10 Most Useless Degrees In 2023 (And What To Do)
If you’re graduating from high school this year and planning to attend college, this time of the year must come extremely stressful to you. Moreover, if you’re struggling with picking the degree that will pave your career path in the future, then you must be too stressed out. There are many degrees for you to choose from, but not all of them offer the same perspective in reality, as opposed to how they’re advertised by many distinguished educators and other professionals.
Choosing the right degree to go after is nowhere near easy. If anything, it’s extremely stressful and unpredictable, because demands are changing, and with that, one degree may seem more perspective than others.
The good news is that even if you have a degree that is currently considered useless, there are many alternative courses that you can attend and get a specialization within a few months, including the bootcamps and workshops.
The bad news is that there are still employers that value the college diploma more than additional extensions to your degree and will look at that as the primary factor when employing you.
That’s why we decided to look at different degrees and what perspective and future they offer to students who enroll in them. We also took the time to list what are currently considered to be the most useless degrees and what can you do to improve your expertise and degree and look for more promising job positions in the future.
Remember, no degree is useless in its entirety, but there are different trends and demand changes for a great variety of careers.
10 Most Useless Degrees In 2022
Below we listed 10 degrees that are currently deemed useless by different financial analysts and other people who do thorough market research for different career paths. Keep in mind that you should always pursue your dreams and find a job that you will love doing.
However, there are a plethora of career opportunities that are possible with different careers, and you should be able to build a degree that will allow you to focus on multiple fields.
That said, the view below isn’t purely our view and is focused on different financial and job search data that allowed us to list these degrees.
1. Advertising
You may probably think that advertising is far from dead, and it’s still widely used. While that’s true, it’s used through other channels, like social media, websites, and online ads. Back in the 20th century, billboards and displays were the things. Advertisements were given away as flyers and coupons.
Today, that’s all online. More importantly, thanks to the online analytics we’re given insight into, the consumers can influence the marketing and advertising trends so advertising is focused purely on what consumers want.
You may probably notice billboards and displays featuring long-expired advertisements now and then. That’s because companies rent different channels to spread their voice and products. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the advertising is dead, but it may need a new approach.
What to do: If you’re already pursuing the advertising degree, you may just need a little newer approach, like focusing on social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and other disciplines.
Usually, expertise for these disciplines is available online free of charge, while some courses are not too expensive and lengthy to complete. Keep in mind that these disciplines also need you to constantly keep up with the trends and new technology that’s emerging.
Note: We highly recommend Facebook Ads and Google Ads if you’re in this major.
2. Anthropology And Archeology
The first thing that pops up on many people’s minds when they hear the words anthropology or archeology are the popular characters from books and games, Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider. However, the path of an archeologist is much more narrow and depends on luck in a great matter.
Nonetheless, both fields are interesting to pursue, but they’re nowhere near easy. Moreover, it requires a lot of luck for one to get a good career opportunity. That may be enough to make these two some of the most useless career paths at the moment, although with a bit of luck, it doesn’t have to be that way.
What to do: Maybe there are good options for archeologists like entrepreneurship, and archeology blog, or a YouTube channel. However, for the most reliable and well-secured career option, it’d be necessary to pursue a Master’s degree and then Ph.D. Researchers have significantly more luck than undergraduate archeologists. Still, the career options in this field remain limited.
3. Fashion Design
The competition between distinguished fashion designers has skyrocketed, especially because we’ve designed so many clothing pieces it’s becoming nearly impossible to come out with a new idea. Let’s face it, the same designs and color trends are repeating every 10 years, and usually, there are not many job ads for fashion designers. Starting your brand is another story, but still tasking because you need strong assets and resources.
What to do: If you’re persistent to join a fashion design career, you need to work a lot on your portfolio. Start a fashion blog, learn to sew, and come up with designs for dolls. You can also pursue a Fine Arts major or even Graphic design. Lastly, build connections with important people, and pitch your ideas in.
Note: We highly recommend ETSY if you’re in this major.
4. Tourism And Hospitality
Let’s face it, the travel niche is one of the most popular ones. Even after a temporary decline in traveling, airline companies and travel agencies bathe in money once people start traveling again. That creates a whole lot of lucrative careers for the tourism and hospitality graduates. The field is becoming more unstable and doesn’t serve as a reliable source of income.
What to do: You can pursue a degree in management, business, or marketing, and then focus on specializing yourself in the travel sector and tourism. This gives you more room for improvement and also allows you to work on more serious gigs.
5. Communications
Communications is a broad field and not all of them are considered useless, at least not in their entirety. Nevertheless, most of the skills required to get a good communications gig can be found in a great variety of more popular degree paths, as well as small specialization courses.
Traditional job positions like PR manager, journalist, or reporter don’t even require a university degree anymore, especially in the wake of remote workers and ever-growing social media that many use to show off their assets.
What to do: Think about other things that interest you, but combine a variety of other skills that you’d be interested to learn. Communication skills are widely available, but the degree is too expensive to get. Work on your social media presence, start a YouTube vlogging channel, or even kickstart your podcasting business.
6. Education
Education is a huge go-to career for many people, but it’s rapidly declining because nowadays, anyone can become a teacher, even with a different type of degree. What’s worse is that many teachers are underrated, and unless they work at private facilities, their earnings are pretty low.
There are a lot of alternatives you can do with the education degree, but it’s the fact that the job opportunities are declining, and the number of unemployed teachers throughout the states is growing.
What to do: There are several things that you can do. You can start your own education business, and teach only skills that you think are necessary. You can charge workshops and consultations and provide value to your students. You could focus on your social media presence, and with that in mind, you should do a social media management course.
