Best Majors for ERE

[Spartan_Warrior]

@Dragline: I get what you're saying. It's an interesting thought experiment, to be sure, and no one can say where I might be now. On the one hand, no, I probably would not be in my current job/career track if I had not briefly studied "what to do next" in the form of Comp Sci. On the other hand, I was already doing freelance writing throughout college and by the time I graduated I was starting to make a pretty good income before I secured that full-time job. Writing is something that I actually am quite passionate about, something that will always be an intrinsic part of my aforementioned life journey, and something that I very much look forward to pursuing when I reach FI. Maybe in the alternate universe where I didn't study Comp Sci and didn't get my current job, I would have toughed it out with freelance writing or found something else closer to my passion. I might have been less well paid--or I might not have been. I might not have been on the path to quick FI--but would I even care?

I am just very leery about telling people "study X so as to maximize income" or "study X because that will be valued by an employer". Frankly, I just don't care what employers value. What about what YOU value? What about who you are? What about life after maximizing income--or even life while maximizing income?

I'm not saying either choice is wrong. I'm just saying that the OP needs to decide what he wants. That's why I tried to clarify in my initial post what he means by "best major for ERE". Obviously, there are objective, quantifiable "best majors for accumulating wealth quickly", but any other goal beyond that requires deeper introspection.

My only other reiteration is that I honestly don't think the major is that important for securing a well-paying job. The skills I learned in Computer Science didn't make a lick of difference (I don't and haven't done any actual programming); all that mattered was the personal connections I made in the internship.

It's who you know and how well you interview that will determine your career success IMO. The only difference the major makes is probably in starting salary.

[Dragline]

(Q1) what am I going to do next (not forever -- just next) -- that gives you (A1)? and then (Q2) is there something I should be doing now to make sure that (A1) actually happens. If you don't answer (Q1) and get (A1) for yourself first, I don't know how you answer (Q2) other than with the default (A2), which is "whatever feels good right now".

Now its quite possible that the answer to Q2 is "nothing", in which case you can go with the default A2, but I would suspect that that is not usually the case. Lots of people screw themselves by just never answering Q1 in any specific form. In that case, you get to live by what someone else has planned for you, who may be chosen at random. And then A1 then often becomes "not much."

False dilemma. Just because I do not have every step in my life planned out from here - or even the next step - does not mean I automatically default to "whatever feels good right now."

Framing it the way you have above creates a serious problem. It creates the impression that only failures don't know their next steps. In reality, being able to cope when the next step is unknown or obscured is itself a skill. It is learned, by putting oneself in the position where we must cope with the unknown. That's when we get comfortable not knowing and get good at being able to improvise the next step.

Filling in the unknown with "a plan" or "the next step" for no other reason than because the unknown is uncomfortable or inconvenient is no plan at all. Its sole purpose is to eliminate the unknown. To fill the void.

Void filling results in some of the wackiest decisions.

That's why its good idea to have more than one plan/option. And to adjust today's activities accordingly so those options can be available. Y&W's double-major idea makes a lot of sense.

I would not confuse the "unknown" with the "unknowable". To say "I can't possibly know anything about my future or even what my preferences are right now or will be" sounds like you're just copping out and making up an excuse because you don't want to take the time and effort to think about it. And eerily similar to the thought processes reflected in another recent thread where the thought of early retirement might be too scary because one can't fathom what to do next. If you really don't know what you want to do next, its time to start doing some research to discover your options. Sometimes its better to start by asking the question in reverse -- as in "what things do I NOT want to have to do next?"

I was watching a documentary the other night about athletes who make millions and then go broke because they have no plans or concrete thoughts about what to do with themselves when they are done with their athletic careers. It's actually very common. There was a list of hundreds of them, and many quite famous. Almost all of them "went with the flow" or convinced themselves they did not need to think about their futures until they were done.

There was a bit of advice that came out of it that I wrote down: "A goal without a plan is a wish."

But without any goals, you don't even get to have wishes, let alone plans.

BTW, what do you default to when you have no plans for the future if not "whatever feels good right now"? "Nothing" perhaps (although those two things may be one and the same from personal experience)? Certainly not "whatever feels bad right now". I think many might go for "whatever someone important to me thinks I should do", which may be the worst choice long-term, because its another cop-out for not doing your own research into what you want for yourself.

[TheWanderingScholar]

(Q1)



That's why its good idea to have more than one plan/option. And to adjust today's activities accordingly so those options can be available. Y&W's double-major idea makes a lot of sense.

I would not confuse the "unknown" with the "unknowable". To say "I can't possibly know anything about my future or even what my preferences are right now or will be" sounds like you're just copping out and making up an excuse because you don't want to take the time and effort to think about it. And eerily similar to the thought processes reflected in another recent thread where the thought of early retirement might be too scary because one can't fathom what to do next. If you really don't know what you want to do next, its time to start doing some research to discover your options. Sometimes its better to start by asking the question in reverse -- as in "what things do I NOT want to have to do next?"

I was watching a documentary the other night about athletes who make millions and then go broke because they have no plans or concrete thoughts about what to do with themselves when they are done with their athletic careers. It's actually very common. There was a list of hundreds of them, and many quite famous. Almost all of them "went with the flow" or convinced themselves they did not need to think about their futures until they were done.

