Are you currently searching for a degree program to study at the University? If yes, there are numerous degree programs available. It can, however, get overwhelming trying to choose the right one for you, especially as tuition is expensive and you don’t want to make the wrong choice.
This article will discuss over 20 useless degrees you should avoid, thereby streamlining your choices.
In case you have one of these listed below, here we offer a list of career ideas you can start with a useless degree.
But what qualifies a degree as useless, you may ask?
I don’t believe that any degree is useless because no education is wasted. But, in the current job market, not all degrees are useful. Most experts classify the usefulness of a degree by its demand, unemployment rate, lucrativeness, and value.
This means that some degrees that were useful in the past decade may have reduced potential employment options today. Besides, some degrees are termed useless because of the oversaturation in the field, leaving little to no room for recent graduates to get jobs.
However, there are some jobs that you can do with any degree, but if you are interested in the money, it is always better to choose a useful and practical degree program.
So, let’s look at these useless degrees, shall we?
Communication is a broad field that teaches the science behind communication and the different ways to make it more accessible.
Graduating with a degree in communication will make getting a job after graduation very difficult as the degree is too broad and does not provide you with specialised skills. Even though you can get jobs in marketing, journalism, public relations, and business with this degree, it is always better to go for a degree with a specific focus to better your chances.
Although this degree is good for someone who plans to have a fashion brand or work for a major fashion company, getting a fashion designer job can be hard after graduating. The same goes for creating your fashion brand after school. You will need experience and connections in the field to excel.
However, most fashion enthusiasts choose fashion schools, where they can get the experience needed, over fashion design degrees, making them useless. Also, most fashion brands hardly consider education when employing fashion designers.
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The rise of technology has impacted the advertising industry immensely, with digital advertising mediums, like SEO, email marketing, AI, social media marketing, and others, taking the lead from traditional mediums.
Unfortunately, because the average advertising degree program syllabus is not advancing as fast as the technology, the knowledge you gather from your advertising degree may become dated before you even graduate and join the job market.
Also, with the onset of free media and multiple social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, many big advertising agencies are struggling to catch up.
An average social media-savvy individual will have more luck getting a job in advertising than someone with a degree. Even those studying digital marketing, sports marketing, e-commerce, social media, and others must continuously stay ahead of the trends if they want to find good jobs.
At first glance, you may wonder why an education degree is on the list, but it isn’t as useful as you think. As an education major, you have to choose a speciality and stick with it, and those with general education degrees will find themselves without jobs.
This is because most educational establishments will only hire people with specific educational certifications – meaning that a person with a general education degree cannot get a job in special education or daycare.
Also, you may need to get a master’s degree or additional training to increase your chances of getting a job at a school.
Despite the importance of teachers, their salaries do not reflect their essentiality. This means that if you pursue this degree, you may have to take side jobs like tutoring to make ends meet.
Even though criminal justice looks like an amazing degree to study, your chances of getting a job in law enforcement will not increase as a result. This is because you will have a hard time getting a job that you are qualified for with this degree.
Most people have to get supplementary education to start careers as social workers, police officers, or lawyers – it shows that you are better off not spending money and time getting this degree.
If you are interested in law enforcement, you can apply directly and go through the training to become a police officer. The same goes for if you are interested in becoming a lawyer – you have to go to law school.
A music degree will teach you about the history of music and the different instruments, but it will not increase your chances of becoming a professional musician. A music major may spend time focusing on different areas of music composition, but because the field is limited, music majors may have difficulty finding jobs after graduation.
Also, a music degree is all about the theory of music with little to no practical experience, and this limits your chances of getting into the music industry.
With a music degree, you can get a band instructor or conductor job, but these jobs are few and far between. There are also performance schools, like The BRIT School, that you can attend if you are intent on focusing on music. Besides, most people working in the music industry do not have music degrees.
Ethnic studies are very important, but this degree alone may not be as useful to get the job you want. You may have to spend more time getting additional education to increase your chances of getting jobs in social work, education, or other fields.
On the other hand, some people take ethnic studies as a minor major alongside another degree to increase their chances of getting a good job after graduation.
