Pajiba

I was a criminal justice major. WHERE IS MY LINK?!?

I studied History. What am I doing now? Tax consulting. It makes me sad every day.

Re those photos, I'm not trying to be an apologist for the fashion industry: it's a shallow, nasty industry, or the sexualization of little girls (which I see in some of those pictures) but I'm not outraged by the close to topless pics. There is an element of "thinking differently" in France, Italy and many other European countries. The extreme aversion to letting little girls run around topless in the US is a very US thing. My sister-in-law in Italy regularly sent us pictures of her daughters in the bath tub and naked on the beach until when they were about 7 and 5 we had to ask her to stop in case the FBI hauled us off to jail. She found our fears preposterous.
When I was a child, we never had bathing suits: we were nude at the beach until our fashion-conscious minds asked our parents for some togs.

In answer to your query, I was a Music Major with a concentration in Musical Theater. And you thought your English Lit degree was useless...

I majored in architecture. M. Arch. The last semester is wearing quirky glasses, how to dress in ill fitting all black oufits because you really wanted to be an artist and pissing off contractors.

Count me among the Theatre Majors who didn't understand the word "profitability" when selecting a focus of study.

Majored in Finance, working in Consumer Finance. Presently back in school, majoring in Biology but still looking for the right focus. Maybe Biochemistry?

Wanna talk about useless?

Visual Arts Major right here! Wooo!

The only other option I wanted was English Literature, but it required a Creative Writing course I really didn't want to do. So I did Art, with a concentration in Ceramics. How much more useless can you get than that?

But...well, I did what I really liked to do. And I think that if I bothered to get off my ass I could actually do something with it. Maybe. Of course one of the biggest drawbacks to being an art major is that you need a shitload of equipment that tends to be really expensive, so you gotta do the menial jobs to get there somehow.

A friend of mine was much smarter; she did a Major in Accounting and a minor in Art. So she earns her money doing boring shit and buys materials for art. I should've done that.

I suppose I could go for being a mosaic artist. That could be fun. Anyone wanna hire me? I'm really awesome at it!

I hope you're sitting down: English AND Drama.

Don't try to act like you're not unimpressed.

What's my job now? Secretary. What was my job my last two university summer vacations? Secretary. I was a teacher for a while there, but for 19 out of the 25 years since I finished my degree? Secretary.

Feel free to use me as a cautionary tale. I encourage my family members and in-laws to do so every chance I get.

Major: English Literature, Renaissance concentration, plus John Donne and William Blake for good measure
Part-time teacher and admin. assistant for 29 years.

I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry. J. Donne

must...resist...urge to...comment...."whatever"

Ok now that I got my snark out, that GoT reel is fricking awesome! thx

I have double major in English and Archaeology (extra "a" because it looks jaunty and more important that way). I was not then nor am I now employable.

I didn't give the major a whole lot of thought and consequently didn't give the career path much thought either. I just wanted to get the fuck out. (Because I was in looooovvvveee and couldn't bear to be without "the one" so I had to graduate RIGHT THEN and I had enough credits to do so.) (Ick.)

Jobs sort of using either degree: One

Jobs not even remotely related to either degree: All but one (There are too many to list; although, one of them might or might not have been porn voice-over "actor.")

Majored in Business, sold my soul and still make crap money out of college. At least you all picked something you like.

This discussion reminds me of the scene from Mr. and Mrs. Bridge when they're walking on the Left Bank and Mrs. Bridge gives money to an artist with his cap open beside the easel he's working on.

Mr. Bridge: What did you do that for?
Mrs. Bridge: They're artists, they need money to eat.
Mr. Bridge: Why don’t they get a real job and live like everyone else? Then they could do their painting on the weekends. That’s how I’d handle it.

Note: I'm not knocking anyone who chose an artsy major: we are all naive about reality when we're college age. But I do have the sneaking suspicion that artsy majors were created for people with trust funds.

My major was psychobiology--think zoology with a behavioral twist. And once I told people the name of my major, they would invariably ask me if I was going to be a pet psychologist. No, I am not a pet psychologist (they DO exist though), but my career is still tangentially related enough that it doesn't bother me. And because I am a biology nerd, I'll point out that the 'zoology major' link should really be labeled for dendrology/ecology majors (zoology is to animals as dendrology is to trees...). The more you know, you know?

(Ohhh, but the tree print is made of tiny images of animals and because I'm a word nerd, I'll point out that animals fall under the category of "zoology." The more you know, you know?--JR)

(That was probably unnecessarily snarky. I'd like one of our psych majors to explain my reaction to me. Let's start with my mother.--JR)

This is sort of for Ms. Julien, but also just in general:

I have a friend who's a secretary. You can call it any fancy administrative assistant name you want, but she's still a secretary. She likes to say, "A stripper might tell you she's a secretary because she's embarrassed about being a stripper. I tell people I'm a stripper because I'm embarrassed about being a secretary."

