How many of y'all are doing what you went to school for?
 

I've noticed that a lot of folks get all these degrees, and then end up working or doing something they didn't go to school for. Or they have higher degrees, but are still making pennies to live on. I have a 5-year degree in manufacturing engineering, but I'm making a living in landscaping and snow removal. It's my own business though.

What did y'all go to school for? And are y'all working in the fields you studied to work in? How many of y'all aren't doing what you aspired to do or studied to be? And why? What made y'all change directions?

I have a BA in Journalism with an emphasis (like a minor but lazier) in French and Film Analysis. I'm a travel agent. For a while I was bitter about how much a waste of time and money my degree was when I was working side by side with people who barely made it out of high school and making just more than minimum wage. But as I've matured I've realized an ability to write is ALWAYS valuable, and I got a lot out of college, if not the big bucks.

Well, back in the very beginning, I went to college to become a physical therapist. I studied PT for 2 years until my major was discontinued and I had no choice but to pick something else. I changed my major to a social science subject with a view to work in higher education. I did end up working at a university for about 12 years. So, not including the hiccup with the original major, my college studies and my career matched up exactly how I intended.

However, I then became a firefighter. One doesn't really go to college to learn firefighting. That said, my major ended up being very relevant and helpful in my new career in public safety.

I initially went to college intending to major in Plastics Engineering, but after changing my major a few times, I landed on Political Science. I planned to go to law school - and took the LSAT and applied to a few schools - but after doing some research, I decided to first just get my feet wet by getting my paralegal certificate, working in a law firm, and then deciding if law school was the best route to take.

I worked in a law firm for almost a year, and I discovered I loved studying law, but I hated it in practice. That was in 2008, and like a lot of people at that time, I got laid off. I was actually relieved. However, I needed to pay the bills, so I worked a couple part-time jobs while I looked for a full-time one in another law firm. Then I decided to move to NJ, where my mom and stepdad had moved just a short time before that.

I had met my mom's boss a couple times prior to my moving back home, and when she mentioned to him that I'd be moving there, he said he had the perfect job for me. They worked at a commercial insurance company, and they were in the beginning stages of purchasing software for an electronic filing system. The entire company needed to be trained. I worked in an IT/operations role and implemented the application while training hundreds of employees around the country.

While I loved the job, I realized it wouldn't really lead me anywhere, and I'd have to decide on which route to take (within the company). I started taking insurance classes, and as of December, I was transferred to our Houston office as an Underwriter.

I've jumped from place to place and job to job and now here I am... doing something that isn't even remotely related to what I studied! :p

Ha! I'm so into my field that I'm still going to school for it. :rolleyes: At least my Master's (Counseling) has given me a leg up in my doctorate work (Psychology). In a few years, when I can finally say I'm no longer in school, I'll come back and answer again. LOL

ETA: I will say this, though. My mom majored in Education and became an educator. My dad majored in Engineering and became an engineer. My sister majored in Biology and became a biologist. I majored in Psychology and am becoming a psychologist.

We're a simple kinda family, ya know? :p

My bachelor's degree is in Occupational Therapy and I did that for 13 years. As things in health care were getting more and more precarious, I realized there were no longer opportunities for OTs to advance. Within hospitals restructuring their organizations, OTs were now reporting to unit managers (nurses), not other OTs as they had. I've never been one to just "be" and the thought of being a Staff OT for another 25 years was discouraging. There was also less funding for inpatient mental health, especially for adolescents, so programs were closing all over the place. Under the threat of closure of the unit where I worked, I decided to take some online courses and get a Microsoft certification and get a job in IT. I got the certifications I wanted over the course of a year and transferred, within the same health system, to an entry level IT position. That position paid MORE than a veteran OT position, which really gave me pause.

Another 13 years later, I am finishing up a master's in IT Security and have been working in IT Security specifically for over two years now. In the 13 years I worked as an OT, my income increased by about 8%. In the 13 years I've worked in OT, my income has more than doubled. It was a very smart move and offers me a lot more variety, job choice, and opportunities for advancement.

I have a degree in English, and I work as a copyeditor/proofreader. I went into college thinking I wanted a journalism degree, but all the classes looked really boring, so I never even started. I realized I wanted to do editing about halfway through school. I'm about the only one of my friends who's using her undergraduate degree for what she planned, but I don't think anyone's unhappy that they have it. A good education is worth a lot.

^^^ PLEASE bug me in 2014 about me hiring you.

English major. Now a novelist.

