The only thing worse than choosing a useless degree is having other people pay for it and proceeding to become bitter and resentful afterwards. That is not good.
Back in the early 80s, you took Marketing and Advertising as a minor towards a Graphic Design major, because as a designer, you often had to possess the Marketing savvy in order to grab the attention of a potential buyer or client in an ad of some kind! Nowadays, neither a Marketing, nor Graphic Design degree is really necessary... Much of it can be learned online for free or at the bare minimum cost - preferably at your own pace!
I studied Social Work, it shares a lot of similarities to psychology and there are psychology modules within the course, but the career options are far greater as there's a bigger emphasis on studying law within Human Services (child protection law, etc), with that comes more employment opportunities. Here in Australia, the salary expectations are the same as most public servants. But the importance of studying something that acts as a bottleneck is paramount, most art or business degrees are far too ambiguous in their content. Especially now that the internet is available.
I agree with what you said right at the end , most degrees, unless required to get a job (most often in the medical field, law, etc.) are pretty useless. If you want to learn about something and get good at it, then go learn, the entire internet is at our fingertips haha.
The problem is what if you want to be a mental health professional and knowing you need to go to graduate school how do you get the subject matter you need and not end up with a useless degree? What useful degree would be proper preparation for graduate school?
I don't think a person should go into debt for such degrees but neither I think that such degrees are useless . How to use such degrees ? - Fashion design - Try to do part time apprenticeship and use creativity , master the skills to make fashionable clothes which can help you to get into Fashion industry . A degree would surely supplement you . Try to save money so that you can open your own fashion business one day . Women Studies and Anthropology - whatever you learn in class is not always readily available outside the doors of academia . Create your own ideas on such topics , start writing books and publish them . College education always gives you in depth knowledge of a subject in comparison to a book from a public library . There might be people who might know more than college but they take years to gather that knowledge . Use that knowledge to write books or even story books and try writing on something which many people might not have heard of . Marketing - Use this degree to get entry level jobs . Psychology - If you have enough money and if you are American than after doing this you can join Medical school in America to become a Psychiatrist . You can join the American Psychiatric Association to gain further recognition . If you are from some other country than try to get a license in clinical psychology . While doing the job of a psychologist , also try to become a lecturer like Jordan Peterson or Steven Pinker . Also publish your research findings to become more rich .
Fashion trends change like the weather, and no one can teach you into becoming a good designer, but…. If you have the nack for it, some talent and a genuine interest, then school can help you develop a consistent process for design, and also the skills and the working discipline you need to make it. It can help provide you the vocabulary to speak to other professionals and the history to understand how what you design relates to what has come before and what is happening now. But, if you lack the talent, and only have the passion to carry you 80% of it will be a waste of time. You might get a job in fashion, but it won’t be as a designer, but it still might be a great job.
I quite liked the video and the four questions you make to evaluate each degree are quite good. The only thing I do not agree is when you say anthropology is useless to society. Even the investment arena I think this knowledge is super valuable. Many books Li Lu recommends in his list are about anthropology. Have a look for example to the one called Guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond. With this degree I think it happen similarly than with psicology is super usefull as a support in other fields. As a bonus to the comment if I remember well, in the book "Richer, wiser, happier" said that the university studies of Nick Sleep were in Geography!! These took him far away obviously 😅
you are very correct, i didn't dive too deep into the content, more focussed about the ability to get paid as a direct result of the degree. There are a lot of indirect results of studying. But I don't think you need an anthropolgy degree to get the same insights as Li Lu. Just read a few books and watch a few documentaries... No need to waste 3 years and all that money.
My impression from your video is that you (and most people) have misconceptions about what college and a college education is. It is not high school for adults. The most important thing to keep in mind about college and the world is that nobody owes you anything. Not one damned thing. YOU are responsible for YOUR education. And, that education is going to come from many sources. You don’t just go to college thinking they will provide everything you need. That is stupid! College supplements all of the other things you are doing. And if you are not doing other things, then you are wasting time and money.
Agreed. Gender studies are probably the most useless degree with regards to job prospects, making money or anything. However, if you’re a socialist, then perhaps it will help you in your debates at the local coffee house. There you can also spend the few dollars you make working at a bar or something similar. Regards from someone with a degree, that is almost useless.