That's not even a WORD!

Pre-med, Biology major, Chem minor, Spanish minor..

Self employed in my own practice, speciality Family Medicine.

Love Ben Folds, really pissed that I couldn't get up to Chicago to see him live when I was actually in Illinois but stupid hospital crap got in the way.

Oh, JustBill, 19-year-old me is a jerk, too. And a fucking asshole. Really, philosophy? Really? You were a girl who was awesome and math and you chose philosophy?!

Actually, now I'm a freelance editor and work from home, which is pretty sweet (I haven't worn pants in months), but it took several years of low-paying publishing jobs, massive piles of debt, and many, many unpaid hours of overtime to get here.

JoRo:

read some news on the ben folds five thing, i could have sworn i heard on the radio he's asking fans NOT to purchase the latest greatest hits album because it was produced and released without his permission or approval, and he is suing right now.

sean, I dunno, in reading that link it looks like Ben had a hand in picking the tracks. If you find a link saying otherwise, please let me know. I wouldn't want to go against the Ben.

(Do you guys read the links? Sometimes I think you don't. It's okay, you can tell me. I CAN TAKE IT.)

re: MM at August 3, 2011 2:37 PM

You are so right. When I describe myself as a secretary, people say, "NO! You're not a secretary, you're an Executive Assistant!" Please. I'm a secretary.

On that note -

re: PaddyDog at August 3, 2011 2:15 PM

I just got a $100 gift card from my boss because the team had a really good year! Isn't that awesome? The man who makes $250K and will receive a $100K bonus gave me one tenth of one percent of his bonus as a thank you. Well, he didn't "give" it to me. It's not like he paid for it or anything. Or made arrangements for me to get a one time $1,000 bonus like that *sshole I used to work for did. Still, it's $100 I didn't have an hour ago and it's not his fault that I am a failure (unsuccessful would have been a less self-castigating/self-pitying word choice, but let's go for honest).

Believe me, I am well aware that I squandered a perfectly good upper middle class upbringing in my own laziness and useless educational choices. I couldn't be bothered to try and now no one is more aware than me (with the possible exception of Mr. Julien who has to listen to me go on about it) that I have failed myself and thus my life is going to be about trying to make sure I'm not living on cat food in my retirement. Little Julien is going to get SUCH A SPEECH about following your dreams being a very expensive thing to do. And I didn't even follow my dreams, I just took the path of least resistance and now I'm a secretary and I don't live in my own country and I spend my days posting my bleating anonymously on a website because I need the creative outlet, and approbation from people I've never met, so I can tell myself I still exist.

I'll be over at whitewhine.com, if anyone needs me.

Architecture. I will be unemployed.

samantha t:

Agree completely: one wonders what the parents were thinking. Apparently it's not just pageant moms in Atlanta who like to exploit their kids, but thank you for backing me up on the kiddie/bathtub thing. I think those kinds of pics are adorable.

Mrs. Julien:

I'm not sure I would describe any education as "useless". But I have many friends whose children are now in the process of selecting colleges and majors and knowing their parents finances (since they are friends) I cringe when I hear them talk about their choices because they're invariably choosing potential career paths where it's virtually impossible to get a foot in the door without connections or incredible talent is required and even then maybe they don't make it.
A friend's daughter who is a junior in college majoring in dance was just told that she is not talented enough and advised to choose another major by the chair of the dance faculty. Her parents who have not a lot of money to spare are devastated, since apparently the plan was that she would pay back her college fees (taken from their retirement funds) when she joined a dance company.
What did everyone think? That she would support herself and them on a dancer's salary?
I'm all for people following their dreams but not by bankrupting their families.
And shouldn't the dance faculty have told her this in year 1? I could have told her this when I went to see her dance recital when she was 14.

Mrs. Julien,

There are times when I think you ARE my over-educated, unfulfilled secretary friend. But then I remember she's not Canadian and doesn't have a kid. So you're probably not her.

Also, I called you Ms. Julien again up above. I regret my feminist normalization reflex.

As for what I'm doing? Spending the next year in Berkeley/working in San Francisco for the Episcopal Service Corps with paid housing/healthcare/transportation in a similar fashion to AmeriCorps.

Thank god I don't give a shit about money yet.

JoRo:

I was mistaken. It was Breaking Benjamin, not Ben Folds Five, who is filing the lawsuit against an unauthorized re-release of hits. Stupid similar sounding band names. Please forgive me and proceed with your purchase :)

Sean

My degree - Liberal Arts - major Theater with minors in Religion & English Literature. woo hoo.

My career? I don't have one. I did live as an actor for a year or two - But I work as a freelancer that I got via a temping gig (nepotism) - mostly for a publishing company. When they need more than an admin, but less than an editor, they call me. Also, some money from acting & singing, and even less from script consulting/editing.

