16 College Majors That Were a Waste of Time and Lack Job Prospects
What do you want to do after college? That question plagues students, especially those who have no grasp of the career they want to spend the rest of their lives in. For many, college education serves as a space between childhood and becoming an adult. With that gap, young adults hope to find their chosen career path through different courses of study. However, that isn’t always the case for students. We are examining various bachelor’s degrees with high unemployment rates and minimal job prospects to put into perspective what life looks like after graduation.
1. Art History
Art history comprises the study of art since the creation of the medium. Art history students delve into the various art forms, including the types of materials used to create different kinds of pottery, paintings, sculptures, etc. Majoring in art history works for people looking to go into museum curation, museum coordinators, or teaching. However, the field is quite competitive, and this degree’s unemployment rate remains rather high.
The Art Newspaper published a study reporting that art history majors in the US look at an unemployment rate of 8%. Low unemployment rates come in around 3 and 5%. Underemployment rates, or the rate of people who hold jobs that don’t require their specific degree, chimes in at 62.3%/
2. Liberal Arts
Liberal arts schools focus on providing students with a well-rounded education. Even if the student chooses a chemistry major, he also enrolls in philosophy courses and literature seminars to receive that broadened education. A liberal arts degree takes that up a notch, giving the student the option to pursue philosophy, creative arts, history, literature, and other offerings at the school. Liberal arts degrees don’t limit the students to one subject, yet the graduates may lack job prospects after they get their degree.
Liberal arts degrees have a 7.9% unemployment rate and about a 50% underemployment rate. Those who do find jobs within the major work tend to resort to retail work, hospitality, sales management, and data analysis. Since liberal arts allows for a range of studies, the specialization needed for many jobs post-grad prevents these students from getting hired with their bachelor’s. That doesn’t mean that they can’t move on to grad school for heightened options, though.
3. Fine Arts
Fine arts degrees let artists hone their skills, shaping the best work for their professional art careers. While this option appeals to artistic people who hope to become revered artists, like most creative fields, the options are competitive. That is not to say the options are slim, though they do require extra determination.
People who graduate with fine arts degrees look at a current unemployment rate of 7.9% and an underemployment rate of around 50%, similar to the liberal arts line of education. Successful fine arts students land jobs as animators, dance teachers, art studio assistants, graphic designers, or professional freelance artists.
4. History
As students progress from high school to college, their level of thinking also increases. History classes in high school boil down to what happened and when. History classes in college consider that information and how it shapes the world today. A lot of analytical thinking goes into informational debates and discussions for a history degree.
The unemployment statistics for students with a bachelor’s degree round out to 5.8%, which is lower than other degrees on this list, although the job opportunities are slimmer. Popular jobs related to the history degree include historians, of course, researchers, historical consultants, and teachers. In the next eight years, the projected demand for historians will increase by 3%.
5. Foreign Language
Foreign language degrees yield a straightforward education based on the chosen language. With that degree, students study culture, linguistics, vocabulary, and the evolution of the language in specific countries. The degree works for people looking to move to a foreign country or work as a foreign correspondent with that country. Translators, interpreters, tour guides, flight attendants, travel agents, and language teachers benefit from this degree.
On the other hand, this degree’s unemployment rate is 7.8% in a competitive market.
6. Mass Media
Mass media covers the masses of the media. Just like it sounds, this degree touches base with journalism, broadcast journalism, radio, public relations, and any other forms of media that pop up during the study. Mass media is similar to liberal arts in the sense that the degrees both focus on a broad overview of subjects rather than a single subject. While the student receives an education in all forms of media, they might struggle in a career after graduating due to the general overview.
Graduates with mass media degrees face an unemployment rate of 8.4%. Job opportunities include radio broadcasting, journalists, public relations workers, content writing, sound engineers, and digital marketing. Students may need extra training for jobs in these fields.
7. Communications
When I attended college, I noticed a trend that those who pursued this degree either did not know what career they wanted to dive into or wanted to become journalists since my school did not offer a distinct journalism major. Communication students learn a lot about how to communicate because of the lack of better words. They study everything students in mass media study, as well as advertising trends and habits and technical writing and communication.
Communications majors face a 5.8% unemployment rate and an increasingly competitive, creative market that offers jobs like social media managers, public information officers (PIO), speech writers, outreach directors, and editors. The ruthless market turns away some, but not driven, candidates.
8. Physics
What is physics? The basic definition suggests that physics is a branch of science that studies the relationship between matter, energy, space, and time. Pretty cool, right? Also, tough. Plus, several physics majors move on to higher education with their degrees for jobs like engineering, financial work, research, astrophysics, and other physics subsects. A bachelor’s degree in physics does extend opportunities like electronics, banking, management, and careers in the military. The unemployment rate resides around 6.1%.