There was a bit of advice that came out of it that I wrote down: "A goal without a plan is a wish."

But without any goals, you don't even get to have wishes, let alone plans.

BTW, what do you default to when you have no plans for the future if not "whatever feels good right now"? "Nothing" perhaps (although those two things may be one and the same from personal experience)? Certainly not "whatever feels bad right now". I think many might go for "whatever someone important to me thinks I should do", which may be the worst choice long-term, because its another cop-out for not doing your own research into what you want for yourself.

Correction, it is a Geography major with a geology minor. Cause duals majors is just too much time for me. Also too much hard science.

[jacob]

I think the point of the OP question was the realization of the following progression of selecting ones major

1) Make a list of the useful degrees excluding the useless ones (in terms of employment)
2) Pick whichever seems most interesting of those.

That's the sensible way to pick, combining affinity with reality-constraints.

In OP's OP post, one (1) was mentioned. Hence the confusion.

To make the (1) list, I think all that's needed is a quick google search on "highest paid college graduates" and "lowest paid", also "highest unemployment", etc.

In terms of what's useful [in terms of life]. That's much harder. It's going to be anecdotal at best.

[BeyondtheWrap]

*Do internships during college. Maybe in a few different fields if you can. I would not be in my current job if I hadn't met and impressed industry insiders during a college internship.

^ This. Don't be like me.

I didn't do any internships while I was in college. I also changed my mind a few times about what I wanted to do. I graduated 2 years ago and now work in a low-wage retail job. Don't be like me.

To the OP's question, I would suggest to major in something that will help you get a job, that you are good at, and that you kind of like. I ended up choosing Mathematics when I was in college for these reasons. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a job with it.

If I had to do it again, I would choose Computer Science, since employers will pay for programming skills, and do internships while in college. That is what I recommend you do, if Computer Science is something you like and are good at. If not, I still think a few classes (>1) would help your resume.

Then I suggest minoring in your passion. For me, this was Theatre, and for you it would be Music.

If you don't want to do something STEM-related, then it might mean that all you can do with your major is teach. If that's the case, do an Education program and become qualified to be a teacher when you graduate.

[Ego]

Last night we went to The North Face / National Geographic speaker series presentation by Cory Richards.

http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/get-o ... es_events/

He had a panic attack while passing through the ice fall high up on Everest and had to be flown down. His panic was the result of residual fear from having been caught in an avalanche on a previous climb in Pakistan.... http://vimeo.com/23336972.

His theme was learning from failure. He repeated several times the importance of reflection. Pausing to think before mindlessly doing.

BTW, what do you default to when you have no plans for the future if not "whatever feels good right now"? "Nothing" perhaps (although those two things may be one and the same from personal experience)? Certainly not "whatever feels bad right now". I think many might go for "whatever someone important to me thinks I should do", which may be the worst choice long-term, because its another cop-out for not doing your own research into what you want for yourself.

One option might be to think. Ponder. Reflect.

[GandK]

I spotted this article in my news feed today:

10 Highest-Paying Jobs in North Dakota’s Oil Boom

[Chad]

Last night we went to The North Face / National Geographic speaker series presentation by Cory Richards.

http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/get-o ... es_events/

He had a panic attack while passing through the ice fall high up on Everest and had to be flown down. His panic was the result of residual fear from having been caught in an avalanche on a previous climb in Pakistan.... http://vimeo.com/23336972.

His theme was learning from failure. He repeated several times the importance of reflection. Pausing to think before mindlessly doing.

BTW, what do you default to when you have no plans for the future if not "whatever feels good right now"? "Nothing" perhaps (although those two things may be one and the same from personal experience)? Certainly not "whatever feels bad right now". I think many might go for "whatever someone important to me thinks I should do", which may be the worst choice long-term, because its another cop-out for not doing your own research into what you want for yourself.

One option might be to think. Ponder. Reflect.

Agreed, with a goal of adding some type of action item after the thoughts.

[Dragline]

Or we could just take the old-school Gen-Xer approach in a cathartic descent into nihilism that today's youth just doesn't fully appreciate:

"I was in my room and I was just like staring at the wall thinking about everything
But then again I was thinking about nothing"

From my misspent youth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoF_a0-7xVQ

Just yell "I'll figure it out myself" and give everyone the finger, Z. It worked for me.

Well, kinda. Sometimes. Eventually. Yeah.

[TheWanderingScholar]

Or we could just take the old-school Gen-Xer approach in a cathartic descent into nihilism that today's youth just doesn't fully appreciate:

"I was in my room and I was just like staring at the wall thinking about everything
But then again I was thinking about nothing"

From my misspent youth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoF_a0-7xVQ

Just yell "I'll figure it out myself" and give everyone the finger, Z. It worked for me.

Well, kinda. Sometimes. Eventually. Yeah.

Sorry I prefer Absurdist line of thought. Albert Camus ftw.

[Dragline]

You know, there's a new bio/retrospective of Camus out in connection with what would be his hundredth birthday:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php? ... 0674724761

Looks like some interesting reading at some point down the road when its not so new and more readily available.

“It was the middle of winter, I finally realized that, within me, summer was inextinguishable.”

[TheWanderingScholar]

Thank you.