Worst (college degrees) in the world...or at least in America.

[Darth Avlectus]

Yes the title is a parody on Olby's "World's worst".

So, I guess we have it that a degree doesn't always guarantee you necessarily will make more money than a high school educated person.

 

Clik-o this:

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-worst_paying_college_degrees-1263

 

The article reads:

There's no denying the value of a college education: According to recent U.S. Census surveys, the median salary for college grads is more than $20,000 higher than that of people with only a high school diploma. And the unemployment rate for people with bachelor's degrees is almost half the rate for people without.

 

But some degrees are worth more than others, as PayScale.com shows in its 2010 report on the earning power of bachelor's degrees.

 

No surprise, engineering degrees continue to be top earners--and (also no big shocker) you have to go pretty far down the list before you see the liberal arts well represented.

 

But there's more to choosing a major than comparing dollar amounts. We salute and congratulate the graduates whose interests (and hard work) have led them to the following degrees--the lowest-earning degrees on PayScale's list.

 

If you want a little more info the summaries will be in the link posted above. Just my commentary below each.

10. Drama (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $56,600)

Guess it's a bad year to become an actor (or actress for you ladies)?

9. Fine arts (starting annual salary: $35,800; mid-career annual salary: $56,300)

Hmm. Housekeeping makes roughly about as much and yet will continue to be more stable even in recessions because you always have people who for whatever reason will refuse to scrub their own toilets.

8. Hospitality and tourism (starting annual salary: $37,000; mid-career annual salary: $54,300)

Ouch

7. Education (starting annual salary: $36,200; mid-career annual salary: $54,100)

Pretty hard sell.

6. Horticulture (starting annual salary: $37,200; mid-career annual salary: $53,400)

The bane of these peoples' existence is DIY'ers--my advice is go to an upper mid class neighborhood and find the most clueless people there that you possibly can when it comes to planting.

5. Spanish (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $52,600)

Frankly this is quite shocking considering the recent need and demand for bilingual people who know spanish...

4. Music (starting annual salary: $34,000; mid-career annual salary: $52,000)

Yup, and that's IF you're lucky enough to get the work lined up. Having several in my family and even once having tried my hand as a teen...I can tell ya most people never make MTV status and IMO this level of earnings for mid career is actually being generous. On the bright side, most are still sorta happy though...

3. Theology (starting annual salary: $34,800; mid-career annual salary: $51,500)

Dee-zamn. Though that would verify why similarly most ministers and reverends I know still do other work on the side.

2. Elementary education (starting annual salary: $33,000; mid-career annual salary: $42,400) Even harder sell than #7?

1. Social work (starting annual salary: $33,400; mid-career annual salary: $41,600)

I guess helping people isn't worth very much nowadays.

[True_Avery]

Degrees in Education getting roughly $40,000 is not a hard sale.

 

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary

http://www.employmentspot.com/employment-articles/teacher-salaries-by-state/

http://teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state

http://sde.state.ok.us/Teacher/Salary/default.html

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_ed03000010.html

http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/average-teacher-salary.html

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos069.htm

 

But yeah, there is a odd trend going with that list.

[mimartin]

After the past few weeks I was going to say Masters in Finance.

[Mav]

5. Spanish (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $52,600)

Frankly this is quite shocking considering the recent need and demand for bilingual people who know spanish...

Not really, it's not like you need a college degree to speak spanish comprehensibly, just add an "o" to the end of every noun...

[Samnmax221]

It seems like they've really try to ease the path into social work and non-registered nursing which seems like a bad idea to me. I've got relatives who can barely take care of themselves who unless they royally **** up will be responsible for the health and mental well being of others. It's ****ing scary.

[Q]

6. Horticulture (starting annual salary: $37,200; mid-career annual salary: $53,400)

These horticulturalists are obviously growing the wrong plants.

[True_Avery]

These horticulturalists are obviously growing the wrong plants.

They need to start selling product to Colorado

[JediMaster12]

I saw this article and I thought my degree position was the worst since everyone I encounter wants someone with half a brain or someone with a business degree background. Try a BA in Anthropology and attempting an MA in Communication Studies. Honestly I think things aren't looking good job wise for me. I am too good at doing the sterotypical secretary job.

[Negative Sun]

Wow I thought the education system in the US was like the highest quality in the world...

 

 

 

 

yes I'm being sarcastic

[Totenkopf]

Yeah, the public education system here is rather underwhelming. Throwing more money at it will likely only make it more expensively underwhelming.