9. Sociology
Back when I worked at a bookstore, the sociology section attracted all of the local sociology majors. Few people in my city chose to major in that subject, though a conversation with them always intrigued us. Sociology students examine humans. So, they evaluate the ways humans interact, speak, and act, which leads me to think our previous conversations at the bookstore served as some kind of research study.
Jobs students obtain post-graduation range from data collectors to camp counselors to social workers. Based on their high level of human understanding, sociology students find meaningful work when they land jobs working with people or studying the human race. Many sociology students earn higher degrees in the field to acquire jobs like government work, grant writers, researchers, and professors. The unemployment rate for sociology majors is 9%.
10. Philosophy
Sociology studies human nature and the human experience, and philosophy studies the kinds of thinking humans use on a daily basis. Wisdom, reasoning, logic, theories, and ideologies are other words related to this academic subject. Philosophy students examine the musings of famous philosophers and modes of thinking. They apply these theories to the human experience, whether that be personal or collective.
These courses instruct students on writing, thinking, analysis, and speaking techniques, leading to jobs such as writers, critics, business professionals, marketing workers, and healthcare professionals. Journalists and paralegals are other perfect jobs for the major. Many lawyers get bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and move on to law school. The unemployment rate for this major is 9%.
11. Performing Arts
Dance. Theater. Music. Spoken word. Circus. Improv. All of these passions are grouped into performance art degrees. Typical performing arts students study a select discipline in an arts school. This increases their chances of success, or so people think, and permits them to receive dedicated schooling on their passion. With a 7.6% unemployment rate, the odds of finding a job in the desired profession remain low. But again, driven creatives find jobs in the field that satisfy their performance needs.
12. Graphic Design
Do you know those animated graphics popping up in your email? You can thank a graphic designer for that. Graphic designers create mixed media artwork or technological artwork used in forms of communication. Students hone in on classes like electronic publishing, web design, motion graphic design, animation, and typography to cement their skills as talented graphic designers.
Graphic designers create flyers and posters on a basic level. Other designers stick to video game design, which is a super profitable market despite its high competition. Animation and illustration are other professions graphic design students pursue. Right now, the unemployment rate for this major is 7.9%.
13. Mathematics
In high school, math classes teach us the basic concepts behind formulas. Teachers instruct students on which equations to memorize and which to apply to certain problems. In college, math students explore how numbers and patterns work together. Students apply techniques and modes of thinking to comprehend the subject we know as mathematics. The analysis becomes a key portion of the major.
Popular jobs with a bachelor’s in math consist of data analysts, economists, mathematicians, software engineers, bookkeepers, and, surprise, surprise, math teachers. The unemployment rate stays around 5.8% today.
14. Anthropology
Anthropology loops in with philosophy and sociology as the study of human behavior over time as opposed to human nature within a community and human thinking styles. Studies in anthropology cover ancient civilizations, customs and practices that shape the world today, human evolution, and anything else relating to the progress of human beings. The subject interests numerous students, yet students must complete additional education to become specialized anthropologists.
To find a job with a bachelor’s in anthropology, students browse the social worker market, research fields, and the archaeologist divisions. Unemployment for the study of human nature flattens out at 6.5%.
15. Journalism
I am the breed of journalist who didn’t receive a journalism degree. One, because my school didn’t offer it until after I graduated, and two, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to become a journalist. Yes, I wanted to write; I just didn’t know what sector I wished to write in. Today, journalism students study the basics of reporting, telling a story, sourcing, fact-checking, and crafting a riveting piece of news. The students learn about the media of journalism, such as radio, broadcast, and written, and plunge into the investigative, music, breaking news, and culture sectors.
The majority of journalism students I know moved on to different fields because of the cutthroat nature of the industry. You must have the ability to distance yourself from the work, specifically for people in investigative and breaking news beats, and you must be able to receive criticism. The unemployment rate for this major is 6.5%.
16. Biology
The study of life. Biology teaches about living organisms, life cycles, species, everything populating this earth. Unfortunately, a generous amount of jobs in biology require schooling beyond the four-year bachelor’s program. Two fields that welcome bachelor’s recipients are zoology and forestry. High school biology teachers often have this degree. Favorable jobs in the biology field that need extra education comprise oncologists, surgeons, physical therapists, neurologists, and biomedical engineers, mainly health-related occupations. The current unemployment rate for biology students with bachelor’s degrees is 4.7%.
*Pulled unemployment data from Here
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