Guy working at Subway with a bachelor's degree; is this the new norm?

[I Push Buttons]

All sciences/social sciences etc are worthless for the market.

You need 2 things to get a good job.

1. Be a critical fucking thinker, be organized, and do not procrastinate.
2. Apply the above to a technology or to Excel that allows the company to make smart operational/financial decisions.

Done.

3. Know someone with no qualms about nepotism.

[Youn]

University of Central Florida expects that you will go to Valencia Community College to pick up languages. I skipped the 4 year degree in theory of computers and got a 2 year degree in Computer Programming. The lesser degree in my case got me a job almost immediately. And once, you get to the point, I am at with 15+ years programming experience. The degree honestly has no meaning at all.

[Moralgy]

Statistics is a core part of any form of research. It is one of the most important research tools. You need know how to collect, analyze and interpret data. Stats teach you that.

It has nothing to do with Sociology, Psychology, Biology or even any STEM subject.

Yea, but people around this area of the internet seem to think "social sciences" have zero research involved, thus isn't a real science.

[Orlong]

See thread title.

I live in Portland, Oregon. I haven't been going to Subway often lately (once every few months) but I stopped into the one near my apartment recently and I noticed it's the same guy working there each time I stop in. He's friendly and we strike up a conversation; the subject of grad school comes up and he tells me that he is in the process of applying to MFA programs. Apparently he has a bachelor's degree in the social sciences from the University of Oregon.

I didn't think I was that out of touch but holy shit. Bachelor's degree and working at Subway? Is this the norm now, or is this guy really aiming low with his job search? Wondering as it's been a few years since I graduated from undergrad (although not THAT long ago).

Not trying to shit on the guy for working at Subway, but he seemed intelligent and claims to be educated (at a fairly decent-ish state university); if this is the job market that grads are walking into then this is extremely depressing.

Perhaps if he had a useful degree instead of Social Sciences he wouldnt be working at Subway. Maybe he should have went for something in finance, or medicine

[Elegiac]

Perhaps if he had a useful degree instead of Social Sciences he wouldnt be working at Subway. Maybe he should have went for something in finance, or medicine

Which is why we see MBAs working in Starbucks as well despite how useful you claim 'business' is.

[Underverse]

Yea, but people around this area of the internet seem to think "social sciences" have zero research involved, thus isn't a real science.

I think the main issue that some people have is that social scientists (although more often the media that report on interesting findings) tend to overstate results and generalize data to populations that really shouldn't be generalized to. A lot of social science studies are only useful in the context under which the studies were conducted, and the results are often are not broadly applicable or confounded by uncontrolled (or uncontrollable) variables.

And this argument gets bastardized into the whole 'not a real science' argument by people who don't understand what they're saying.

[Orlong]

Which is why we see MBAs working in Starbucks as well despite how useful you claim 'business' is.

I didnt say anything about business. I said finance or medicine

[Berndorf]

There have been stories coming out about people with Ivy league degrees working in things like fast food for years. Like back to 2008 if not earlier. Its nothing new.

[Ryme]

Unemployment rates are the lowest they'vebeen in half a decade and job availability rates are rising as well:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/JTS00000000JOL
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/...ets/-/UNE_RT_M

So I don't buy the "job market is bad" explanation. Seems to me he either doesn't have the drive or has a bad degree.

[oplawlz]

Unemployment rates are the lowest they'vebeen in half a decade and job availability rates are rising as well:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/JTS00000000JOL
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/...ets/-/UNE_RT_M

So I don't buy the "job market is bad" explanation. Seems to me he either doesn't have the drive or has a bad degree.

Yeah, there are lots of different subways to be working at, or even mcdonalds!
More jobs =/= good jobs.

[Moralgy]

I think the main issue that some people have is that social scientists (although more often the media that report on interesting findings) tend to overstate results and generalize data to populations that really shouldn't be generalized to. A lot of social science studies are only useful in the context under which the studies were conducted, and the results are often are not broadly applicable or confounded by uncontrolled (or uncontrollable) variables.

And this argument gets bastardized into the whole 'not a real science' argument by people who don't understand what they're saying.

That is very true, a lot of the research I end up digging through has no application outside of very specific things, but those things apply so heavily to the field they are working in that it is extremely important. Problems is, people on the outside are like "that is so dumb why do we care."

Also, the whole media reporting on findings is definitely not doing sociology and psychology fields a favor. Clickbait is scum and I would bet has caused the rise of this "social sciences are not real sciences" mentality.

[Ryme]

Yeah, there are lots of different subways to be working at, or even mcdonalds!
More jobs =/= good jobs.

It's across the board on all earnings.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/JTS00000000TSR

[Deleted]

Yeah, there are lots of different subways to be working at, or even mcdonalds!
More jobs =/= good jobs.

We have a lot of free positions in a company I work for, salaries amongst the highest in the country. Yet I hear constant complaints about there not being "free positions" from graduates. Guess what, we don't need these sort of people.

