College degrees are notorious for saddling graduates with debt they can’t pay off. With the average private student loan debt exceeding $50,000, choosing a degree with good employment and earning prospects is important. These 18 degrees may be interesting, but they’re not in high demand and often have high levels of graduate unemployment and underemployment.
Theater Arts
Natural talent is the most important factor in an acting career, which a college curriculum can’t teach. Most auditions don’t require a degree, so it’s best to avoid the crippling debt and try to make contacts while attending auditions.
Culinary Arts
The Conversation notes that Gordon Ramsey argued that American culinary schools burden “students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them into a low-wage industry.” Learning on the job while being paid is a better way to follow your passion without accumulating crippling debt.
Music
Most successful musicians didn’t graduate with an expensive music degree that saddled them with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. The average graduate won’t make a living off their music, but some classical musicians can make a living off tutoring.
Sociology
Sociology degrees are notorious for their high unemployment and underemployment rates for graduates. Although they can lead to interesting jobs in a range of education, research, and marketing sectors, they’re commonly undervalued by employers.
Mass Media
Mass media majors are taught the theory and practice behind the various types of audio, written, and visual media. The degree is often the first step to a career in broadcast news or journalism, but the industry has suffered from major layoffs in recent years.
Creative Writing
Creative writing can be an interesting degree, but graduates often struggle to find stable employment. Getting work published and recognized is notoriously difficult and unpredictable, so advertising and marketing may be a better alternative.
Fine Arts
Fine arts remains a popular degree that has bucked the trend of declining humanities enrollment. However, Apollo Magazine notes that in the U.S., “12.1 percent of recent fine arts graduates were unemployed in 2021, which is the highest unemployment rate of any college major.” The majority of fine art graduates don’t make a living off their art after graduating, and many go into teaching.
Liberal Arts
Liberal arts is often unfairly mocked as a “useless degree,” but it does encourage critical thinking that many jobs prize. However, in an increasingly STEM-driven economy, employers are often reluctant to hire liberal arts graduates due to their lack of transferable skills, which leads to a competitive disadvantage compared to those with more targeted degrees.
Gender Studies
A degree in gender studies usually leads to a niche pool of limited jobs in academia or advocacy. The degree can also lead to interesting opportunities in governmental or nonprofit organizations, but it’s best paired with a business or law degree to maximize employment opportunities.
Anthropology
Anthropology is an interesting degree with a wide range of components, including biology, culture, and language, but it suffers from a low number of entry-level positions. HeyTutor lists anthropology as the major with the third-highest unemployment rate of 6.6% and notes that it has an underemployment rate of 59.1%.
Foreign Language
Learning a new language is a great way of exposing yourself to different cultures and becoming more attractive to employers. However, studying it as a degree can be limiting, as it’s known for its high graduate unemployment, so it may be best to learn a language as a hobby.
Art History
Art history is a niche degree that isn’t widely applicable to graduate jobs and is sought after by a limited number of curatorial and academic roles. Curatorial jobs in galleries and museums are highly competitive, which can lead graduates to take on jobs that are unrelated to art history to pay off their debt.
Travel and Tourism
Bachelor’s degrees in travel and tourism are often an exciting opportunity to learn about different countries and their tourism industries, but they’re generally not worth the debt. It may lead to employment opportunities in the tourism sector, but most will have a fairly low wage.
Medieval Studies
Studying about the medieval period can be fascinating, but it’s a highly specialized area that will have very limited demand outside of academia. If you’re interested in the Middle Ages, it’s a better idea to study history, a more recognized degree with transferable skills.
Archaeology
Archaeology can lead to fascinating work that’s incredibly rewarding, but a career in it often requires a master’s or PhD degree. ThoughtCo argues that “archaeology can be a great career, but it doesn’t pay very well, and there are distinct hardships to the life.”
Dance
Dancers have physically demanding careers that are often cut short by injuries, and the industry is known for its competitiveness and low job availability. Pursuing it as a hobby on the side of a degree with longer-term career options may be a better way to pay off your student loan.
Photography
Photography is a vocation, and often, photographer jobs don’t ask for a bachelor’s degree in the subject. Shorter, cheaper courses are a better alternative if you want to learn the ins and outs of photography without racking up massive debt.
Child and Family Studies
Child and family studies is a fairly niche degree subject, with limited employment opportunities outside of academia that focus on family dynamics, social work, and school psychologists. If you’re interested in child development and families, it might be better to study psychology.
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