My undergrad is a double major in History and Classics. I thought I would go immediately to grad school, but decided I wanted to be a teacher my last semester (my parents were thrilled with this decision). So I took a job as a teacher's aide after I graduated and enrolled in a teacher cert program. I was convinced I wanted to be a middle school Social Studies teacher. The next year, I was hired as a middle school Language Arts teacher. Not what I originally wanted, but I was teaching. After 6 years, I started my M.Ed. to be a school librarian. About 5 months after I graduated from my Master's program, I was hired as a school librarian. So, in a roundabout way, I am doing what I went to school for.

I'm doing what I decided to do once I determined what I wanted to do. I don't see school as a career contract. I see it as a foundation for a range of expertise and experiences. You can do whatever the hell you desire after you finish school.

I can multitask in my career and make adjustments in a few years knowing that I have the foundation to do what I choose.

I have a degree in Pre Medicine (seriously) so I am glad I got into medical school. I'm not sure what I would have done with that degree otherwise. :rolleyes:

I was a fashion merchandising major in college. I know, stupid, right. I wish I would have gone for interior design but my 18 year old self wasn't smart enough to figure out that you really don't need to go to school to work retail. I lasted about 6 months being underpaid and working nights, weekends and holidays and I said forget it. I now sell personal protection in Operating Rooms. I wish I had majored in almost any thing else.

I am! I majored undergrad in Business Admin/Finance, went back to get my MBA at age 24 while working full time as an accountant, got my CPA, and I've been doing accounting and finance for my whole career (except for one brief stint as a project manager). I can't imagine doing anything else and for me it's worked out really well.

I went to college to get an education.

I use it every day.

Yes, I ended up in teaching, but that wasn't why I went to school. I honestly earned two degrees in English with the goal of being educated. I had planned to be a full time mother, but that was financially impossible. I do love teaching.

I once read that close to 70% of college grads will work in a field other than the one they received their degree in, but cannot find the study now. At any rate, I think a college degree shows your ability to study and think in several different fields and a flexibility that would benefit almost any worker.

I majored in Early Childhood Development. Loved my job as an administrator at a Pre school, long before daycare... Until I had my own kids. I used up all my patience in my job, having none left for my kids. Not a good plan. Went into part time accounting for many years. Nothing to do with my major at all!

My BS is in Environmental Studies. I've worked in soil and groundwater remediation from the day I graduated. I started out in retail UST work, but it's a dying field with no room for improvement. I'm now an environmental geologist for some secret shit I can't talk about. :P

When I went into college the second time, I went for a History degree, but from the very beginning knew the chances of me being an actual working historian were slim. Law kind of sneaked up on me, but we'll see if I actually practice or go into a different field that my J.D. can help with.

I majored in Environmental Science and went to medical school. I don't use it often, but when I was in the med school application process, I was very grateful to have a fallback plan that I actually liked. Many of my friends with biology or chemistry majors didn't like their majors or have fallback plans, and some of them ended up needing one because they didn't get in on the first try.

My bachelors is in interdisciplinary studies- with emphasis in public relations, political science, and history. I ended up in the tax industry working as a manager and trainer. I'm now working on my masters in human resources development and human resources management (dual program) and will be starting a new job on the 28th doing quality control and developing training programs for a direct buy out of Portland, OR. I get to work at home, but the pay is dismal. The good thing is that it's in my field and the company has a lot of room for growth.

My undergrad was corporate communication. I quickly found that based on my resumé, I could either work in TV news (low pay, terrible hours, no thanks) or in an unrelated entry position elsewhere. I elected to go back to school. I earned my JD and am presently using that education to earn my income.

My undergraduate degree is in journalism, which I did for a few years before moving into public/media relations.

From there I moved into Development, as well as working as a registered lobbyist. Presently, am working on adding some real estate credentialing.

I joined a non-profit organization's Board of directors a few months back so I'll get to help out on some grant writing for that.


I use my journalism training in everthing I've ever done professionally.

I have BA's in English and Pan-African Studies. I'm still in school for my M.Ed. I am nowhere near working under either field...I just have a job that pays my tuition. Nothing fancy at all...

Got my degree in Communications (Media/Journalism/PR). I knew my route was Sports -- because, usually, the worst news to tell is that someone lost the game/competition.

Have worked on staff for NBC Sports, Turner Sports, CNN (a brief 3 year stint in the "news factory") and, now, NFL Network. Plus have worked at 4 Olympics (+ 2 more on the American-based studio side), several Super Bowls/World Series/League Championships/All-Star games, for every major sports network and on-site at countless games & sporting events. My boss at NBC Sports selected me for his crew at my 1st Olympics and is now my big boss at the NFL Network (not the Commish, but just below).

While, sometimes, I've been freelance and the work isn't consistent 100% of the time, I feel like I've done pretty well over all.

My BS is in Accounting and my MS is in Tax Law. I am a CPA and now work as a controller for a manufacturing company after many years as a tax manager for an oil company.