Great video! Bound to trigger some folks. I thought you were going to flip the script and throw accounting and business administration in there, in which case I was going to be triggered myself haha. Stay safe my friend!
ok! so here it goes, the first time I disagree with you. I understand and agree with you about the low prospects of getting a jobs in several of the fields you mentioned. I would have a hard time if my (imaginary) kids one day decided to take one of those career paths but, I would still try to find a way, maybe as you suggested, looking for other options to gain knowledge and expertise. Now, where I strongly disagree is when you said that only Law or Medicine are the ones that would benefit you to have a degree. Yes, I understand they were just an example but I really think any university degree is a must. Why? learning to learn (about any topic or industry) is the key reason why I would encourage anyone to have a "classic" education. Are they fields or university who do a very bad job or are extremely expensive? Of course, as in investing you have to pay a reasonable price (time and/or money) with a fair margin of safety that it will pay-off. Second, learning to learn is a must if in this ever changing world. I have seen people learn through the internet high demand skills that have payed off fairly well in the short term but, once those softwares dissapeared for example, they were outdated and had no basic understanding of the industry they were working on. They just had not adquired the basic skills or the theory needed to progress into the next step and the types of course you generally find out of university are this kind. Last, you will spend a lot of your time working. You might as well spend your money on sth you like. Just do not overpay or expect miracles.
we both agree on the don't overpay thing. I guess I would be ok with someone getting one of these useless degrees if it was inexpensive. Learning something, is better than learning nothing. :)
No, I don't want to even think about that right now. But I will go back and help rebuild. I would let average ukranians have first chance to buy what they want. I honestly would prefer to rent off someone to help them rather than take something for myself. Put some money into the economy.
I'm actually surprised by your list. In many TH-camr videos, I often hear about degrees in the Humanities: arts, theatre, and liberal arts. I think most people point out these degrees because they fail to see the direct connection to work. To some extent, I understand while most people think art degrees are useless. It's mostly because there are no direct jobs in art, unless you want to work as a museum curator. However, i would argue that arts and Humanities gives you an understanding of self expression, appreciation of culture, communication, and diversity. Art majors may even know how people are sensitive and know how to give criticism in a sensible manner. Hence, so even if you don't get a job in art, I think going to college, even if it's to study art, can give you a sense pf interpersonal soft skills. Granted, you may graduate from an art school with a pompous attitude and be the absolute worst person to work with. However, you may be surprised when I ask you how ot feels to work with a skilled engineer without any interpersonal skills or a creative person with interpersonal skills. I think you mat say the creative person. While I haven't worked with any engineers, sometimes people with higher paying salaried jobs are very smart and skillful but have the worst soft skills in the world making you think "I don't want to hang out with thus guy after work.' And younger audiences fail to see how creativity is needed and valued in the business world. Yes, you may not work for J Paul Getty and there are job prospects are bad, but people LOVE creative minds. Because their failure to understand this, often liberal arts, arts, theater, film, and the like seem to be TH-camrs videos for the worst degrees. Not yours. You've stated quite a few degrees that are directly connected with work like marketing, fashion design, and tourism. These are not commonplace degrees people often think of when it comes to college's worst degrees. I'm surprised that you did not criticize theatre arts or film production because usually tgese are the two degrees people think are useless. Yes, chances of becoming a film director or slim pickens,, but it says to an employer you are creative, think fast on your feet, and like working on a team. Yes, business majors are probably preferred over a film production major, but it doesn't mean the job prospects of applying yourself anywhere is low. In fact, I would have thought a degree in hospitality would be the only way to get to a mangement position in the travel industry. In fact, I think if you want yi be a manager, including a hotel director on a cruise ship like Holland America a hospitality degree would be a major necessity Surprised does not equal appalled. Surprised equals a compliment on having different insight that is not usually traveled. Whether I disagree or agree about tourism not being a good degree, I like the fact that you have pointed it out because I would have not thought about it being a bad degree, and i value your opinion . And since I value your difference in opinion, I'd hope that hearing an opposing argument might help you to think that maybe hospitality is maybe not such a bad degree after all. But again, my creative side really likes the fact that you have chosen degrees that usually are not thought of when it comes to bad degrees. Yes, I disagree with you that a hospitality and tourism degree is bad; however, I think you have some very valuable insight to offer and maybe your skills of objectivity will let you know that thus post is a post of mutual consent and dialogue. It's not a full on debate. A debate is just one sided. A dialogue is a form of communication that wants to hear opposing arguments without bias. So yes, there is avlittke bit of persuasion. However, a dialogue doesn't always have to be where everyone agrees on the same thing every single time. In fact . that might be boring when someone us always a "yes man."
