Should I pursue a liberal arts degree?
June 15, 2015 9:09 PM Subscribe
I'm looking at future career options... and I'm not really sure what to do. I have a head start on an associates in liberal arts that would transfer.
More than a decade back, I lost the ability to do heavy labor when my back went out. I went to school for design, and never did finish since I got a full time job in the field, and didn't have time to take the remaining courses. Things worked out for the time being. I have a good job now and they treat me well. But... I have to be ready for the future in case anything happens to my job. Most designers I know are having trouble getting jobs or changing jobs. The market out there just isn't good. (So many designers have lost their jobs over the past several years with what's happened to newspapers and magazines. The schools are continuing to crank out graduates. And now we're competing with overseas companies that can do things dead cheap; I almost lost a job when my company tried to outsource our work to India. )
I'm not really a numbers or math guy. It's just never been my strong suit. But design interested me and there were jobs at the time. When I was going through school, I was racking up credits for design. After talking to an advisor at the local community college, I'm 24 credits away from an associates in liberal arts and just about everything I have would transfer to the state universities, fulfilling core credits and a bunch of electives. I could have the AA in a year and be ready to move up.
Liberal arts is often mocked as a major nowadays. Reading up online, I get "liberal arts degrees are worthless" and some "liberal arts degrees are valuable." To go to a different track, I would have to take a lot of math and science classes, adding time, expense, and aggravation. As it is I would probably have to take out $20k in loans to finish the university part after I got the AA. Being in my 40s, time is already a consideration.
So, what says the hive mind? Good investment, or a very expensive piece of framed parchment for the wall?
More than a decade back, I lost the ability to do heavy labor when my back went out. I went to school for design, and never did finish since I got a full time job in the field, and didn't have time to take the remaining courses. Things worked out for the time being. I have a good job now and they treat me well. But... I have to be ready for the future in case anything happens to my job. Most designers I know are having trouble getting jobs or changing jobs. The market out there just isn't good. (So many designers have lost their jobs over the past several years with what's happened to newspapers and magazines. The schools are continuing to crank out graduates. And now we're competing with overseas companies that can do things dead cheap; I almost lost a job when my company tried to outsource our work to India. )
I'm not really a numbers or math guy. It's just never been my strong suit. But design interested me and there were jobs at the time. When I was going through school, I was racking up credits for design. After talking to an advisor at the local community college, I'm 24 credits away from an associates in liberal arts and just about everything I have would transfer to the state universities, fulfilling core credits and a bunch of electives. I could have the AA in a year and be ready to move up.
Liberal arts is often mocked as a major nowadays. Reading up online, I get "liberal arts degrees are worthless" and some "liberal arts degrees are valuable." To go to a different track, I would have to take a lot of math and science classes, adding time, expense, and aggravation. As it is I would probably have to take out $20k in loans to finish the university part after I got the AA. Being in my 40s, time is already a consideration.
So, what says the hive mind? Good investment, or a very expensive piece of framed parchment for the wall?
If you're in your 30s or beyond and are mostly interested in continuing to work in the field you have an established career in, none of the conventional wisdom in either direction applies to you.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:45 PM on June 15, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:45 PM on June 15, 2015 [7 favorites]
Design degree holder here. These days, the only thing a degree gets you is that you can qualify for jobs that require a degree. And now they specify SPECIFIC degrees so they can rule more people out. Grrrr. I can't speak for STEM degrees (though from what I hear even those people have issues these days getting jobs), but if you're not good at math and science, it's only going to make things worse if you try to get a "useful" degree and don't have the brains for it.
Honestly, I don't think I'd recommend that you finish your degree if you don't even have an AA yet and it'll only rack up shit tons more debt for 3+ years and/or have to drop out of work (or try to juggle school and a job, ugh) to do it. If you can still get design work, I'd say to keep doing it unless you get canned and find that no degree is hurting your job prospects.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:10 PM on June 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Honestly, I don't think I'd recommend that you finish your degree if you don't even have an AA yet and it'll only rack up shit tons more debt for 3+ years and/or have to drop out of work (or try to juggle school and a job, ugh) to do it. If you can still get design work, I'd say to keep doing it unless you get canned and find that no degree is hurting your job prospects.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:10 PM on June 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
English major here (MA too). If I were starting over, I'd get into Information Science, maybe cyber-security. I know it sounds weird, but I think the cognitive tasks involved in that and in writing/lit crit are similar.
So ... if I wanted to be in English, I'd do a secondary concentration in composition and especially teaching to ESL (English as a Second Language) students. And I'd work at the university Writing Center (which will train undergrad tutors). There is not a lot of money in that, of course, but there are a lot of jobs.
