Do College Majors Matter in the Real World?

Do College Majors Matter in the Real World?

 
The Declining Value of College Degrees
The converging trends of a competitive labor market, ballooning university tuitions, new online learning alternatives, and fast-changing job roles has created a tipping point in the perceived value of college degrees. The Burning Glass Institute recently reported that the percentage of jobs requiring a college degree fell from 51% in 2017 to 44% percent in 2021. And according to Gallup, the percentage of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 who view college education as “very important” dropped from 74% to 41% in just six years.
One big driver of these trends are companies like Apple, Tesla, IBM, Delta Airlines, and Hilton, who no longer require a college degree for an interview. They realize that the mindsets, abilities, and skills gained from life experience can be as valuable as university diplomas in today’s fast-changing world. In fact, requiring diplomas significantly reduces the talent pool, leaving great candidates out of the hiring process before it even begins.
Conflicting data exists related to how much you will earn with a college degree versus without one. According to research from Georgetown University, the lifetime earning potential of a worker with a bachelor’s degree is $2.8 million. Without a degree the expected earning power is $1.6 million. But in a study of universities in Massachusetts, college graduates were found to earn no more than high-school graduates. Plus, they must work 20 years to recoup the cost of their tuition, money they could have used to purchase a home, invest, or save for retirement.
 
The Increasing Value of Experience
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker changes jobs 12 times in their career. That’s why both on-the-job and even general life experience, is so important. Experience often advances new ways of thinking and develops abilities that aren’t necessarily constrained to a specific job. You can leverage what you gain from travel, internships, volunteering, hobbies, extracurricular activities, and more to build assets relevant to new opportunities, jobs that may not have even existed a few short years before.
 
Some organizations like Google have created “career certificates” that deliver content, resources, and guided activities to train potential job seekers. The goal is to create programs directly focused on fulfilling the company’s emerging talent needs. Delivered using the online learning platform Coursera, Google’s certificates allow job seekers to sidestep traditional four-year universities and instantly qualify for specific jobs by paying a $100 course fee — a miniscule amount compared to the investment required for a college degree.
A few four-year universities have recognized the need to move full force into experiential learning to survive. Minerva University, ranked the most innovative university in the world, offers a four-year program like many institutions. But its model combines virtual courses with weeklong immersions in metropolitan cities across seven countries. Students gain competencies navigating diverse cultures and are placed in internships with organizations like IDEO, Google, 500 Startups, TechShop, INFORUM, SxSWedu, and others. Minerva’s program focuses on developing mindsets as much as skills with its website advocating that “real understanding of the world and its people only comes from exposure to the realities of life.”
The University of Washington reports that after graduating, approximately 53% of college students are either unemployed or working in a job that didn’t require a degree. It shouldn’t be a surprise given this data that 49% of recent college grads didn’t even bother applying to an entry-level professional job in 2022 because they felt underqualified. Had these same students been given opportunities for real-world, practical experiences as part of their education, these numbers might not be so alarmingly high.
 
 
Experience Builds Real Intelligence
When you have experiences that give you practical exposure to something, you can more easily assimilate and retain the learning, and then apply what you’ve gained in future contexts. The result of this learning-by-doing is what Robert Sternberg, the past president of the American Psychological Association, calls experiential intelligence.
‘In my latest book on this topic, I describe how your life experiences help you develop your mindsets, as well as skills and abilities. Also called “XQ” for short, your experiential intelligence is something you can develop over time, and complements your intellectual intelligence (IQ) which is something most people believe you’re born with. That’s why experiences are so important, because you can use them to actually grow your intelligence.’
Consider how you first learned to ride a bike. You just did it. No matter how high your IQ, no matter how many books you may have read about the mechanics of bicycles, learning to ride involves the same process: experience.
When it comes to riding a bike, your tangible skills involve how to start, ride, and stop the bike. Your broader abilities include anticipating bumps and discerning potential obstacles in your path. Your mindsets include things like recognizing the need to be careful in traffic. The experience of learning to ride a bike — including using training wheels to get going, falling and getting back up, and then fully internalizing how to ride — allows you to use your bike to meet your goals, whether for transportation, physical fitness, sightseeing, stress relief, or more. This simple example applies equally well to other types of learning like coding software, writing business plans, playing music, and much more.
 
Experience Gives You the Edge
Today’s world changes faster than most college curriculums. A bachelor’s degree used to be the gatekeeper to an interview. That’s changing. But one thing is for sure: Regardless of who’s doing the hiring, everyone wants to know what experience you have.
Whether you want to become a software programmer or social media marketer, experience is essential. While a college degree can potentially signify you’ve gained the foundation for doing a job, real-life experiences assure employers you have real assets to get the job done successfully.
The best job seekers, and the most forward-thinking companies, realize that translating experiences into more broadly applicable skills, abilities, and attitudes and beliefs about work, is the new name of the game. Clearly communicating your experiential intelligence can give you a leg up. The goal is to help employers understand how what you bring to the job right now can be applied to what’s needed today, and may also be valuable for the future all at the same time.
 
In today’s fast-changing world, a university degree isn’t the only road to success. In fact, data shows that only 25% of college graduates would choose to pursue the same educational path if they could do it again. And on top of that, 41% say they would instead get a certificate that would instantly qualify them for an in-demand job. Whether you’re considering college, about to graduate, or already have your degree, many more options exist for finding success than ever before. Just be sure to give yourself practical experiences. That’s the key to continuous learning, and which can open the door to your next opportunity.

 

 

 

#Activities
- Try to guess members’ college major and explain why
- If you can change your major, what would it be?
- Is your current job and department related to your major?
 
#Debate
- Do college majors matter in the real world? Yes or No
 
#References
- https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-important-is-a-college-degree-compared-to-experience
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiemerisotis/2024/04/03/do-college-majors-matter-not-as-much-as-you-think/
 
#참고자료
 

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