Most Valuable / Pointless Fields of Study at College / University (IYO)

[Skip Class]

One of the things I've noticed is that there aren't useless degrees, there are useless people.

Don't think I could have said it any better.

"Uselessness is not determined by a college major, but how you use it. Only people who don't use the tools they are given to better themselves could possibly deserve that term."

I also think that the "uselessness" or "usefulness" will also vary between what university you study and where you live and/or plan to work once you graduate. Degrees varying between different schools and what opportunities the school can bring to you. Some give you opportunities while others don't.

It's one thing to go to an art or design school. You study there for 3-4 years then graduate hoping to find work. The creative world itself can be pretty harsh and a tough challenge to even get work. I go to a university where my campus is a mixed architecture and design school and there are so many opportunities for students to hit it in the real world and to get into it even before they graduate. Some choose to take these opportunities and go into the workforce strong, while others just sit around finishing their assignments and courses of the course of 3 - 4 years and leave be thankful their education is finally over and hope to land a job.

I myself am currently in my third year of my Bachelor's in Design Innovation degree majoring in Media Design. It's not really in the terms of Graphic Design, but covers more of the wider range of various design from interaction, game design, web/app, special effects, computer graphics etc. to name a few. Our school offers a lot of opportunities in terms of working with large companies outside the University such as Weta Workshop, several gaming companies as well as big business related companies - which not many schools get that opportunity. Of course of the years studying we study, the number of people decreases every year and those who last till the end get the jobs and scholarship opportunities so it's definitely an opportunity you really have to work hard for. Sure you can do everything yourself at home and learn to be a designer by tutorials on the net, but even freelancers don't always have a easy time picking up jobs. Weta Workshop themselves do only hire 10-15 people a year which isn't easy if loads of people are trying to get in. If university does give me the opportunity to work, I'd rather that than to hit it off on my own. I also study Information Systems at the same time and studying design with it is actually pretty useful. University does recommend you take design with another subject such as computer science which most people do.

As I have said, degrees can be more useful or useless depending on where you live/plan to work. Studying agriculture could be useless in one country, but here where farming is huge, there's quite a bit of a skill shortage in parts of that area.
Surprisingly enough being a Multimedia Designer is apparently having a skill shortage here where it'll probably be blooming with too much in other countries.
Maori Studies is also a degree you can study here. You'd probably think it's useless since not as many people use the native language anymore, but it's amazing seeing people study it and keeping our origins alive.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Information Technology is a great field to be in for me. It's profitable, doesn't require bachelor's or master's out-of-the-box for a nice income, I'm good it it, and I love it. It's a win-win-win-win, and I get to save my passion from being my job alongside it (software dev).

I think women's studies is only useful if you're a feminist spokesperson or something like that and there's only a handful of those people around to begin with... and unless you're in advertising the arts are going to be largely useless.

 

[CoffeeDrink]

I specifically remember a certain university conducting a study to see if men have a problem peeing when someone is standing next to them. The short answer is yes, yes they do. This is a pointless field of study. But on taking classes, I have to say I absolutely hated philosophy. If you were dying from a stab wound, they'd go into a long talk on how that stab wound is not indeed a stab wound, but an entry with which one can study and observe one's life and soul.

 

[Belldandy]

and unless you're in advertising the arts are going to be largely useless.

Do you mean "the Arts" or "the Fine Arts"?

My dad would say "The Arts are the most pointless fields and such a waste of money" when he really meant the Fine Arts, a specific branch of BA focusing on painting, drawing, etc.

The Faculty of Arts, or "the Arts", includes Geography, History, Philosophy, English, French, Spanish, all other languages, Linguistics, Communications and a ton of other fields. Not all of them are useless ☺

The "Fine Arts"... Well, I find that particular field a bit of a waste, but I'm sure it's fun to do.

 

[Castaigne]

I think women's studies is only useful if you're a feminist spokesperson or something like that and there's only a handful of those people around to begin with... and unless you're in advertising the arts are going to be largely useless.

I think there's a lot of value in a women's studies degree if you use it wisely. There are plenty of corporations that hire people to evaluate their ad campaigns, company practises, etc... A consultancy company based around vetting companies for any potential feminist problems can make a decent penny.

There's also boatloads of money to be made on the speaking/writing/research/criticism racket, but that's a different kind of question entirely lol.