But you know, the point of liberal arts isn't getting a job. You'll hear how these billion-dollar-investment banker bonus babies are lib arts majors. Well, I have three (count'em) lib arts degrees, and no billion dollar bonus. I do have a job that pays the rent (teaching), and heck, I spent 4 years reading and writing about books I loved.
If you want to train yourself for a job, go with Information Science or Security or somethng IT. Really, it's weirdly like a liberal arts degree, plus there's a job waiting.
If you want to be a writer, a degree has no application to that. Take a class in Advanced Grammar or Editing, which will help with the IT degree too, and will be better training for writing than 17th C British poetry.
Get a liberal arts degree because you want to spend college studying whatever. You won't have a guaranteed job when you get out, but trust me, neither will the students who majored in business. IT is the concentration if you want to come out and get a job. Minor in English or Comp or History. :)
No matter what, the most important thing about getting a degree is GETTING A DEGREE. An AA is worth more than 2 years without a degree. A BA is worth more than 10 years of courses.
posted by pippin at 12:02 AM on June 16, 2015
So ... if I wanted to be in English, I'd do a secondary concentration in composition and especially teaching to ESL (English as a Second Language) students. And I'd work at the university Writing Center (which will train undergrad tutors). There is not a lot of money in that, of course, but there are a lot of jobs.
But you know, the point of liberal arts isn't getting a job. You'll hear how these billion-dollar-investment banker bonus babies are lib arts majors. Well, I have three (count'em) lib arts degrees, and no billion dollar bonus. I do have a job that pays the rent (teaching), and heck, I spent 4 years reading and writing about books I loved.
If you want to train yourself for a job, go with Information Science or Security or somethng IT. Really, it's weirdly like a liberal arts degree, plus there's a job waiting.
If you want to be a writer, a degree has no application to that. Take a class in Advanced Grammar or Editing, which will help with the IT degree too, and will be better training for writing than 17th C British poetry.
Get a liberal arts degree because you want to spend college studying whatever. You won't have a guaranteed job when you get out, but trust me, neither will the students who majored in business. IT is the concentration if you want to come out and get a job. Minor in English or Comp or History. :)
No matter what, the most important thing about getting a degree is GETTING A DEGREE. An AA is worth more than 2 years without a degree. A BA is worth more than 10 years of courses.
posted by pippin at 12:02 AM on June 16, 2015
If it's not too hard to finish the AA, do that. As pippin says, get the degree.
After that, I don't think a liberal arts degree has much meaning in the job market at your age. On the other hand, some business courses might be worthwhile. It can't hurt to understand how the company that employs you actually works.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:09 AM on June 16, 2015
After that, I don't think a liberal arts degree has much meaning in the job market at your age. On the other hand, some business courses might be worthwhile. It can't hurt to understand how the company that employs you actually works.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:09 AM on June 16, 2015
It might help the discussion if you clarify what you mean by "liberal arts degree". Historically, a liberal arts degree was any degree that was not vocational: english, history, economics, sociology, math, biology, etc., anything that wasn't nursing or business or teaching or things like that with a clear pathway to a job. Modernly, some people mean just humanities (english, other languages, fine arts, maybe history) and some people mean everything that's not "STEM" or vocational (all the humanities plus the social sciences).
I understand that your AA will just be a general "liberal arts" AA, which is not uncommon, but what do you plan to study in your bachelor's degree? Depending on the school, design is a very applied field that could lead directly to a job, while a BA in art history is a classic liberal arts degree that would expand your perspectives and let you check the "degree" box on job applications, but doesn't have a clear vocational track. There are plenty of psychology, english, and history majors working in the business world, but also plenty of them in grad school. Being more specific about what you're interested in will get you better answers.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:09 PM on June 16, 2015
I understand that your AA will just be a general "liberal arts" AA, which is not uncommon, but what do you plan to study in your bachelor's degree? Depending on the school, design is a very applied field that could lead directly to a job, while a BA in art history is a classic liberal arts degree that would expand your perspectives and let you check the "degree" box on job applications, but doesn't have a clear vocational track. There are plenty of psychology, english, and history majors working in the business world, but also plenty of them in grad school. Being more specific about what you're interested in will get you better answers.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:09 PM on June 16, 2015
IMX, it doesn't matter what your undergraduate degree is in. It only matters that you have a degree.
posted by caryatid at 7:15 PM on June 16, 2015
posted by caryatid at 7:15 PM on June 16, 2015
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posted by cotton dress sock at 9:36 PM on June 15, 2015