Nursing/health sciences-no
business management-yes & no

My paid job is part time work currently in child care. Thus no, i'm not using either degree to earn a living. With my largest volunteer job (Kappa Alpha Theta), I use my business degree every day!

I actually wanted to be an astrophysicist, that was the goal. But, I decided on plan B because I thought it would be frustrating studying about other galaxies and planets, knowing that no one in my lifetime would ever be able to visit any of those places.

Sooooooo, I decided on becoming a vet, instead, which is what I do now. I had a double major in undergrad --zoology and biology with a minor in chemistry. I'm now studying to be a specialist in parasitology. Two more years to go. It feels like forever. :(

I started in Architecture, hopped around majors, and then settled on Construction Management.

I now work for a LGBT nonprofit organization. My goal, though, is to work in higher education. While I was an undergrad, I worked in our tiny Student Affairs Division and discovered I loved the work. So, here I am!

I started as Business Management and hated it. Finally settled on and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Social Sciences Concentration. Knowing about people has been an immense help in my prior career in retail banking and more recent jobs in Office Administration and Call Center Operations.

I've probably used my degree every day of my life without realizing it. If I'd graduated earlier in life (I took about 10 years off from college along the way) I probably would have gone for my Masters so I could do school or college academic counseling. Maybe one day in the future?

I am.

I don't know why, but this made chuckle. Everyone else has given these long explanations, but you just typed a simple "I am." :p

Reading through these posts it becomes VERY clear why we are a bunch of grammar/spelling Nazis. A lot of us regulars were some flavor of communications or law majors. That is a lot of persnickety writers. HA!

And technical "scientific" writing!!!!

I have a Bachelor of Music, which I don't use to earn a living but which I rely on constantly for enjoyment and quality of life.

My JD gets used every day to earn a living.

I got my BA in English with a minor in Fine Arts. I didn't use my degree. For several years, I flipped houses. Then I went to graduate school and got my masters in Library and Information Science with a focus on archives and special collections. Along the way I realized that I didn't really like archives but I finished up with it anyway. I worked in the archives of a military library and I hated it. I'm now doing bookbinding repairs on a volunteer basis. On the side, I'm an eBay seller. Who knows what the future may bring?

I may not be using my formal education to earn a living but I use it in my day-to-day life all the time.

In my family, I was somewhat of the oddball, I guess. I have an older brother (also a Nupe :D) who majored in biology (Central State University) and went on to study dentistry at Meharry. He's now a dentist. I have an older sister who was a math major (University of Chicago) and now works in Human Resources. My mom (education major, Prairie View A&M) retired as an adult education teacher. My dad was a business major, same college as my mom (retired business owner and director).

Me? I majored in art (the oddball of the family).:D

Long story short. I went to CSU as an art major. From there, I received my degree in art. After leaving CSU, I applied and submitted my portfolio to CCS in Detroit. I competed for Trans (Transportation Design) my second year, now Auto Design. At the time, only second year students could compete for Trans (You have to compete, because too many ID students want auto). After my review, I was one of 17 students who made it into Trans. After my second year there, I took a summer contract job at Chrysler. During that time, I just kept adding to my portfolio and building on it.

When I returned to school for my 3rd year, AIAS sponsored the student show that semester. A designer from the company I currently work for came out to look at the student work, and he liked my ideations and clay model. He gave me his card, and told me to give him a call. After that semester ended, I sent them my resume with my portfolio, and they soon offered me a permanent position as an auto designer. I accepted, and never went back to CCS (as a student) since I already had a bachelors. I didn't need a second one. However, two days out of the week I do teach Viscom, design theory, mini-trans, auto, and senior auto there, depending on the year.

I didn't have a Plan B. I majored in art, because I was either going to be an auto designer or be an unhappy man. I've been with the same company since 2008, and I enjoy every bit of what I do for a living.

I always forget you have Ohio ties, PB. I was in Xenia the last 2 weekends. :)

Journalism degree and education degree

I teach journalism, photography and advise student publications. I do quite a bit of editing and design work for friends and family. I just finished the wedding program for one of my former editors.

This is mad interesting, PrettyBoy. For real. I didn't know you went to Central, though. That's Alpha Mu for my frat. I know a lot of frat from there. They used to come up to my school to kick it with Beta Mu, and vice versa.

I knew you were a car designer from your previous posts, but you never went into this much detail on how you got hooked up with a career in it. I peeped that video in your siggy. That's the design school you went to? Folks on here got careers that most folks know about so that makes you the "oddball" on here too LOL.

I have three degrees, and now I teach people in my degree field. So, while I'm not doing what I trained for initially, I am still very much in touch with my degree.

BS (heh) in advertising. I'm a media planner/buyer, so yes.