselves in order to make themselves feel better. I think this especially pertains to education in the arts. studying at Carnegie Mellon means something more than studying at a random state school in the middle of North Dakota. Names open doors and can actually determine the value of the education you are receiving. We are lucky enough to go to a school that is prestigious and well known in the industry that we want to eventually work in.
I think that in the case of arts majors, there is no set amount of applicable skills that is guaranteed to be taught everywhere you decide to apply. With majors like law or engineering, there are set standards for what you are supposed to come out of school knowing. Arts mean many different things in different curriculums, and if you don't know what you're specifically looking for and how you intend to apply it, then that could make finding employment extremely difficult. I think we are extremely fortunate at CMU because our program is very specific and is giving us skill sets that can be readily applied in certain fields.
While I believe that these situations happen, I feel like college is something that people have to decide its worth individually. For example, maybe paying lots of money for college will be saving them 20 to 30 years of on site learning versus 4 years of training. I've had conversations with other artists about why I wanted to go to college versus just starting a career so, it's quite comforting that Carnegie Mellon did not make either list!
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