# Do You Regret Your University/College Major? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083 "2022-09-06T20:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/121 "2023-04-01T00:12:11Z")
I majored in History (emphasis on U.S., I’m in the U.S.) and German. My first job out of college was teaching kindergarten. Forty years later I’m a full-time freelance writer, the majority of whose income comes from educational materials involving math. I have written a few history books for young adults and worked on some social studies programs, but on the whole I’ve done more ELA and much more math than anything history-related. As for German, well, it hasn’t played much of a role in my personal life, and none whatsoever in my professional existence. Still, I don’t regret my majors at all. I enjoyed them both and as others have said they helped me learn to think flexibly and make connections. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/122 "2023-04-01T13:48:51Z")
Can you head over to the [Financial Literacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-financial-literacy-why-is-it-so-uncommon/981841/) thread and write a textbook on that? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/123 "2023-04-01T14:18:32Z")
Ha! 🙂 I actually have written a couple of short YA primers on financial literacy topics, and I worked briefly on a personal finance curriculum for HS students at one point. And a long while back I wrote several chapters for a study guide for people who wanted to take the Series 7 exam. I had only the faintest glimmering of what this was all about before I started, and the learning curve was predictably steep, but I had a lot of help, the subject matter was more interesting than I expected, and the money was very good. Now, as for the state of my _personal_ financial literacy…well, them that can’t do, write study guides and primers. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/124 "2023-04-04T03:25:53Z")
More data. > **[Was your degree really worth it?](https://www.economist.com/international/2023/04/03/was-your-degree-really-worth-it)** > > Crunching the puny financial benefits of many university courses ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/125 "2023-04-05T13:50:33Z")
I can only read the first paragraph. Do they acknowledge, anywhere, that a university degree is for more in life than post-graduation earnings? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/126 "2023-04-05T13:57:21Z")
No. It is, after all, The Economist. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083/127 "2023-04-05T18:01:37Z")
I don’t necessarily regret my major, but my degree in Public Administration isn’t much use in my occupation as a carpenter/theatrical installer. Even when I was working for government agencies, it wasn’t gong to be of much use since I had figured out that I had no desire to rise high enough for it to be useful. But GI Bill paid for most of it and I guess it looked good on my resume. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-your-university-college-major/971083.md?page=6)