With a degree in theatre arts, you will study acting and learn how to make a theatre production and improve your acting skills. People that pursue this degree usually want to become actors or scriptwriters. However, getting a job after graduation will prove difficult as only a few people get successful jobs right after graduation.
Pivoting to another career may also prove futile as a theatre arts degree typically doesn’t teach skills transferrable to other careers. You do not need to pursue a theatre arts degree to become an actor, as most successful actors do not have degrees in theatre arts.
Besides, most art or film schools will increase your chances of getting your acting career off the ground more than any degree will.
It may sound appealing to study humans’ origin, development, and behaviour, but unless you are willing to study until you get a Ph.D., this degree is not right for you. Although there are jobs for graduates with a degree in anthropology and archaeology, these jobs are very few and not frequent.
Philosophy is a very interesting but theoretical field of study that has no place in today’s job market. Perhaps, you may be able to get a job as a philosophy professor, but this requires more years of study and experience.
Most philosophy graduates usually have to move to other career choices, especially if they want to make money and survive. So, it is better to consider a different field if you want a stable job after graduation or take philosophy as a minor degree alongside a more useful major degree.
Travel and hospitality degrees usually involve the study of different places in the world and ways to improve the hospitality experience.
But, even though the classes may be interesting, the career options for someone with this degree are very limited. Some people choose to be travel agents or professional video content creators – no degree is needed for either of these career paths.
Additionally, the tourism and hospitality industry is very market-driven and unstable, as proven by the covid-19 pandemic.
A creative writing degree will not automatically make you a novelist. While you will be taught how to tell stories and create poetry, this degree is very specific, which limits your career choices.
So, if you do not publish a bestselling novel or children’s book, you cannot pivot into journalism or technical writing because these broad skills are not taught. Alternatively, you can apply to creative writing workshops and boot camps for a fraction of the cost and time of getting a degree. Also, you do not need a creative writing degree to publish a major novel or create poetry.
A degree in computer science may seem like you are on the right path, especially with the demand for tech-related jobs, but this isn’t so. Technology will always be ahead of what is taught in schools, which threatens the usefulness of degrees in the job market. Just like advertising, technological trends in computer science are advancing every day, and you cannot rely only on your traditional education if you want to get a job after graduation.
Computer science degrees are also very broad with no specific focus – meaning students are only taught a bit of each subject. If you want to get this degree to get a job in cybersecurity or as a programmer, there are more specific degree programs you can choose. Also, there are platforms where you can learn different programming languages and stay ahead of the trend for a fraction of the price of getting a computer science degree.
In the tech world, a company will hire someone with knowledge and experience before considering a university degree. Most computer science graduates also have to get higher education in a specific field to have a competitive advantage in the tech job market. Besides, there is an oversaturation of talents, meaning you have to make yourself stand out.
While there are numerous benefits to learning different languages, getting a linguistics degree is a useless venture. This is because tuition is expensive and you want to ensure that you are spending time studying a course that will yield returns as a result of said degree. You may feel accomplished learning a language, but you can always do this without getting a degree.
With a linguistics degree, you can work in international relations or at a foreign embassy, but these jobs are very sparse. If you still want to pursue this degree, choose more relevant languages like German and Chinese over classical ones to increase your chances of getting a job after University. Additionally, you can get a minor in a language you are interested in and major in another useful degree.
A culinary arts degree may be a good idea if you want to become a chef or cook after University. With this degree, you will be taught how to cook and present your food, but you will not be taught any skill beyond this.
This means your business and soft skills will be limited, hindering your ability to transfer jobs or change careers. Besides, if you want to become a chef, there are culinary schools you can attend that will offer more specific field training while saving you money and time.
Art history typically involves the study of art in different periods. While it seems like a very unique degree to have, it can be hard to get a job or even make a career out of this degree, except if you want to pursue an academic role.
You can get a few jobs, like art appraiser or museum art collector, but they are hard to break into and far between. Additionally, a degree in art history doesn’t really have any skill taught that can be transferred to other career paths, limiting your career options.
