Someone that has a degree from a Christian school of theology would send up red flags.
Just to clarify: Berea is not a school of theology. A lot of public school teachers in my area are Berea alumni.
And Cran, just my thoughts here....
I'd go with the major in one you love, minor in one that keeps food on the table and a roof over your head. (you adviser should be able to come up with the later)
"Let low-country intruder approach a cove
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent." John Foster West
on the one hand, i can believe that in a lot of fields of employment, a degree in religion would send up a few red flags. are you holier than thou and all that stuff. on the other hand, i can believe that employers might also view a person with a degree in religion as a good, trustworthy person.
most folks only get the luxury of college once in their lives. you can't please everyone, so please yourself.
Rose tint my world. Keep me safe from my trouble and pain. 白飞梦
It's a complicated situation that, for Dale's sake, I won't go into here. If you can read Simone Weil's book Waiting for God, particularly the section entitled "Hesitations Concerning Baptism," that sums it up perfectly. The closest library may have a copy (it's a very good book), or if not I'm sure they can Inter-library loan it for you.
Sandy McLeod wrote:Going back to original post, what's some other humanity? (Or if I missed it, my apoligies.)
English, History, Psychology, French, Art, Sociology, etc.
mutepointe wrote:
on the one hand, i can believe that in a lot of fields of employment, a degree in religion would send up a few red flags. are you holier than thou and all that stuff..
The academic field of "religious studies" (or similar) is a subset of anthropology and sociology, not of theology.
As such, you can study religion and be an athiest that's what moves you.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
I'm with s1m0n on this one. Do what you like (or, do what you love).
The notion of considering employment as a factor in choosing what you study is valid if it makes a difference. It makes next to no difference to you. Ignore it.
The theory is that having any kind of degree marks you as educated to a certain level, and therefore liable to appeal to employers as a particular kind of employee. Less suited to digging ditches, more suited to deciding where the ditch goes. In theory.
In practice it is your enthusiasm or your enthusiasms which determine what you do. And it's your enthusiasms which will make you appeal to your employers. You can be educated to PhD level and if you are smelly argumentative miserable drunk with bad body odour they will not employ you (unless maybe they have a separate lockable room somewhere). If you are cheerful person who seems to like the kind of work they do, you are halfway there.
My head says you need to have some employable skill.
The problem is finding the balance.
Noah, my 16 year old, would love to be a veternarian. But we live in Ohio, and as such, Ohio State is the only vet college he can apply to. There is NO way he would survive at Ohio State, even if he were accepted to the program (it's a lot worse than medical school to get into).
So, instead, we're looking into the 2 year vet tech program at a branch of the University of Cincinnati. This will give him some "success" to begin with, an employable skill (he's already working as a vet assistant at our local vet office), and if he really wants to become a vet, he can always go back to school later.
I didn't have these "difficulties" with Nate, he knew from age 12 he wanted to be an aircraft mechanic. He was easy!
Basically - what I'm saying - is I don't know what to advise you. I guess I'd ask what do YOU see yourself doing when you leave college? Is there some field you were interested in pursuing? If so, talk to those in that field and see if you are employable in it.
It's the college degree that's important, not so much what it's in. On a resume, you can just list "BA, WhereIwent College, City, State, 200x." If there is a chance that the employer might not be impressed with your major, don't whang him over the head with it.
As others have pointed out, the primary and traditional reason for going to college is to learn to think.
In the United States, some majors, like biochemistry and physics, provide the prerequisites for further work in professional schools, like medicine and dentistry. Some majors, like accounting, architecture, engineering, computer science, nursing, health information management, and laboratory technology provide the necessaries for getting a useful job right away.
But, you can acquire the prerequisites and necessaries as minors--nothing says you have to major in the subject.
And nothing says you can't fulfill your interest in religion as a minor, while majoring in something that will be more likely to lead to employment.
Of all the things that your school offers, nursing is just about guaranteed to get you a job. Before you decide it's not for you, consider that you don't have to work in a high-stress hospital job. With a degree in nursing, you could work in and/or manage a clinic for the poor or those with HIV. You could be a hospice nurse going to the homes of the dying.
You can easily manage to support yourself with part-time work, in fact, as a nurse, thus accommodating your physical limitations.
You might also consider majoring in business administration, so that you could do something like be a director of volunteers for a social services organization, like a free clinic or hospice.
Those people will be thrilled that you've got all those religion courses.
Tell us something.: This is the first sentence. This is the second of the recommended sentences intended to thwart spam its. This is a third, bonus sentence!
From a practical standpoint, why on earth would anybody pursue a job that is completely unrelated to their degree? Conversely, why would anybody get a degree in anything different from what you want to do for a living?
Do what you love, get an education that supports that career. Get a job that bridges the gap if you have to, but don't settle for less than your dreams.
As a former employer, I've got to agree with Aanvil. Your type of degree is a red flag. Someone with a Christian or Theological resume has a very good chance of being totally unmotivated in a worldly job. At least that's the way I looked at it. Frankly, the best person for the job is often someone who has education specifically related to the career. They more likely know what they want, and it falls in line with what an employer wants. That is a huge advantage.
from a PRACTICAL standpoint, of course few people would study something that wasn't relevant to their careers. unless, a person is just shooting for a college degree of any type and would like to study something that they like. also, maybe a person might really have plans to work on a master's degree and the bachelor's degree is an unusual path to getting there. a degree in literature or english might work for a law degree. heck, a degree in religion might work for a law degree too if a person hoped to practice a certain type of law. also, what if someone just wants to take classes with that really cute boy/girl of the opposite/same sex?
Rose tint my world. Keep me safe from my trouble and pain. 白飞梦
Those are good points. Hmm. Maybe we're approaching this from the wrong standpoint.
We can't say what the effect of a religion major will be on a job, because it kind of depends on the job.
And it also doesn't matter what Cran studies if his school doesn't teach anything to prepare you for the job he wants.
It also might not matter if Cran could get an entry-level job in his chosen field while working on an online degree. Employers sometimes pay for or subsidize those.
If we knew what the job was, then we could give a better answer.
I suppose I can speak to this from experience.
I've counseled a lot of undergrads about this.
I'm assuming your major is in religious studies.
The point of the BA is, to put the thing bluntly,
to give the employer some indication that you
are more or less house broken. That's about it.
It doesn't matter terribly what it's in. They figure
at least you got through college.
Most employers know that many college grads
are nearly illiterate. It's conceivable that somebody
somewhere won't like your major, but that's quite
remote. More likely somebody will think you
can write an English sentence. Lots of business
majors can't. Employers know it.
Checked with my wife, who counsels undergrads too.
She agrees wholeheartedly. Nobody will care.
She teaches in a department that includes a religious
studies program.
By the way, if you can work two jobs and go to
college, you can probably handle grad school.
If you can graduate and work one legit job,
you can probably go to grad school.
A grad school that wants you will fund you.
You may find it less taxing than the alternatives,
though it will certainly involve hard work. But
at least it will be work you love. Does make
things easier.
Anyway, in my opinion (an educated one, I reckon) it would
be foolish to shift majors on account of what this
adviser said.
