Impact of majors assumed as "fluffy"

[Ninja1]

What many consider "fluffy" are liberal arts degrees that really aren't marketable unless you go on to grad school.  For instance, a four year degree in sociology simply won't translate into a big money job.  A degree in engineering that takes the same amount of time, could get you twice or three times the salary of a sociology degree.  But if you hate engineering and really love sociology, then it would be a waste.  Major in what you enjoy because your GPA will be all the better for it. 

I know this because I caught hell for years when I told people I was majoring in Philosophy.  I got everything from, "you don't intend to work after college, do you?" to "what Starbucks are you shootin' to work for after graduation?".  But I intended to go to law school all along and was given the advice early on that Philosophy is an excellent first order discipline that prepares you well for LS.  I actually really got into the Philosophy courses and that translated to better grades (3.7 UGPA) Seems like anymore, a BA won't get you squat anyway.  I say focus on a course of study that you enjoy and will prepare you for whatever grad program you're interested in. 

Very well put and I completely identify.

I majored in political science and got a ton of *&^% for it, including gems like "You're going to school to be a politician?" and "You can't get a job doing that, you'd be better off getting a job at Wal-Mart and doing that for four years." Most people told me I was f-ing up by not majoring in engineering or something of that sort. Had I done that though, I probably would have had a crap GPA if I didn't completely fail out of school. Instead, I wrapped up with a 3.8 and had a healthy selection of law schools to choose from, including the school that I've wanted to go to for about as long as I can remember.

And, most importantly, I'm escaping my Poor Town with its myopic residents thanks to my fluffy degree.

[casper13]

I wondered this at first also as I am a sociology major also and people told me it was a fluff major and this and that. But if you took it cause you enjoyed it, as I did, and you did good at it a school is gonna probably see that you had a passion for the subject you picked. Good grades are good grades. Now that I am pretty much done with UG I look back and think of how much time and effort I put into my classes and how I got it better than most did and that yes there are idiots in my classes taking Soc cause they thought it was an easy A. It is not easy to get it, and I use to bang my head against a table helping sutdents apply a theory to so many different subjects and I wondered "how in the F do you not get this." With that thought in mind I would think that there isnt fluff in our major and it is actually hard.

And one Soc person to another, did you specialize in anything particular. I preferred studies on poverty and economic issues more than anything.

[Ninja1]

What many consider "fluffy" are liberal arts degrees that really aren't marketable unless you go on to grad school.  For instance, a four year degree in sociology simply won't translate into a big money job.  A degree in engineering that takes the same amount of time, could get you twice or three times the salary of a sociology degree.  But if you hate engineering and really love sociology, then it would be a waste.  Major in what you enjoy because your GPA will be all the better for it. 

I know this because I caught hell for years when I told people I was majoring in Philosophy.  I got everything from, "you don't intend to work after college, do you?" to "what Starbucks are you shootin' to work for after graduation?".  But I intended to go to law school all along and was given the advice early on that Philosophy is an excellent first order discipline that prepares you well for LS.  I actually really got into the Philosophy courses and that translated to better grades (3.7 UGPA) Seems like anymore, a BA won't get you squat anyway.  I say focus on a course of study that you enjoy and will prepare you for whatever grad program you're interested in. 

Very well put and I completely identify.

I majored in political science and got a ton of *&^% for it, including gems like "You're going to school to be a politician?" and "You can't get a job doing that, you'd be better off getting a job at Wal-Mart and doing that for four years." Most people told me I was f-ing up by not majoring in engineering or something of that sort. Had I done that though, I probably would have had a crap GPA if I didn't completely fail out of school. Instead, I wrapped up with a 3.8 and had a healthy selection of law schools to choose from, including the school that I've wanted to go to for about as long as I can remember.

And, most importantly, I'm escaping my Poor Town with its myopic residents thanks to my fluffy degree.