Because you are passionate about photography and film production does not mean you need to get a video and photographic arts degree. While most people who get these degrees usually start their photography or videography business, you do not need to spend time and money pursuing this degree.
Photography and videography have more to do with talent than skills, which is why you can find many successful photographers and videographers that don’t have a degree.
However, there are still skills involved, and you can learn them by enrolling in multiple video and photography courses for a fraction of the cost of getting a degree.
Psychology, just like philosophy, is a difficult degree to use after graduation. You will need to pursue higher education to increase your chances of getting a job and practising. People that do not do this will have a hard time getting a job as it is also very limiting in career change options.
You may be able to get a job as a school counsellor, but they are usually not as available, and they don’t pay as much. Additionally, the hunt for psychology-related jobs is becoming more competitive by the day, leading to more graduates being out of jobs.
A studio and fine arts degree encompasses various areas, like painting, digital art, photography, sculpting, drawing, and graphic design. You need to be talented to consider choosing this field, as your classes will not cover everything you need to know to succeed in the real world.
Talented artists do not need a fine arts degree to succeed; they can take several classes to increase their skill set. Plus, not many artists make it big, so it is best not to spend so much money pursuing an education that may not yield returns.
A degree in entrepreneurship as a standalone is useless because to become a business owner, you need practical experience rather than classroom teaching. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need comprehensive business knowledge, and you do not need a degree to get this.
However, you can take different entrepreneurship courses to prepare you to start your business. Besides, with an entrepreneurship degree, you are stuck with the question of what to do next, especially if you don’t want to start your own business.
While a religious studies degree will enable you to understand the spiritual side of life, your chances of getting a job are very limited.
This degree will only lead to a low-paying job, where you will have difficulty paying off your student loan. If you want to work independently as a preacher, you do not need to get a degree.
Biology degrees usually focus on theoretical aspects, especially because they are usually prerequisites to other degrees like medicine and pharmacy. A biology degree on its own will limit your job options. To get the best out of this degree, you need to get further training or pursue a master’s education.
Besides, it is best to focus on a specialization when pursuing further education to increase your chances of getting a good-paying job.
You need a library science degree to become a librarian. But, the continuous growth of digital media has led to the decline of many public libraries.
So, there is a high probability that you will not get a job after graduating with a library science degree. Also, the unemployment rate for library science degrees is over the 3% mark. You can, however, increase your employment odds by majoring in another subject alongside library science.
Interdisciplinary studies involve smaller, expert majors, from archaeology to neuroscience and others. Even though you can enter different career paths by getting an interdisciplinary studies degree, the job opportunities available are limited.
The unemployment rate for interdisciplinary students has also gone above 5%, proving that the job demand is declining. The best you can do to increase your chances of getting a job after graduation is to tailor your studies to the most in-demand career paths.
Even though people are becoming more health-conscious, getting a degree in exercise science is not a good idea, especially when you can take certification courses for half the cost and time. Besides, you do not need an exercise science degree to become a fitness trainer or instructor. The number of jobs available for exercise scientists is also declining at an accelerated pace.
Cosmetology, as a degree, focuses on different sub-genres like colour composition, makeup artistry, and others. Usually, cosmetologists are hired by beauty companies, fashion houses, spas, and salons, but their demand is constantly declining.
A cosmetology degree has an unemployment rate of over 4.5%, and you need practical experience to get a job as a cosmetologist. Besides, some licensed cosmetology schools offer theoretical and practical knowledge for half the cost of getting a degree.
International studies is an interesting degree that focuses on assessing the connections between global issues and learning about different countries’ history, culture, and politics.
But despite its riveting nature, this degree will not lead to a profitable career, and graduates will have a hard time finding jobs. Some jobs you can get with this degree include working in the United Nations, academia, or working for the government; even these jobs are few.
Journalism may not be the best degree for you to pursue, especially with the continuous growth of bloggers and social media, like TikTok and Twitter. Nowadays, reputable media publications compete heavily for readers’ attention, which has resulted in a shortage of jobs in the journalism industry.
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