Best employment opportunities - Natural Science Vs Social Science degree

[jam123]

I have a brother in law thinking about a natural science/math degree or a social science degree. I know the social science degree would be easier to test out of most of it.

Which degree do you think would offer the best employment opportunities (both finding a job and salary)?
Are these degrees for mostly middle school teaching jobs or some type of social work?

Thanks.

[dcan]

Read this thread. http://www.degreeforum.net/off-topic/157...equal.html

Especially read the Georgetown report linked at the top. It should really open eyes.

Bottom line: Common sense economics prevails. More difficult degrees result in fewer degree holders and therefore a smaller labor pool, generally meaning they can demand higher wages.

[sanantone]

The natural sciences degree will have more flexibility. If you study psychology, sociology, and criminal justice; your social science degree will be applicable in the social services field. Social services/criminal justice (non-law enforcement) are low paying fields, but many people don't go into them for the pay. I'm the type of person who wouldn't feel poor making $40,000 a year. If you study history and political science for your social science degree, you pretty much only qualify to be a teacher. Studying economics would increase your degree's utility. Most social sciences aren't really great for jobs until the master's or PhD level.

I've seen entry-level jobs in business, medicine, technology, engineering, and safety ask for degrees in their respective fields or a science-related degree. They basically just want people with good mathematical and analytical skills. There is also a higher demand for science and math teachers than any other subject. But to be honest when looking at that Georgetown study, there are easier majors, at the bachelor's level, that have a lower unemployment rate than the physical/life sciences and especially computers/mathematics which is surprisingly high. Psychology/social work, education, and communications/journalism have lower unemployment rates. The pay for science majors is also surprisingly low at the bachelor's level, but the earning potential after gaining experience is good. Actually, the earning potential is the same as those with bachelor's degrees in the social sciences.

[ryoder]

Ask him to look in the local paper and online job ads and see what he could qualify for with only a bachelors degree in social science. I am not sure he would find much. Honestly, the unemployment rate for young recent college grads has never been higher. I think its about 20% right now. I think having knowledge and skills above and beyond a bachelors degree is important. He should try to get an internship or part time job in the field he wants a job in.

If I were 18 and just out of high school again, I might consider being a firefighter. The pay is good, they only work 4 days per week and can retire at 38 years of age with 65% of their highest year of salary paid to them for the rest of their life. Cops get the same deal. If they work for 5 years in the military that time carries over into YOS (years of service).

I know a guy who retired at 38 years of age and chose to take a lump sum payment of $1 million instead of receiving the pension payments over time.

Just something to consider.

[sanantone]

I have found hundreds of jobs to apply to with my social science degree. Some of the jobs required a degree in any major, some of them required a degree in psychology or something related, some of them required a degree in criminal justice, and some of them required anything social/behavioral science-related. I have gotten interviews for three jobs that required a criminal justice degree and met the requirements to train as an OIG investigator, which also required a criminal justice degree; but I couldn't make it to the PT test 4 hours away. In my opinion, the newspaper is the worst place to look for most majors. I live in a city with 1.3 million people and most of the jobs in the local newspaper are for healthcare, sales, and blue collar jobs. Looking at my newspaper right now, I only see one job requiring a science degree, but I know there are a lot more out there because San Antonio is big on biotechnology. Indeed.com would be the best place to look to quickly gauge employment opportunities in your area.

[cookderosa]

I have a brother in law thinking about a natural science/math degree or a social science degree. I know the social science degree would be easier to test out of most of it.

Which degree do you think would offer the best employment opportunities (both finding a job and salary)?
Are these degrees for mostly middle school teaching jobs or some type of social work?

Thanks.

IMO, those degrees work best for someone mid-career who needs to check the box. Neither is "job training" education.

Other than that, they could both qualify him for for potential teaching, unspecified degree jobs, and certainly graduate school where you CAN become trained in something specific.

[jkeegan]

What does he want to do? I believe the occupation he seeks should determine the degree, and not the other way around. I am going for a social science degree for a reasons,main one being the fact that it IS a fast degree to test out of. I currently work for a police department, but in a capacity that does not require a 4 yr degree. However, in order to take the test to get hired as a full time police officer in this municipality, you need to have a 4 yr degree. The test is coming out in the fall, and I REALLY need to get done ASAP so that I can take it. I have been told by many of the supervising officers that they do not care what the degree is in, just that you have one, which is why I chose social science. If he is not sure what he wants to do, I would say decide, and than pick a degree based on that. Thats not to say that he can not begin testing, and take care of some general ed type classes that would be useful for mostly any degree.

[dcan]

If I were 18 and just out of high school again, I might consider being a firefighter. The pay is good, they only work 4 days per week and can retire at 38 years of age with 65% of their highest year of salary paid to them for the rest of their life. Cops get the same deal. If they work for 5 years in the military that time carries over into YOS (years of service).

I know a guy who retired at 38 years of age and chose to take a lump sum payment of $1 million instead of receiving the pension payments over time.

Just something to consider.

Not a bad deal. But how about this:

Spend the first four years in the military (Air Force bias here, but hey) where they will (a) train you as a firefighter (b) pay room + board + expenses © give you tons of real-world technical and leadership training (d) send you to exotic places where you will meet strange and unusual people and make friends with them (we aren't the Marines here!) (e) get a 2-year degree for what you are already trained to do (f) get Tuition Assistance that pays 100% of your tuition to virtually any school (and they roll out the red carpet and treat you like gold) (g) get a free certification of your choice paid for and (h) get the GI Bill that pays up to $17,500 a year PLUS $1,000-2,000+ a month in housing allowance.

THEN join the civilian firefighter thing, retire at 42, and take the million. And then do what a buddy of ours (retired firefighter) did -- he's now the county EMA director.

[dcan]

I have been told by many of the supervising officers that they do not care what the degree is in, just that you have one

Do you have any information on WHY this is a requirement? Wouldn't a 2-year criminology AAS be much more useful? Saying "any degree" is just setting an artificial barrier that to me seems meaningless. You may as well say "To be accepted to the force you must agree to go into $30-50,000 in debt." People would line up with pitchforks.

[sanantone]

Do you have any information on WHY this is a requirement? Wouldn't a 2-year criminology AAS be much more useful? Saying "any degree" is just setting an artificial barrier that to me seems meaningless. You may as well say "To be accepted to the force you must agree to go into $30-50,000 in debt." People would line up with pitchforks.

Many police departments in large cities require an associates degree in anything and studying criminology or criminal justice is not going to help you do your job much better than studying any other social science. You learn everything you need to know during the academy and field training because a criminal justice degree is not going to teach you local laws or physical tactics. Public and business administration degrees are very useful in law enforcement when you're looking to move up the ranks and so is accounting because these supervisory positions require management skills. Most police officers advise against anyone getting a criminal justice degree because it's not needed to get a law enforcement job, in most cases, and it's not applicable to too many other fields if you were to fail to get in, become burnt out and want to leave, or become injured.

The San Antonio Police Department is one of the few large departments in Texas that does not require at least an associates degree or 60 credits. I can tell you that it would help if they did have this requirement because it would raise the intelligence standards. I've come across a lot of cops who lack critical thinking skills and can't even correctly remember the laws they have to enforce on a regular basis. Many of them wouldn't even be able to correctly interpret the laws if you were to put them in front of them. The small police departments normally do not have their own academies so they hire people who paid their own way through a private or community college academy. An instructor at the San Antonio College Law Enforcement Academy said that many of his students read at the 3rd grade level and they have to work extra hard to teach these cadets basic reading and writing skills just so they can get through the coursework.