[nooyyllib]

Thank you all for detail inputs. I really appreciate it. To answer some of your questions, (i.e. what focus I am doing in sociology) I have no clue. I am only a rising junior and will declare sociology major right when fall semester starts.  But I can tell you that I enjoyed my class about social theory more than econ classes or commerce classes.  I regret dearly in taking econ and commerce classes(acct/finance) my freshmen and sophomore year - my gpa is currently 3.35 because of those classes. Hopefully with my junior year filled with sociology classes I am actually interested in, I'll do much better.  Thank you all for your help.

P.S. Another question - I found out that I can take 12 credits only per semester (4 classes) and still graduate with well over my required credits. Would Adcom and law schools look at it as a negative if I only took 4 classes a semester (junior and senior year)? I plan on getting straight A's with 4 classes. Thanks again.

[sheltron5000]

I just wanted to concur with everyone else that it is probably better to take classes you enjoy, understand, and will do well in than anything else.

I was also a little curious about taking a reduced number of classes in my Senior year. I was finishing a difficult major (Linguistics) and had to drop one class and then take one less just to be able to handle the workload. Will the adcomms look at this with suspicion?

[nooyyllib]

awesome lsat score sheltron. how did you prepare for the lsat? I'm only a rising junior and ive been using powerscore books and only improved from 152 to 159-162s. (i started this summer).

[brianwithani]

It is my understanding that if you only take 4 classes (which is full time) and make A's, it is definitely better than taking 6 classes (18 hours) and making 3 A's and 3 B's.  Any drop in grade point average no matter how many classes you take will negatively affect you.  If you can only take 2 at a time and make A's, from a law school admission perspective, it is better.  Now I guess, if you can only take two classes and do well, you may not be able to handle the LS load but admissions is your first hurdle.  Can't stress enough how much weight they put on those two numbers, UGPA and LSAT...

[Ninja1]

...

P.S. Another question - I found out that I can take 12 credits only per semester (4 classes) and still graduate with well over my required credits. Would Adcom and law schools look at it as a negative if I only took 4 classes a semester (junior and senior year)? I plan on getting straight A's with 4 classes. Thanks again.

I only took four classes a semester almost the entire time I was in school and I don't think anywhere cared (I'd occasionally take a summer class or two and had a few overload semesters to make up the difference).

[nooyyllib]

sweet. the only reason why I'm taking 4 classes this upcoming junior year is to get myself some time to study for lsat everyday.  I got my semester schedule from 8am to 12pm so I'll have rest of the day to study for the LSAT everyday.  Thanks again for your input.

BTW, I've been studying with powerscore books this summer (logic games bible and logical reasoning), is there any other way other than purchasing the actual 10 lsat tests from lsac? if you did use powerscore books how did you study with them? my first diagnostic was 152 and now I'm around 158-160. Still about 15 more points to go by June 09.....

[sheltron5000]

I feel like a lot of the crap you get about majors comes from a long tradition of trade schools. People seem to think you go to college to learn how to DO SOMETHING, but for the most part you don't. In terms of Liberal Arts, all you are really doing is learning analytical thinking that can be applied to virtually any field. College is NOT trade school, and it never will be, your major makes no real difference unless you plan on continuing in academics. The truth is most people learn the rest "on the job," but there are very few substitutes for a good liberal arts education when it comes to learning HOW to learn and think. I think it is a result of the relatively recent expansion of the "knowledge economy" and the sheer numbers of people going to college, often the first in their families.

SUBJECT CHANGE!!

nooyyllib, the only way to really study is to take the practice tests. In the two months before I took the test I was taking a timed practice once a week, then spending the rest of the week working on whatever I had problems with on the practice. USE REAL TESTS. There are some tests online, and if you check your library or used bookstores I'm sure you can find more for cheap. Or ask some of the other people on LSD if they can sell you used books for cheap.

I used the powerscore books for learning ABOUT techniques. I went through each book twice, then left them on the shelf, and developed my own approach that fit my way of thinking. The only way to do that is with practice tests. If you check in the LSAT Prep section there are a lot of threads discussing the answers to various questions, those can give you a feel for HOW to approach the tougher questions. Most of all...

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Good luck!