I'm an engineer and there is a pretty broad range of soft skills in my area of engineering. Sometimes you have to push back and tell someone they were to harsh. Other times, you have to specifically give someone permission to speak. But those engineers often have some mad skills that you need on the most difficult issues where life and death hang in the balance. Get me the guy with no social skills who cares enough to find the best solution! Maybe it's the person with the psych degree and soft skills who give the people around the no soft-skills engineer the ability to cope. But you cannot throw out those guys either and say it would be better to have just nice people. (Not that you said that. I'm just adding, not refuting)
The only thing worse than choosing a useless degree is having other people pay for it and proceeding to become bitter and resentful afterwards. That is not good.
oooh yeah, that is worse
Back in the early 80s, you took Marketing and Advertising as a minor towards a Graphic Design major, because as a designer, you often had to possess the Marketing savvy in order to grab the attention of a potential buyer or client in an ad of some kind! Nowadays, neither a Marketing, nor Graphic Design degree is really necessary... Much of it can be learned online for free or at the bare minimum cost - preferably at your own pace!
Smart advice, I would be nice if more people didn't throw money at universities 🤷🏻♂️
6. Marketing
5. Psychology
4. Fashion Design
3. Tourism
2. Anthropology
1. Bachelor of Arts Majoring in Women's Studies
👍
Marketing is pretty usefull in our current economy
I studied Social Work, it shares a lot of similarities to psychology and there are psychology modules within the course, but the career options are far greater as there's a bigger emphasis on studying law within Human Services (child protection law, etc), with that comes more employment opportunities. Here in Australia, the salary expectations are the same as most public servants.
But the importance of studying something that acts as a bottleneck is paramount, most art or business degrees are far too ambiguous in their content. Especially now that the internet is available.
very true. Social work I would agree is more specific and useful. That is a smarter use of your time and money then a general psych degree :)
I’m surprised history of art isn’t here I met a professor once he has its as useless as Venezuelan money
I have a Masters Degree in Engineering and I can clearly say that I earn quite a lot more money than most other people at my age
That is a good degree, not one of the worst :)
Yes, engineering requires a degree. Hard enough to get your foot in the door with a good degree and good grades.
I agree with what you said right at the end , most degrees, unless required to get a job (most often in the medical field, law, etc.) are pretty useless. If you want to learn about something and get good at it, then go learn, the entire internet is at our fingertips haha.
:) I should have added engineering to medical and law... I can't think of many more. :)
The problem is what if you want to be a mental health professional and knowing you need to go to graduate school how do you get the subject matter you need and not end up with a useless degree? What useful degree would be proper preparation for graduate school?
I don't think a person should go into debt for such degrees but neither I think that such degrees are useless . How to use such degrees ? -
Fashion design - Try to do part time apprenticeship and use creativity , master the skills to make fashionable clothes which can help you to get into Fashion industry . A degree would surely supplement you . Try to save money so that you can open your own fashion business one day .
Women Studies and Anthropology - whatever you learn in class is not always readily available outside the doors of academia . Create your own ideas on such topics , start writing books and publish them . College education always gives you in depth knowledge of a subject in comparison to a book from a public library . There might be people who might know more than college but they take years to gather that knowledge . Use that knowledge to write books or even story books and try writing on something which many people might not have heard of .
Marketing - Use this degree to get entry level jobs .
Psychology - If you have enough money and if you are American than after doing this you can join Medical school in America to become a Psychiatrist . You can join the American Psychiatric Association to gain further recognition . If you are from some other country than try to get a license in clinical psychology . While doing the job of a psychologist , also try to become a lecturer like Jordan Peterson or Steven Pinker . Also publish your research findings to become more rich .
Fashion trends change like the weather, and no one can teach you into becoming a good designer, but….
