Fearing a Chagrin Graduation?

Picture this: An optimistic young man ponders the possibilities of life after college. He questions,

What do you do with a B.A. in English?
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

Despite the fact this is just a scene in hit Broadway musical Avenue Q and it happens to be sung by your normal, average, everyday hand-puppet, most twenty-somethings can relate. The very notion of life after graduation fills most liberal arts undergrads with a complex combination of dread, worry, and acute nausea. But why should it?

You spend four years of your life (and all your savings) devoted to hard work and late night study sessions. You roll out of bed at absurdly early hours to make your 8 A.M. philosophy class, pound out papers on 18th century Romantic poetry, and participate (against your will) in the ever ominous “group projects.” You do all this in preparation for the elusive “real world,” and, come graduation day, you walk proudly across the stage, diploma in hand, cap on head, smile on face – ready for anything. Well, at least according to the guest speaker.

The truth is, you spent most of your liberal college career soaking up Shakespeare and German Expressionism, and there aren’t too many want ads for art majors with a background in painting and photography.

Just ask Ithaca College junior Naomi Zeidman, a cinema and photography major and art minor. Recently, Zeidman has taken to spending large chunks of time fretting over post-graduate prospects. “I have no idea what I’m going to do. Lately I’ve been having those days where I ask myself, what am I doing majoring in photo? There’s no way I could make a career out of it, let alone a living. What’s the point?”

It’s easy to see where Zeidman is coming from. According to JobWeb, an online component of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), chemical engineering, nuclear engineering, software and design development, and electrical/electronics communication engineering crown the charts as the top paid bachelors degrees of 2007. Average starting salaries for such in demand majors can soar from $55,000 to $60,000. Leaving one to surmise that you really do need to be a rocket scientist to pull in the big bucks.

So where does that leave the optimistic English majors of the world? Projections from JobWeb estimate humanities and sciences majors should expect to earn a basic starting salary of $25,00 to $35,000, only half as much as their technological and business counterparts. For example, from 2004-2014, there are only expected to be 21,000 job openings for photographers with a starting pay of $26,000. However, 486,000 jobs will open in accounting with a salary of $50,000. The basic principles of supply and demand apply. Everyone needs their taxes done, but most people know how to operate a camera thanks to the point-and-shoot technology of the digital age.

What can photography majors like Zeidman do with the job market so heavily against them? Karen Thompson, associate director of the University of North Carolina – Wilmington and president of the Southern ACE has a simple answer. Look for a job outside your major.

Believe it or not, just because you decide to major in a particular area does not mean you have to make a career out of it. The University of Washington informs prospective students on their website, “your career is likely to be completely unrelated to your college major.” The direct correlation between major and career is a common misconception that derives out of that fact that a few high profile careers, like doctors and engineers, do need to attend specialized schooling.