Should I major in history?

[chuckman1]

I love history so much but I see that like 90% of people with history degrees from my college have jobs now like, "Day laborer, McDonalds frycook, depressed poor person, hunter gatherer".

I am trying to figure out any more profitable passions. I am in the business school but I am not feeling it. I do have a family member that can get me a job teaching middle school history if that's what I majored in.

I live in Arizona where teachers don't get shit and we are 49th in education funding.
Should I just major in history because I love it? Oh and I'm ending my Freshman year in a few weeks if that helps.

 

[Gaius Livius]

First I just want to mention how that first line made me giggle a lot. Anyway back to the history. I'd say it's probably better to just keep it as an interest since things tend to become more dull when you have fifty billion assignments and it's all about very specific parts of a subject. If you can figure out whether or not you'd still have the same passion for it with that considered then you'll find your answer there. As for whether or not it will actually be useful to have that qualification, unless you are going to be teaching the subject or you have one heck of a drive to be one of the leading people in it then probably not. If you have any idea of what it is you want to do then look at what those things need.

 

[Batou667]

With college/university education being as expensive as it is these days, I'd lean towards making your decisions based on future employability rather than "choose a subject I like, see where it takes me". Some things are best kept as a hobby; taking something you're interested in and doing it academically sometimes has the effect of putting you off it for life (talking from personal experience here).

Don't go into education as a fallback or Plan B; unless you're absolutely passionate about teaching and have a tolerance for low pay, long hours, and poor working conditions that borders on masochism, you won't make it.

There must be some careers advisors at your college you could talk to?

 

[murrow]

History is a lovely discipline, but an ingrate profession. If you fancy teaching at the secondary level you're in for a very fulfilling but extremely stressful career, which will likely keep you too busy to deal with the cool "scientific" part of the job. If you want to do research, then it's all about luck and opportunities. You'll run from scholarship to scholarship trying to make ends meet and hoping to get a placement somewhere before your third post-doc ends.

And the degree is virtually useless by itself. If you want to go for a more practical career later on, you'll likely need additional instruction, meaning more investment and more disposable time.

Some of my colleagues who dropped out of academia found work in archives, museums or heritage centers. Is there anything of the sort in your region?

 

[f1r2a3n4k5]

Do what you love, but have an escape plan.

What do I mean by that?

You need to think about what you want and how to get it. Do you want to study history just because its interesting to you or do you want to do something with that degree. It's a lot easier to be under-employed without student loans than it is with student loans.

If you decide you need the degree for your career path of choice then start working on that from Day One. So you want to be a history teacher? Investigate the markets. What state has the best salaries? What's required to teach there?

Then start working towards that goal from day one. Get teaching experience. Try to intern where you might want to work. Talk to teachers in the industry and ask for their advice in starting out.

This way, you can study what you love and, importantly, be employed.

 

[Metailurus]

I love history so much but I see that like 90% of people with history degrees from my college have jobs now like, "Day laborer, McDonalds frycook, depressed poor person, hunter gatherer".

I am trying to figure out any more profitable passions. I am in the business school but I am not feeling it. I do have a family member that can get me a job teaching middle school history if that's what I majored in.

I live in Arizona where teachers don't get shit and we are 49th in education funding.
Should I just major in history because I love it? Oh and I'm ending my Freshman year in a few weeks if that helps.

History is a fine subject, but technical skills are far more valued by the market.

If you are dead set on a subject like history, then the trick is to pair it with something else, like say, go for marine archaeology (silly suggestion for someone in Arizona I guess, but you get the idea), that way you have a broader range of skills with which to access the job market.

 

[renegade7]

Should I just major in history because I love it? Oh and I'm ending my Freshman year in a few weeks if that helps.

You've got plenty of time. I went from studying to be a composer in my freshman year to studying engineering for sophomore and junior year and eventually graduating (albeit a year late) with an applied physics degree and minors in chemistry and piano performance (for reasons). If you were at the end of your junior year, then it would be time to worry, and no one really cares if you change majors.

