If I understand it correctly, the US is actually the perfect system to go to an art school and still make a career in a traditional field: You can still go to law school or HBS.
Many people suffer from "premature optimization", trying to do business-related stuff because they see McKinsey in their future. I've met quite a few people from those global consultancies, and they actively encourage people to study theology or modern french literature.
And don't get me started on parents asking for their children's middle schools to "focus on accounting, not these useless languages"...
My guess is that they want French Literature and theology degrees from Stanford/Ivy/etc schools. If you go to Chico State you're much better off with a CS or accounting degree. I can't imagine the average state school liberal arts degree holder has a viable white collar career field with just that degree.
Sorta like its better to have a Stanford law degree and have had mediocre grades, than it is to have graduated at the top of your class from Santa Clara.
Your lack of imagination doesn't match up with reality.
Over my long career I have seen that the overarching large corporations have a glass ceiling that can only be broken through by having at least a Bachelor's degree no matter the degree.
Your argument says nothing about a university's reputation and its effect on salaries, so its completely irrelevant to ZanyProgrammer's point. I wouldn't be surprised if an english major from Stanford out-earns an engineer from Chico, because there's lots of companies who only hire "the best" (aka people from top universities).
Yeah, everyone knows that a bachelor's is the minimal requirement. But I've never seen or heard of a situation of someone being denied promotion because of the lack of a degree. (Maybe in the government?) OTOH, I've worked with a lot of business people who can't even type a coherent email, much less do anything which isn't completely reactionary. I'd say the degree is mostly incidental and not the root cause.
> Yeah, everyone knows that a bachelor's is the minimal requirement. But I've never seen or heard of a situation of someone being denied promotion because of the lack of a degree. (Maybe in the government?)
try government contractors. Aerospace, in particular, loves to teach minimal education/salary employees skilled engineering trades on-the-job and then slap the title 'engineering intern' or 'junior engineer' onto them, a small increase in pay, and a huge increase in responsibility.
'Junior engineer' is typically what employees who are going to school for an applicable field get thrown into until graduation, at which point they become full fledged engineers -- but the title also serves as a ceiling for those who have chosen to not pursue further education.
I don't know if it is fair to equate a ceiling in pay to a denial in promotion, but they sure seem similar from a practical perspective.
STEM fields and medicine and law are different. Basically, unless you've passed the hard tests (e.g. calculus) you are a lab assistant, a tech, not a person who can be in charge of anything.
In most kinds of middle management, your degree doesn't matter at all, but they want you to have a degree. Any four year degree from an accredited college.
I knew a doctor who did admissions at a well-regarded med school. They said the best applications didn't come from the kids who studied bio or chem as an undergrad because they figured a field related to medicine would make them competitive but from those who studied what they found interesting (including bio or chem). These applicants not only had better grades on average, but they tended to have much more interesting applications because they really dug into something because they loved it, not as a means to an end.
I'm currently at an infectious disease medical conference. Several of the major keynotes, given by immensely successful and influential doctors, contain defenses of, or references to, a classic liberal arts education.
> I've met quite a few people from those global consultancies, and they actively encourage people to study theology or modern french literature.
They encourage it because building personal relationships and projecting a positive (and impressive) personal image are important business assets.
Between a guy who is 100% technical and have no personality and a guy who is 80% technical but is also able to hold an intelligent conversation in french about how modern literature reflects theological influences, the latter will be better suited to conduct business.
There's a reason why engineers stay in the backrooms while the polished business-minded yuppie is in charge of business.
Many people suffer from "premature optimization", trying to do business-related stuff because they see McKinsey in their future. I've met quite a few people from those global consultancies, and they actively encourage people to study theology or modern french literature.
And don't get me started on parents asking for their children's middle schools to "focus on accounting, not these useless languages"...