Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire College Degree

How many of you are working in the field of your college degree?
I graduated 45 years ago and until I retired I worked in the field of my degree.
One of my 3 sons work in his degree field, but the other two have degrees and work in area's totally different from what they went to school for.
The reason I ask is the place I normally go for coffee every morning has a great guy working the counter, early 30's loves his job but has a degree in psychology, spent 4 years and some good money and never used it.
So if you had to do it over, would you change your majors ?

Dad-yes
mom-yes
FIL-yes
MIL-yes

me- yes
wife-yes
sister1-yes
sister2-yes
SIL1-yes
SIL2-yes
BIL1-yes
BIL2-yes
BIL3-yes
BIL4-no

so yeah, 13/14 in my fam are in their field

I graduated with a degree in IT just before the advent of Microsoft and home computers so I've been very lucky to be able to stay employed in the field and now have a decent amount of experience to stay in management.

My challenge now is to stay relevant in a field where you constantly have to stay up to date.

I think the world is different now than say the 1970's.

While about 35% of people go to college now, back then it was even less and I think just being a college graduate, regardless of your degree , meant you would find meaningful employment.

Now I don't think you can go to college and just ride out that liberal arts degree - the high employment degrees are science, medical and engineering.

Even lawyers are having trouble finding work.

Nothing trumps experience, but truth be told a degree certainly is a step in the right direction and will likely get your foot in the door.

I did it backwards, started working in a field then went to college to get a degree in that field. Did it my entire career.

My wife has a Master's in Journalism, which means she about qualified for a Starbucks job. She worked in it for a few years but it's a dying field.

I wish a journalism degree meant more.

In the long run the lack of credible journalists and outlets with money to spend on investigative reporting is going to hurt this country.

48 years in the same field and still going, although at a slower pace...

Though I've always wanted to be a math teacher.

A bachelor's degree in psychology is much like a bachelor's degree in "liberal arts." It's very much a generalist degree and is used by a lot of the colleges as a sort of catch-all for students who still don't know what they want to do if they ever grow up. To actually work in the field of psychology you pretty much need a graduate degree of some kind.

Very much work in my chosen field.

When I'm hiring, I really don't care much about where the degree is from, or what field, unless it's a Master's level candidate. Someone with a bachelor's degree has demonstrated the ability to learn and persevere to a certain degree.

What I'm interested beyond that is if they are prima donna's, if they know how to work, and if they have common sense.

Bachelor of Science in Forest Management, Utah State U. Never worked a day in that field.

They were cranking out foresters like there was no tomorrow, so when I graduated there were no jobs and what few there were paid bupkus. I could have had a job making minimum wage driving around Nevada counting jojobe plants for some synthetic fuels research. People with a Masters degree were planting trees, that's a summer job for high school kids.

Took the last of my GI bill (the old one) and went to 6 months of vocational school to be a computer programmer. Have worked in that field for 34 years now and it has been an enjoyable time and allowed me to make a decent living.

A classmate of mine also graduated with a BS in Forestry but couldn't find work either. He went back to school to become an electrical contractor and last I heard was very successful at it.

Yes, 28 years later.

But there are plenty of almost worthless degrees available.

In some cases though, employers really don't care what you graduated with as long as you finished something. Lots of starters, not as many finishers.

No, and I wish I had gone to school for a teaching degree, which I have been chipping away at. When I get the hankering to teach, I sub. Phone rings about 4 days a week to do so, and it's a good way to fill time between fishing seasons, and when it's time to hunt, I don't answer the phone. Best of both worlds, IMO. Middle school Math is about as fun as it gets. I couldn't afford to be a full time teacher.

I graduated in 1985 with a degree in mechanical engineering. I went to work for the same company I did two summer internships and never left. Now I am happily retired, so, no.

Sad state of affairs. We need real journalists today but seldom get them.

Can't do much in the field with less then a Masters Degree.

Two degrees actually, a bachelor's in Wildlife Management and also one in Fisheries Managaement from the University of Idaho way back when. Had a program at that time where you essentially spent an additional year and qualified for both. Considering how competitive the carrer field was, it was a wise decision. Had no interest in a master's or doctor's degree as I was married with two young kids and needed to get on with life after spending 4 years in the Air Force before finishing college.

That being said, spent 30+ years working for the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife......when I started it was called the Wa. Dept. of Game. Only negative thing about that profession was, it went too damn fast. Guess I enjoyed myself too much, except for the politics and how it changed over the years.

In my opinion, your first question is not related to your statement "what they went to school for."

My chosen career field, at the time I went to college, was becoming a Marine Corps Officer. The commissioning program required a bachelor degree in any field of study. Therefore I chose "Wildlife Ecology" but never worked in that field, but I still qualified to work in my chosen field (Marine Corps.)

As far as those expensive degrees (is psychology an expensive degree everywhere or is it institution specific?) Dave Ramsey always advises callers to choose degrees in fields of study within which they are going to work.

I graduated in 1986 with a BS in Civil Engineering and have been working in that field since then.

Yes and no. I got my BS in biology. Really useless unless you add something to it. DDS 4 years later. 19 years and going.