[kneehidude]

I have a friend who finished an associate's degree program in nursing a year ago and has an RN, he says that employers want a bachelor's degree or higher nowadays. Not sure if he's being overly fatalistic about the job market or not, I don't work in health care.

The guy I'm dating is a physician but he says that a lot of general care type stuff is now going towards PAs and nurse practitioners.

Depending on where your friend lives, that could influence the standards (California can definitely have higher standards for basically any job than say Kansas).

Other than that, you could suggest that he tries a nursing home, or hospice or something. This is of course going totally on the assumption that he is only applying to hospitals in his local area.

[Elegiac]

I didnt say anything about business. I said finance or medicine

What happens when everyone has a finance or medicine degree.

[TrumpIsPresident]

See thread title.

Guy working at Subway with a bachelor's degree in transgender poly-sci femi-ethnic relation playground construction; is this the new norm?

Its the new norm for those people, yes.

And of course I embellished heavily there to make the point so to clear it up the new reality is that having a degree these days doesn't mean shit if its a) a degree in a worthless field, and b) a degree from a worthless institute.

Plus on top of all of that is the millennial stigma that all grads are up against.

Fact it this generation of highly indoctrinated, highly radicalized, highly belligerent, and highly ignorant youths has adopted a slurry of qualities that are simply undesirable in the professional world.

Not every millennial manifests those qualities but most do, and when you consider the entire frame of pop-culture pop-politics (the things which determine the personality of these youths) represents those qualities in militant full force with no alternative ...well ...it just marks the entire generation with a "do not hire me" label.

So you have people who grew up with toxic mentality getting worthless "degrees" from radical indoctrination factories masquerading as universities trying to enter a workforce that is absolutely incompatible with what they embody.

Ya, seeing a grad slinging cold cuts at Subway is the new norm.

And than it just spirals down the shitter socially when you think on it further...

Because that means all those min-wage jobs that would have gone to min-wage people are now becoming scarce.

So now people who are poor will be even less able to find work which means they're going to stay poor and stay dependent on Government.

See the damage that a highly radicalized no-compromise society has created?

Who benefits here?

Well really its only two bodies.

The Universities that suck in all that money and shit out toxic ideology, and the Government that benefits from a permanent underclass that will never bite the hand that feeds them.

Hmm, I wonder what side of the political spectrum they sit on.

[Celista]

Guy working at Subway with a bachelor's degree in transgender poly-sci femi-ethnic relation playground construction; is this the new norm?

Its the new norm for those people, yes.

He got a degree in a social science field which is nothing like what you described. Believe it or not psychology/sociology is preferred for social service-type positions and they will state that a degree in that field is required before hire.

Poli sci and econ...shrug. My friends who majored in econ had no issues finding a job after graduation.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, for everyone else talking about institutional quality...University of Oregon isn't an Ivy by any means, but it's well-respected in Oregon. Quality wise, it is probably the best state school, and in the top 3 universities when accounting for private institutions (Reed and Lewis & Clark).

We don't have a Harvard/Stanford/etc here so choice of school isn't really relevant here.

[TrumpIsPresident]

He got a degree in a social science field which is nothing like what you described. Believe it or not psychology/sociology is preferred for social service-type positions and they will state that a degree in that field is required before hire.

Poli sci and econ...shrug. My friends who majored in econ had no issues finding a job after graduation.

The 2nd line was an important follow up to the one you quoted:

And of course I embellished heavily there to make the point so to clear it up the new reality is that having a degree these days doesn't mean shit if its a) a degree in a worthless field, and b) a degree from a worthless institute.

[Celista]

Perhaps if he had a useful degree instead of Social Sciences he wouldnt be working at Subway. Maybe he should have went for something in finance, or medicine

I have a finance degree, finance is not a great degree unless you go to a top school and plan on moving to a banking hub. It is narrow in scope and while employers will accept finance or accounting for many job openings, accounting degrees tend to be preferred for a lot of them. Hiring new grads with an accounting background is more useful and relevant for the average employer.

- - - Updated - - -

The 2nd line was an important follow up to the one you quoted:

Ah okay, noted.

[Tijuana]

See thread title.

I live in Portland, Oregon. I haven't been going to Subway often lately (once every few months) but I stopped into the one near my apartment recently and I noticed it's the same guy working there each time I stop in. He's friendly and we strike up a conversation; the subject of grad school comes up and he tells me that he is in the process of applying to MFA programs. Apparently he has a bachelor's degree in the social sciences from the University of Oregon.

I didn't think I was that out of touch but holy shit. Bachelor's degree and working at Subway? Is this the norm now, or is this guy really aiming low with his job search? Wondering as it's been a few years since I graduated from undergrad (although not THAT long ago).

Not trying to shit on the guy for working at Subway, but he seemed intelligent and claims to be educated (at a fairly decent-ish state university); if this is the job market that grads are walking into then this is extremely depressing.

The old joke: "Yeah, I have a liberal arts degree. Would you like fries with that?"