I'm about to graduate and I absolutely loathe college atm

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Oddly enough, I'm graduating with probably around a 3.7 gpa and am in the middle of doing a senior thesis. I just feel like I wasted 5 years of my life "learning" about all these BS conceptualizations/ruminations about the mind/brain (basically, I'm a psychology major, but the uni calls my program "brain and cognitive sciences") that will not stand the test of time. Yes, they're really interesting theories, but it feels like the only fruit of learning them is some sort of debt ridden novelty item because there's no way I'm going to grad school for psychology when my GRE score is in the 600 range (as measured by a psychologist, my IQ is around 95, so I'm probably not equipped for it anyways, lol). All of this work is going to be basically so I can get some job working in retail or at starbucks (that's where liberal arts majors get hired these days, right), because I've gained pretty much no marketable skills from my studies.

Now I'm just wondering why I did this whole university thing, since I could've much more easily done some sort of trade. I mean, it has been very interesting at times, but is that really worth $40,000 of debt? Not really. I'm not anymore intelligent or useful than I was 5 years ago. Honestly, all it's done is instill some sort of skill for regurgitation of a lot of information, an ability to state things using the academic formalisms, an inferiority complex that resulted from it pointing out all of my weaknesses, and some resulting depression. It's not like a liberal arts degree is going to pay for itself back, and I'd rather shoot myself than work some useless job in an office for the rest of my life not producing anything of worth. Perhaps a capitalist society and I just aren't going to work. I've been entertaining the idea of going back to my native country and living off the land.

ahhh this post is so negative. thanks for letting me get this out, wp.

My uncle got a degree in music and couldn't find a music job. My dad tells me he had the skill of a concert pianist. I don't know what job he got, but I think he's pretty well off now.

There are good jobs that don't require specialization.

I'm in the exact same position as you. I am graduating with an honors in political science this summer. It's not as bad as psychology (no offense) but it's close. I agree though... screw grad school. My advice is, find out what jobs you can get that pay good money (be open minded, this is important) and just do one... bust your ass in it. Good luck, you'll find something just be willing to do a sh***y job, just don't settle for starbucks or something look into the trades and find something you can do.

What can I do? I am interested in political science/geography/sociology, something like psychology, but now I worry that I have no job prospects.

I must add that business school in my home country (Singapore) is notoriously competitive, only the top 10% of the high school class can be admitted there. (I ain't that smart, lol) And I did not do well in science. And I ain't good with my hands (as I am sososo clumsy) What else can I do?

I'm a junior so I'm not quite there yet. I do feel like I am slouching toward the inevitable; I'm going to have a nervous breakdown come senior year and will spend most of that time in some very intense hand-wringing and hair-pulling sessions going on and on about the fact that I didn't jump ship when I had the chance. But no, I have gone too far and must trudge on, keeping that breakdown at bay as long as I can. I've accepted this fate but take liberal doses of denial everyday to dull the pain and the boredom.

I should have gone into a trade. Working with your hands is an honest living; being able to stand back and see a tangible product, to know that an actual thing you can see, touch and feel has materialized as a result of your labors and efforts; it must be such a rewarding feeling. Much more rewarding than say, an 8x11 picture frame with a liberal arts degree in it. There is nothing like that feeling in academia. It is all an illusion. A lie. You come out of that institution none the wiser but now with your energy spent, your best years behind you and nothing real to show for your trouble.

What the hell am I going to do with a BA in Economics? I could read Wealth of Nations in the bathroom and pretty much get the gist of it. Two years' worth of education covered in three to five long s**ts. It's quite absurd really. You go to college in order to land a job that will pay well enough to cover the debt incurred from going to college so you can land a job... Ha!

Good luck, I hope you guys fare better after graduation and find whatever it is you were searching for. You still have the rest of your life to look forward to.

Having gone the academic route myself, I'd like to make a plug for the value of an education in psychology. It's true that many of the concepts are field-specific, and so are of relatively little value if you do not choose to pursue a career in a psychology-related field. However, many of the skills you should have developed in the course of your studies are broadly applicable, which is the goal of a liberal arts education.

1. Reading. It may seem silly, but there is skill involved in reading and picking out important details, then assimilating that information into a coherent body of knowledge. If you see or hear something on the news about the difficulty faced by many children when reading in the classroom, much of this results from the fact that while they are able to identify and verbalize specific words or phrases, many of them have a difficult time understanding the meaning of what they have read. Being able to identify the main idea of a text, as well as the evidence used in support of that idea is an important skill in most white collar jobs, regardless of field.

2. Analytical Skills. This brings us to another benefit of a liberal arts education. It is not sufficient to identify the elements of an argument. It is equally important to be able to assess its quality, its strenghts, and its weaknesses. In an age when catchy slogans and instant gratification predominate, the ability to engage in critical analysis is an increasingly rare, and therefore valuable, skill.

3. Perspective. You now have developed a perspective on many of the problems you will encounter with people. This may not seem like much, but consider that much of what you learned in school probably did not reflect precisely the beliefs, views, and perspectives you encountered among your friends and family as a child. It will also probably be different from those you encounter in your adult life. Why is this valuable? Consider this forum. Many of our colleagues on Wrong Planet have raged against those who treat AS as a disease and aspies as victims who must be cured. This is in large part because there are people in their lives with AS about whom they care deeply. They see the difficulty these people face and, in their caring, want to help. They, quite naturally, attribute their loved ones' suffering to AS. If you spend long enough reading this forum, however, it becomes quite clear that many people here do not share that perspective. While tales of suffering and struggles are frequently shared here, forumites tend to attribute their problems more to the way in which the people around them respond to their differentness. People who are exposed to that perspective may be more likely to stop trying to cure AS, and more likely to help aspies live in the world around them.

This has gone longer than I intended. To summarize, you have learned a number of valuable things from your education. Their value is simply not immediately apparent to you, because they are not assessable through a bubble sheet on a multiple choice test.

to sum it all up - your Bachelor's degree made your life more difficult - college debt to pay, time you could have spent working - but also easier to get a $30k/year desk job or go into a trade. plus you are now a fully literate person. because employers recognize what it takes to get through college - it's now much easier for you to get your foot through the door into any company. and if you have asperger's symptoms, your degree compensates for your lack of social skills. "this guy is weird, but he has a degree, so he is probably a decent person. heck, i'll hire him."

I agree with kraken. There are lots of good things about having a BA. Most of them pay off over the long term. If you take two people side by side, the person with the degree will have much more potential in the long term, and will be much more upwardly mobile. Some jobs don't require a degree to start out in, but if you don't have a degree you will max out your advancement potential at some point whereas the guy with the degree will keep being promoted.

Geology makes a TON of money with a Bachelor's degree ($60,000/year US). Political Science and Sociology won't make you as much with a PhD as Geology would with a Bachelor's.

Geology is a science though. I only took geology 110 though and it was pretty easy. I have no idea what advanced geology is like, but if I could have gone back I would have considered this. It would be good if you want to work in the oilpatch.

what do people in your family do? do you have a relative working a job you can see yourself doing?

"Geology is a science though. I only took geology 110 though and it was pretty easy. I have no idea what advanced geology is like, but if I could have gone back I would have considered this. It would be good if you want to work in the oilpatch."

If I can find oil and 'retire' at a ripe old age of 40, I will consider geology Other than that, I will still try to avoid sciences but I will take a step at a time.

"what do people in your family do? do you have a relative working a job you can see yourself doing?"

I have two retired parents (but they ain't rich, man) and two married sisters. No $$$, sigh. So I will just wait and see.