As recent graduates begin to enter a tough job market, college students find themselves fighting tooth and nail to prove the usefulness of their degrees.
Some degrees appear to carry more prestige than others — finance and STEM degrees tout the prospects of a six-figure salary, while arts degrees tend to earn more social scrutiny as "useless degrees."
READ MORE: Opinion: Stop making fun of other majors
Sydney Lowell, a sophomore studying anthropology, said conversations about intellectualism and what makes a degree useful often lack much-needed nuance.
"In order to have fields like engineering, you also have to have fields outside of them that interact with them, such as anthropology," Lowell said.
Making a valued judgment on the immediate impact of each degree in a vacuum doesn't paint the full picture. Lowell also emphasized the importance of looking deeper than one's own perception of each degree to see their true usefulness.
Vincenzo Caggiula, a doctoral student studying computer science with a focus on media arts and sciences, expressed that some students only see college as a pipeline towards getting a job.
"You look at it as a four-year program to get a piece of paper that leads to an entrance to a career," Caggiula said.
Caggiula graduated with two undergraduate degrees, one in popular music and one in computer science. The two had different paths forward.
"Computer science is four years. I leave. I already got two and a half kids, three and a half on the way, $100,000 a year in my salary. But with music, there's not that guarantee," Caggiula said.
Alejandro Urbina-Bernal, who switched from law school to pursuing a Ph.D. in justice studies, said that making a meaningful development in his community was his main reason for switching career paths.
"I didn't think I could handle remaining in a position where I would think I was just another cog in the wheel," Urbina-Bernal said.
READ MORE: Opinion: An arts and sciences degree can contribute to success in any career path
The modern model for higher education doesn't encourage a mindset focused on personal passion or development — no. 2 in global employability is one of ASU's most publicized rankings.
The price of tuition can often be the reason why students are focused on the financial potential of their degree.
"If there's a computer science worker working in IT who suddenly has a fascination with speculative fiction literature, they can go ahead and get a degree in speculative fiction literature because that's something that interests them," Urbina-Bernal said. "How plausible might that be within a university model that still is charging for education?"
Caggiula said his popular music program strengthened his sense of community among peers and faculty.
Soft skills, such as self-development and communication, can increase odds of employability, regardless of major, according to Purdue Global.
"There is a very inherent value in college, regardless of degree path," Caggiula said. "All degree paths that get greenlit are made in such a way that no matter what their path is or whatever their curriculum centers around, it's made to guide the students towards what they want to do."
Edited by Sam Troester, Emilio Alvarado and Sophia Keeling.
Reach the reporter at omoranwi@asu.edu.
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