By Roxana Loomes
Although there is value in any college degree because there is value in learning, this fundamental belief has been changing with the advent of degree inflation or employers expecting degrees for jobs that don’t need them.
It turns out that there are university degrees that have little value if your objective is to enter a career with great potential for growth and good pay.
Here are the college degrees you shouldn’t pick if you want a thriving career.
1. Medical Billing and Coding
Medical billing and coding are useful for teaching students data analytics, legal compliance, policy issues, and the standardized coding skills used to bill insurance companies. So, why does it belong on this list?
A certificate is enough to get started in this field. Moreover, AI will likely greatly decrease the need for human medical billing and coding workers. You’re better off taking the certificate and trying it for size before you commit to a degree.
2. Photography
A photography degree sounds exciting to many aspiring photographers. However, it has a bad return on investment because more than half the semester credits are general education classes with nothing to do with photography.
Worse, potential employers don’t care as much about a photography degree as they do your portfolio and demonstrable skills. Amateur photographers can land the job ahead of you if they’re dedicated to their craft.
3. Advertising
Many students pursuing an advertising degree want a digital marketing or e-commerce career. However, advertising is too broad to give them the specific know-how needed in these niches.
You’re better off getting a degree in that particular field. Otherwise, you’ll have few opportunities for a job out of college other than in advertising companies. If you fail to impress them, you don’t have many options with this degree.
4. Anthropology and Archeology
An anthropology or archeology degree may seem ideal if you love history and the outdoors. However, these fields aren’t lucrative with just an undergraduate degree.
You usually need a graduate degree and a PhD to succeed on this career path, which translates to spending years as an intern or research assistant. These postgraduate degrees are expensive, but your earnings will be subpar. Unless you can commit to these requirements, find a better degree.
5. Art History
It’s hard to fault those who are passionate about art and history. However, learning about old sculptures and gaining precious knowledge about influential artists will not come in handy when you’re looking for a job.
Becoming a museum custodian or art appraiser sounds great, but they are niche jobs with limited availability. This degree doesn’t offer much to repurpose your knowledge in a less niche job.
6. Communications
A communication degree has one downside. It’s too general. When someone majors in communications, they don’t set a clear path for their career after graduation. Most graduates end up in marketing, journalism, and business administration jobs.
The problem? Most employers expect candidates to hold a degree in these fields. As such, a communications degree is limiting and doesn’t bode well for your future employability.
7. Computer Science
A computer science degree is similar to a communications degree in that it’s way too broad. Employers seek specific skills and knowledge rather than the vague “I know stuff about computers” statement that this degree invokes.
Figure out why you want a computer science degree. Are you interested in cybersecurity, coding, or IT work? You’re better off getting a degree in these fields. If you want to learn how to code, a boot camp is a lot less expensive than a computer science degree.
8. Criminal Justice
This one hits home because my husband has a criminal justice degree. In his over twenty years as a worker, his degree hasn’t helped him land a job once. True, he did work as a paper pusher for his city for a few years, but it wasn’t what he had envisioned to do with his life when he got his degree.
Unless you plan to pursue further education and become a lawyer or police officer, a criminal justice degree won’t open many doors for you — or doors you want to see open, for that matter.
9. English
Here’s another one where I feel your pain. I have an English degree, and while it’s landed me writing jobs I love, I must include it here. There aren’t many avenues to take with an English degree outside of teaching and writing.
Besides, to become a teacher, you must also take your state teaching certification. Plus, teaching at the college level, an undergraduate degree isn’t enough. You’ll need a master’s degree and preferably a PhD to earn tenure.
10. Education
Similar to an English degree, an education degree is quite restrictive. Outside of teaching, it isn’t any employer’s sought-after degree. You’ll have difficulty getting a job without declaring a specialty like early childhood or special education.
Moreover, after declaring a specialty, many education majors need postgraduate degrees to find a job. You’ll also need to get through the placement period to learn how to teach students hands-on.
Unless becoming a teacher is your lifelong dream, it’s not a forgiving career.
11. Music
If you love music and are talented, majoring in music seems like the thing to do. However, many people overestimate their talent and underestimate the level of dedication required to become a professional musician or conductor. Most music degree holders become private tutors or use their degrees to lead worship at church.
To make things worse, music jobs don’t pay well and rarely include benefits or a 401K. Down the road, you’re likely to go back to school for a different degree if you choose this path.
12. Languages
Learning foreign languages is a great way to expand your horizons and learn about other cultures. As a degree, though, it’s not the best choice. To become a translator, you don’t need a degree as much as fluency and skills.