Liberal arts tend to get bashed on, but the reality is that the market is just as oversaturated with business majors as it is with arts majors. The real problem isn't that liberal arts graduates lack useful skills, but rather a sort of mediocrity effect, where it's a minority of students truly willing to take full advantage of their education. Compared to something like engineering, it's very easy to just get the liberal arts degree, but what you get out of that education depends on what you put in. If you want a job in history (or that holy grail of liberal arts careers, an academic post) you're going to need to go the extra mile. Take extra classes beyond the basic degree requirements, work on research projects with your professors, keep your GPA as high as possible, take an extra major or minor (both as a backup and to round out your skills), and plan around going to graduate school.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I love history so much but I see that like 90% of people with history degrees from my college have jobs now like, "Day laborer, McDonalds frycook, depressed poor person, hunter gatherer".

I'd totally major in it if you can be a Hunter/Gatherer afterwards.

But seriously, I wouldn't recommend it. One of the bad effects of the "everyone should go to college" mindset that we have in the US now is that a lot of people go to College without any sort of idea of WHY they're going to college. So they major in something they find interesting, but that doesn't really have a job equivalent once you leave college. So you get a lot of people with bachelor's degrees working at Starbucks.

So I'd really recommend to major in a STEM discipline, go pre-med, computer science, or maybe something like Accounting, something that has a pertinent job association that companies need that you can use upon graduating.

 

[chuckman1]

I love history so much but I see that like 90% of people with history degrees from my college have jobs now like, "Day laborer, McDonalds frycook, depressed poor person, hunter gatherer".

I'd totally major in it if you can be a Hunter/Gatherer afterwards.

But seriously, I wouldn't recommend it. One of the bad effects of the "everyone should go to college" mindset that we have in the US now is that a lot of people go to College without any sort of idea of WHY they're going to college. So they major in something they find interesting, but that doesn't really have a job equivalent once you leave college. So you get a lot of people with bachelor's degrees working at Starbucks.

So I'd really recommend to major in a STEM discipline, go pre-med, computer science, or maybe something like Accounting, something that has a pertinent job association that companies need that you can use upon graduating.

What if I suck at accounting, is computer science coding? idk if I'm smart enough. What does stem stand for? Also what would pre-med entail? Is that like nursing? I've never really been interested in healthcare.

Should I even be here?
What would be an example of the science and tech side?
I damn sure can't do math or engineering.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I love history so much but I see that like 90% of people with history degrees from my college have jobs now like, "Day laborer, McDonalds frycook, depressed poor person, hunter gatherer".

I'd totally major in it if you can be a Hunter/Gatherer afterwards.

But seriously, I wouldn't recommend it. One of the bad effects of the "everyone should go to college" mindset that we have in the US now is that a lot of people go to College without any sort of idea of WHY they're going to college. So they major in something they find interesting, but that doesn't really have a job equivalent once you leave college. So you get a lot of people with bachelor's degrees working at Starbucks.

So I'd really recommend to major in a STEM discipline, go pre-med, computer science, or maybe something like Accounting, something that has a pertinent job association that companies need that you can use upon graduating.

What if I suck at accounting, is computer science coding? idk if I'm smart enough. What does stem stand for? Also what would pre-med entail? Is that like nursing? I've never really been interested in healthcare.

Should I even be here?
What would be an example of the science and tech side?
I damn sure can't do math or engineering.

That's sort of my point: go to college with an idea of what you're aiming for with all of this. It doesn't necessarily have to be what you're going to do for the rest of your existence (people change careers all the time) but it's better than being up to your eyeballs in debt and then working a low-wage job afterwards.

STEM is science, technology, engineering, mathematics. Pre-med is either for Nursing, Doctor, or PA (Physician's Assistant). Pretty much all of the aforementioned things are in ultra high demand right now.