Marathon!
5 days ago
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Question?
This has nothing to do with dogs. So you may want to skip reading it. Can anyone tell me what kind of job you can get with a history major? Besides teaching. My son would like to change his major to history. He really likes history and he knows a lot about history. He loves to read, go to book stores and libraries. So maybe that is his thing. But I dont know what kind of job he could get. He doesnt have good social skills so I think being a teacher is out. His current major is information systems but he isnt doing well. Is is better to be a history major with a high GPA then a information systems major with a low GPA? Any opinions will be welcome.
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10 comments:
Diana,
I think changing his major to something he loves is a great idea. From my experience as a teacher, when people study what they love, they can really blossom. Plus, it will expose him to people who like the same things he loves, which may help with the social aspect of his life.
As for the job part, I'd encourage him to look for internship opportunities, even unpaid internships. There are may be some where he could help professors doing research. If he likes to spend time in libraries, doing historical research may be his thing.
I was going to say a research job too - I think he should change his major to something he loves and see what happens!
I found this link, through my own college's website, regarding careers for history majors:
http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/careers/Index.htm
Diana,
I work at Boeing. One time, when I was supporting the Finance Dept., we did a fun survey to find out what sorts of degrees people in our department had. Accounting/finance degrees were actually in the minority. Although most all the professionals did have college degrees, their majors were everything from Philosophy to agriculture. Having gone thru my career without a college degree and seeing what a difference it has made in my earnings capacity - I have always told my kids - I don't care what you want to study, just get the degree.
Diane
I'll put in another vote for switching to a major that he's interested in.
I have no specific job suggestions (other than a snarky one for working at Starbuck's) but if that's his passion then he should get on the internetz and do some research into the possibilities. He may need to pursue an advanced degree depending on what he wants to do. And it may be harder for him to find something when he graduates (not necessarily though) but I think in the end you can't put a price on spending your life doing what you love.
Ditto the above poster. For many jobs, it doesn't matter what your major is, just that you get a degree. Switching his major may put him in touch with people he has more in common with, so he will be more comfortable and happy all around, and the professors will be more likely to help him out finding job opportunities.
I have a younger brother that is like 17 years younger then I am, and he really wanted to study teaching, my mom felt she wanted him to make a lot more money then that and it was beneath him....so he studied business or something like that, he did not do well because he really was not interested and it was not his passion, and now it has been ten years and he has never worked. I always think that if he has not been discouraged from studying what he wanted maybe he would have made SOME money and had some sort of direction, LOL, a lot more then he has made this way. The whole moral I have taken away for dealing with my own kids is that you have to do what you love and it will work out. If I had not really wanted to do nursing and if I was not really interested it would have been really hard to stick through the whole thing.
Yes, let him switch! I waited until I was FIFTY to go back and get a degree in something I love, and I think of all the wasted years doing work that I really didn't like just because it made a lot of money.
Also, there are research jobs everywhere in most industries, I met a woman who was a fact verifier for Time magazine a few years ago, he could do that kind of work even if it weren't history related, because just getting a degree will teach him how to do research. And he'd probably like it!
Encourage him to do what he loves and watch him blossom!
I don't think it really matters what your undergraduate degree is in (unless you plan on going into the sciences). My undergraduate degree is in English (because I loved literature). He should major in something he is interested in.
not that this has any bearing on what your son will do, but my good friend from college who was a history major ended up working as a special education high school teacher, then a waiter, and i think is now the manager of a convenience store. and he loved history. but what do i know? i'm an accounting major with an mba in marketing who works in human resources. ha!
on an unrelated note, your dogs are stunning!
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