Mrcreosote - did you also learn how to take artsy B&W publicity photos? I see tons of those around the offices of the construction industry magazines I work on

Figgy - an art major? concentrating in ceramics? Did you by any chance go to my alma mater, "the pioneer college of western NY"?

mswas - tee hee!

I did go to college in New York, in a tiny dinky town called Oneonta. In my defense, they gave me a huge scholarship.

Oh, and my dear JRo - if you need to purge the memory of the grilled cheese martini, check this badboy out. So colorful! so ludicrous!
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/07/cake-batter-martinis/

But regarding this:
... it’s the same reason the Catholic church’s Child Protection Chief had a CHILD PORNOGRAPHY STASH/RING.

When I was in Edinburgh, I learned that one of the inspirations behind Jekyll & Hyde (and one of RLS' earlier works) was an upstanding citizen, a famous cabinet maker. He was so skilled that all the wealthy people of Edinburgh hired him to make their cabinets. He was so greedy, that he made 2 keys for each one - one for him to keep. He robbed so excessively from them, that he had to hire people to help him carry his loot away. The Edinburgh police were stumped for years. They created a task force to find who was behind the robberies. They decided to appoint someone who was an expert in cabinets and locks. You guessed it.

It was years before the guy was caught, and there was a crowd of thousands who gathered to watch him hang.

I started as a International Relations major... than realized that it wasn't actually for me, it just sounded better than my preferred major -

History!

I started my professional life as a teacher (no local schools had a secondary social studies education major so I stuck with history and made fun of the ed majors.)

I've since left k-12 teaching and have gone back to school, but I wouldn't trade my History degree for a bigger paycheck, I just know that I am going to have to be very conscious of how I spend and save money as I move forward. But then again, so have my parents. So at least I know what I'm headed for.

Aw, Figgy - we do not share an alma mater, but I was nearby at Alfred. Class of 1998.

In fact, I'm pretty sure my mom stopped at Oneonta to take my younger brothers to the Soccer Hall of Fame while returning from a trip to visit me one year.

Psych major. Chose it because I found the subject interesting, not because I had a career in mind. Didn't go on to graduate school, so naturally have been bouncing around from customer service to retail to banking.

Sometimes when I tell people that I majored in Psych, they'll laugh and say, "Uh-oh, you're not analyzing me right now, are you?" And I'll laugh and say, "No... but how does that make you feel?" or "No... but tell me, are you close to your mother?" just to mess with them.

I guess I should have been a zoology major, though, because I dig that "Tree Of Life" design.

I would have flunked food science, because that grilled cheese martini looks divine.

I am so glad I'm not the only one who started out with high hopes of becoming "A Famous _____" and then became a secretary to a person who makes roughly 100x more money than I do but is totally incapable of comprehending her own Outlook calendar.

I concentrated in screenwriting, but it turns out that I am shit with plot, and the only person who can get away with movies that are all dialogue and no plot is Kevin Smith. Sadly, I am not Kevin Smith. On the upside, I sort of enjoy being a personal assistant, since if I ever do start writing again, I will have plenty of material.

Um, Siege, I'm a little afraid that we may be the same person.

Major: Acting
Job: Awesome internet company that people I know who have engineering degrees can't get hired at.

I live in bizarro world.

I'm going to study English next year at university in England we don't major or minor, we only study one subject throughout does that make it worse?

Geology/geophysics major here...the only one unless my find function has gone wonky. I feel special :).

my friends recommended me a great site ""~~Mil cupid. Com "" where you can meet lots of wealthy men and beautiful girls.
Cool babe! Surprising me!!!

I majored in nursing. Nursing majors did not have to declare a minor. My mom was a nurse, so I wanted to be a nurse when I was a little kid. As I went through school, I wanted to be a teacher, lawyer, graphics/publisher type job. I came back to nursing after volunteering as a candystriper at the hospital where my mom worked. So, I went into nursing because I liked it, but even as a teenager I appreciated the fact that nurses are pretty much employable.

AS in Advertising Design. What they called graphic arts before there were computers. Fine artist as well. Buy my shit on Etsy! Do it!

@LwoodPDowd: What do you do now? Taking microbio this semester, pretty stoked.

Major: Computer Science
Major: M.B.A.

Why, yes, I am profitable, thanks for asking!

I find that Mila Kunis clip considerable less sexy now that I know she is defending Justin Timberlake. Sigh.

As for me, I majored in journalism and philosophy. I currently work at an english-language newspaper in Cambodia that does not have a website. It's got to be seriously one of the last newspapers in the world without a website...

No seriously. I couldn't find a job in journalism in the US in this current climate. So I left the country and went back about a decade. It's actually awesome living in Never Never land.