If you have the nack for it, some talent and a genuine interest, then school can help you develop a consistent process for design, and also the skills and the working discipline you need to make it. It can help provide you the vocabulary to speak to other professionals and the history to understand how what you design relates to what has come before and what is happening now. But, if you lack the talent, and only have the passion to carry you 80% of it will be a waste of time. You might get a job in fashion, but it won’t be as a designer, but it still might be a great job.
I don't think I agree on psychology. Yes, the competition is huge, but it doesn't mean it's useless
Tough to get decent work. But good to study. Useless doesn't fit this degree, I agree, more "low prospects"
Tourism? That's ridiculous, isn't that a subfield of Business or Economics degrees.
I quite liked the video and the four questions you make to evaluate each degree are quite good. The only thing I do not agree is when you say anthropology is useless to society. Even the investment arena I think this knowledge is super valuable. Many books Li Lu recommends in his list are about anthropology. Have a look for example to the one called Guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond. With this degree I think it happen similarly than with psicology is super usefull as a support in other fields.
As a bonus to the comment if I remember well, in the book "Richer, wiser, happier" said that the university studies of Nick Sleep were in Geography!! These took him far away obviously 😅
you are very correct, i didn't dive too deep into the content, more focussed about the ability to get paid as a direct result of the degree. There are a lot of indirect results of studying. But I don't think you need an anthropolgy degree to get the same insights as Li Lu. Just read a few books and watch a few documentaries... No need to waste 3 years and all that money.
My impression from your video is that you (and most people) have misconceptions about what college and a college education is. It is not high school for adults. The most important thing to keep in mind about college and the world is that nobody owes you anything. Not one damned thing. YOU are responsible for YOUR education. And, that education is going to come from many sources. You don’t just go to college thinking they will provide everything you need. That is stupid! College supplements all of the other things you are doing. And if you are not doing other things, then you are wasting time and money.
Agreed. Gender studies are probably the most useless degree with regards to job prospects, making money or anything. However, if you’re a socialist, then perhaps it will help you in your debates at the local coffee house. There you can also spend the few dollars you make working at a bar or something similar. Regards from someone with a degree, that is almost useless.
haha great career opportunity. I didn't think of that. Better than anything else i can think of haha
Why are they still being offered?
What should I get
Great video! Bound to trigger some folks. I thought you were going to flip the script and throw accounting and business administration in there, in which case I was going to be triggered myself haha. Stay safe my friend!
Haha thanks mate, trying my best, but might go help soon...
I agree with this list but definitely not with marketing its actually a decent degree with great demand and earning potential
Before it’s about that’s my dream or ambition. Today it’s about I need to get a job that’s what it’s demand I need get that in college.
ok! so here it goes, the first time I disagree with you.
I understand and agree with you about the low prospects of getting a jobs in several of the fields you mentioned. I would have a hard time if my (imaginary) kids one day decided to take one of those career paths but, I would still try to find a way, maybe as you suggested, looking for other options to gain knowledge and expertise.
Now, where I strongly disagree is when you said that only Law or Medicine are the ones that would benefit you to have a degree. Yes, I understand they were just an example but I really think any university degree is a must. Why? learning to learn (about any topic or industry) is the key reason why I would encourage anyone to have a "classic" education. Are they fields or university who do a very bad job or are extremely expensive? Of course, as in investing you have to pay a reasonable price (time and/or money) with a fair margin of safety that it will pay-off.
Second, learning to learn is a must if in this ever changing world. I have seen people learn through the internet high demand skills that have payed off fairly well in the short term but, once those softwares dissapeared for example, they were outdated and had no basic understanding of the industry they were working on. They just had not adquired the basic skills or the theory needed to progress into the next step and the types of course you generally find out of university are this kind.
Last, you will spend a lot of your time working. You might as well spend your money on sth you like. Just do not overpay or expect miracles.
we both agree on the don't overpay thing. I guess I would be ok with someone getting one of these useless degrees if it was inexpensive. Learning something, is better than learning nothing. :)
How about sociology?
Common sense video: 353 views. DJ Bloop bloop's latest album drop on youtube, 500 million views!!!!
Dj bloop bloop is dope though. I'm boring
Can you make a video about how did you immigrate to ukraine?