Note: Online Education is the future, sites like Coursera, Udemy and Edx did a good job.
7. Criminal Justice
Criminal justice inspires a lot of children to become superheroes by solving cases as detectives and policemen. But law enforcement is not what it used to be in the past. Moreover, it’s underpaid. A lot of police and law enforcement facilities no longer demand a degree from the emerging officers. With that in mind, the education in criminal justice is too expensive to be sorted next to someone with a high school degree.
What to do: You can get into a more perspective educational plan like political sciences or going into a law school. You can always become a detective if you will want to.
Also Read: Do you Need a College Degree to be a Police Officer?
8. Creative Writing
Since when is a degree from creative writing a measure for your creativity? A good asset to make educational institutions earn money, or provide a degree for creative writing students, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need a degree in creative writing to become a screenplay writer or a nonfiction writer. Today, anyone is free to be innovative or creative, and a degree will only slow you down from having a broader specter of career opportunities.
What to do: The internet and social media allow creative souls to express themselves through a variety of assets. One of them is a blog, where you can get your thoughts across. If you still want to get a college degree, you could pursue majors like business, literature, marketing, and others.
Good News: What should I Major into Travel the World: Top 13 Degree for International Travel
9. Theater Arts
Many successful actors will tell you that formal education from theater arts is of utmost importance if you want to pave your path to success and be hired on any role you desire. But, the theater arts are not only saturated, it’s extremely difficult to enroll. With strong influence, a lot of actors use their position to sneak their children into the performing arts. Not to mention bribing and pulled strings to get into a role.
What to do: There are many alternatives to the theater arts, and a small bit of them is to build your online presence on social media or YouTube. Many companies discover hidden talents on social media, which allows them to build their career from scratch. There’s no academic alternative to theater arts, but the good news is that you can study some other field that interests you while building your online presence.
10. Computer Science
Computer science is one of the most perspective STEM disciplines, but it’s becoming oversaturated. More importantly, computer science has a lot of sub-fields that cater to the attention of students. It’s a degree that can be stressful and exhausting to take, with fewer job opportunities that will match your interest. More importantly, a lot of textbooks that cover computer science are outdated as soon as they are published, and courses need careful attention from the side of the educator.
What to do: Computer science can be applied in nearly every field. If there’s some other STEM discipline that interests you such as mechanical engineering, electro-engineering, or mathematics, there are a lot of free courses online that allow students to learn new skills in the computer science field.
LOVE YOUR LIST.
Completely disagree with Computer Science!! The World nowadays is evolving into the use of technology every day and computers are just part of it. Many books might be outdated but at the end of the day they have all the information we need. And Education here in my country has more job opportunities
Disagree with education. In Australia you need a bachelor of education to become a teacher. Just don’t be American ya gibba gobba
(Also as a sidenote: SOME teaching subjects require more, and some less education and certifications). It depends entirely on the subject studied/taught. But, in the US, Ms. Prison Colony, since it seems we are tossing out insults for no good reason at all like we’re all 6. A bachelor’s degree in mathematics and usually a secondary education and/or completion of a teacher preparation program is also required, as an example. A Bachelor’s degree is a walk in the park at any University or College pretty much anywhere in the world depending on the subject, A Master’s is exponentially more difficult than a bachelor’s. Same with a Ph.D. vs. a Master’s. Use facts instead of emotion and assumption, that way you don’t look completely ignorant of a subject while claiming another class/country/culture is ignorant. Toodles
class/country/culture? Lmao dude all i said was that this list was wrong for making the generalisation that an education degree is useless. Get of your high horse, gibba gobba I didn’t insult the proud nation of America.
off*
Actually no I kinda feel bad now that was pretty hostile of me. You’re probably just some dude tryna do the right thing and you’re getting roasted-toasted by some random condescending 15 year old. I promise it’s just a meme man, altho I stand by my original point. toodles 🙁
I’ve been doing some thinking, bob. Maybe I was too quick to speak so snarkily. You may be an internet stranger, but you’re still a real person. There’s a real bob behind that blank little profile picture, and It’s arrogant of me to cling to my silly little hubris when you probably weren’t even ill-intentioned to begin with. bit of a gibba gobba moment on my part.
Toodles,
Ms prison colony😔
I know but if someone’s already American, it’s a real hassle to uproot and move to another country. Australia has beautiful weather all year round, but I’d miss the United States terribly!
Gosh what a pessimist view of “useful”. Each of these industries is going through dynamic change to keep up with technological advances, and arguably if we’ve learned anything from the global pandemic response it’s that creative fields such as theatre and fashion are gaining rapid importance for self expression. This list comes across as bitter and single-minded focuses on high-earning potential and looking for a traditional 9-5 stability right out of college. I hope this article doesn’t dissuade too many future students from following study paths that they feel genuinely interested in.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
I know you mean well, but this article didn’t dissuade me from following my passions…society did. The economy speaks for itself, data speaks for itself, my empty bank account speaks for itself. Society sucks, especially in the US, but this article rings true. It’s also a huge contributor to my crippling depression; all of my interests (which I score high in on all career assessments) happen to be these “useless” careers while all of the fields I suck in (IT and healthcare) happen to be the only “valuable” ones out there.
What about Bachelor of development planning and management, I’m currently studying towards that degree at university of Limpopo, but I’m always criticized by my friends, they are saying that it is also one of the useless degrees
Computer science? GTFO!
You’ve left out soo many degrees like 11th century poetry
Asian studies
Gender studies
Egyptology
Latin
While yes Education is low paying, there’s a pretty big job guarantee if you want to be a teacher. They have job openings everywhere for teachers for 65k a year here in CA
meanwhile art school people can’t even find unpaid internships.