You can learn foreign languages on your own for a lot cheaper. The number of affordable language training apps and programs will only grow. Instead of majoring in foreign languages, study them independently and get a degree in international relations or international business if that’s a field that interests you.
13. Philosophy
As someone with a minor in philosophy, I can tell you what it taught me. I learned to think critically, analyze things in depth, and become a more persuasive speaker. However, my minor has never landed me a job.
Since there’s no career as a “philosopher,” the most you could use this degree for is a job that indirectly uses the abilities you gained from it. At best, it’s a steppingstone to another degree — like one in journalism, marketing, or consulting. Why not get a degree in these fields instead?
14. Travel and Tourism
If you love traveling, Tourism sounds like the ideal degree. Majoring in this is more entertaining than most degrees, it’s true. You’ll learn about the best place to visit and how to improve the experience of would-be travelers.
However, you won’t have many prospects after you graduate. Not everyone becomes a professional YouTuber, and the most obvious career choice is to become a travel agent, which will confine you to an office rather than allow you to travel the world. Plus, you do not need a degree to become a travel agent.
15. Fine Art
Much like art history, this degree can make you a source of unrivaled knowledge in the field of art. If you’re an artist, it can also help you master your skills and improve your craft.
However, not everyone has the skills to become a talented artist. If you lack natural talent, this degree won’t impart it to you. Fine art is also a broad field that restricts your career prospects. Instead, narrow your focus and figure out a niche with growth potential, like graphic design.
16. Ethnic Studies
Ethnic studies may seem a great choice for those who want to understand other cultures. However, much like other degrees on this list, it doesn’t give you a clear path to follow when you graduate.
Most graduates look for jobs in counseling, social work, writing, and education — it doesn’t help that these potential careers have their own degrees.
17. Sociology
Many people pursuing a degree in sociology are attracted by its promise to help them better understand social behavior and how people factor into their groups. However, there isn’t much of a need for sociology degree holders in the real world.
The career has only 100 job openings projected through 2031. Instead of picking such a limiting degree, consider majoring in a narrower field with more growth, like social work.
18. History
A history degree can help you become an expert on historical events and their causes and effects. While it’s a great degree if you’re a history buff, it doesn’t leave you with many options when you graduate.
There aren’t many professional historian openings — and they usually require a master’s degree anyway — and not that many history teaching jobs. If you love history, study it as a hobby and consider a different humanities degree.
19. General Studies
The problem with general studies is that they’re, well, general. You’ll be studying core subjects without focusing on a specific topic. When you graduate, you won’t have any particular focus area in which you’re qualified enough to attract the attention of employers.
If you want to learn “interpersonal skills, critical thinking, writing skills, and communication skills,” which is what general studies aim to teach students, you can pick any other college degree and improve your employability in the process.
20. Hospitality
A hospitality degree can set you up for jobs like restaurant manager, hotel manager, convention manager, or food service manager. However, these jobs won’t be open to you as soon as you graduate.
You’ll have to move up the ladder from entry-level positions that don’t pay well. You’re better off with a business administration degree if you’re eyeing a middle management position straight out of university.
21. Dance
Graduating with a dance major means you’ll have one of the lowest salaries with a college degree. Worse, your abilities as a dancer will likely peak while you’re still in your twenties, meaning you’ll spend four years getting a degree that may not be useful once you turn 40.
If you’re a passionate dancer, skip college, hone your skills, find an agent, and start attending auditions. Your only other choice is to be admitted by Juilliard or another elite school, which rarely happens.
22. Health/Medical Preparatory Programs
As the name suggests, health and medical preparatory programs prepare you for medical school admission. They also drain your finances because you can qualify for med school with the right prerequisites.
Pre-med students are better off majoring in STEM fields like chemistry and physics. They’ll learn something that has independent value and avoid going further into debt.
23. Psychology
Psychology is far from useless, given how useful psychologists are to so many. It’s also a very popular degree. However, if you want to get this degree to become a therapist or psychologist, the bad news is you can’t — you need a graduate degree.
Moreover, you don’t need a psychology degree to become a therapist. If you get an advanced psychology degree, like a master’s, you can pursue an undergraduate degree in social work or cognitive science. They have better career paths for undergrads as well.
24. Biology
Biology is a STEM field, yet it has one of the lowest earnings of all STEM degrees. Most people who get a biology degree do so to become scientists, which is impossible without graduate education.
Straight out of university, your only other option is teaching, and we’ve seen that it requires certification. Instead of a biology degree, try one with a better return on investment, like biomedical engineering or biotechnology.