I'm curious too
Do you want to know why I immigrated there? or How I actually live there? unfortunately it might be a while until I can return :( So sad
@@AndrewBrownInvesting yeah It is :( I was curious why. Business, girlfriend, travel?
Hey, random question..do you think you will buy a real estate property if the Ukraine war ends?
No, I don't want to even think about that right now. But I will go back and help rebuild. I would let average ukranians have first chance to buy what they want. I honestly would prefer to rent off someone to help them rather than take something for myself. Put some money into the economy.
Psychology? 😲😕☹️.
It's sad fact
My mum says if I do performing arts or music etc but I'm not Marilyn Monroe or popular
This means unemployment 😂
I'm actually surprised by your list. In many TH-camr videos, I often hear about degrees in the Humanities: arts, theatre, and liberal arts.
I think most people point out these degrees because they fail to see the direct connection to work.
To some extent, I understand while most people think art degrees are useless. It's mostly because there are no direct jobs in art, unless you want to work as a museum curator.
However, i would argue that arts and Humanities gives you an understanding of self expression, appreciation of culture, communication, and diversity. Art majors may even know how people are sensitive and know how to give criticism in a sensible manner. Hence, so even if you don't get a job in art, I think going to college, even if it's to study art, can give you a sense pf interpersonal soft skills.
Granted, you may graduate from an art school with a pompous attitude and be the absolute worst person to work with.
However, you may be surprised when I ask you how ot feels to work with a skilled engineer without any interpersonal skills or a creative person with interpersonal skills. I think you mat say the creative person. While I haven't worked with any engineers, sometimes people with higher paying salaried jobs are very smart and skillful but have the worst soft skills in the world making you think "I don't want to hang out with thus guy after work.'
And younger audiences fail to see how creativity is needed and valued in the business world. Yes, you may not work for J Paul Getty and there are job prospects are bad, but people LOVE creative minds.
Because their failure to understand this, often liberal arts, arts, theater, film, and the like seem to be TH-camrs videos for the worst degrees.
Not yours.
You've stated quite a few degrees that are directly connected with work like marketing, fashion design, and tourism. These are not commonplace degrees people often think of when it comes to college's worst degrees.
I'm surprised that you did not criticize theatre arts or film production because usually tgese are the two degrees people think are useless. Yes, chances of becoming a film director or slim pickens,, but it says to an employer you are creative, think fast on your feet, and like working on a team. Yes, business majors are probably preferred over a film production major, but it doesn't mean the job prospects of applying yourself anywhere is low.
In fact, I would have thought a degree in hospitality would be the only way to get to a mangement position in the travel industry. In fact, I think if you want yi be a manager, including a hotel director on a cruise ship like Holland America a hospitality degree would be a major necessity
Surprised does not equal appalled. Surprised equals a compliment on having different insight that is not usually traveled.
Whether I disagree or agree about tourism not being a good degree, I like the fact that you have pointed it out because I would have not thought about it being a bad degree, and i value your opinion .
And since I value your difference in opinion, I'd hope that hearing an opposing argument might help you to think that maybe hospitality is maybe not such a bad degree after all.
But again, my creative side really likes the fact that you have chosen degrees that usually are not thought of when it comes to bad degrees.
Yes, I disagree with you that a hospitality and tourism degree is bad; however, I think you have some very valuable insight to offer and maybe your skills of objectivity will let you know that thus post is a post of mutual consent and dialogue. It's not a full on debate. A debate is just one sided. A dialogue is a form of communication that wants to hear opposing arguments without bias. So yes, there is avlittke bit of persuasion. However, a dialogue doesn't always have to be where everyone agrees on the same thing every single time. In fact . that might be boring when someone us always a "yes man."
I'm an engineer and there is a pretty broad range of soft skills in my area of engineering. Sometimes you have to push back and tell someone they were to harsh. Other times, you have to specifically give someone permission to speak. But those engineers often have some mad skills that you need on the most difficult issues where life and death hang in the balance. Get me the guy with no social skills who cares enough to find the best solution! Maybe it's the person with the psych degree and soft skills who give the people around the no soft-skills engineer the ability to cope. But you cannot throw out those guys either and say it would be better to have just nice people. (Not that you said that. I'm just adding, not refuting)
What the hell is this video? Who asked for it?