6 votes

Studying social sciences

I have business degree and planning to get masters in political science or sociology. I only had electives related to these fields and I enjoyed it greatly. I know people don't like these programs because of low employment opportunities. So is it good idea to purse them despite low prospects of employment? I know enjoy learning about these subjects a lot. What was your experience like? How are your employment situation? What was your favorite part?

5 comments

  1. [2]
    Gaywallet
    Link
    There are a lot of jobs for people with sociology degrees. They don't pay great and are almost always in the public sector, but there is no shortage of these jobs. Pol sci can always get you a job...

    There are a lot of jobs for people with sociology degrees. They don't pay great and are almost always in the public sector, but there is no shortage of these jobs.

    Pol sci can always get you a job working for a campaign or for the government in some fashion. Again, most of these likely won't pay very well until you become important enough to work on national campaigns (and even then only if you're really good). So there's no shortage of jobs.

    The real issue is the pay and work flexibility. You're going to be expected to work long hours and be flexible with when you work. I don't personally like that trade-off but that's just me.

    Have you considered other related fields? Depending on your flavor of sociology you find most interesting, it's possible you could expand out into public health (masters in public health can open up a LOT of good paying jobs). Economists and policy/finance analysts often have sociology or sociology related degrees and they are always in demand and well paid, too.

    3 votes
    1. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      Ehhh. Public policy maybe, but there isn't much in Poli Sci that will help you in the government itself. You're pretty much related to campaign or advocacy work. But that's at an undergrad level....

      Pol sci can always get you a job working for a campaign or for the government in some fashion.

      Ehhh. Public policy maybe, but there isn't much in Poli Sci that will help you in the government itself. You're pretty much related to campaign or advocacy work. But that's at an undergrad level. A masters in social sciences is generally pretty useless. Most of the jobs are going to look for PhD level credentials if you actually want to do anything with it.

      2 votes
  2. [2]
    mat
    Link
    Personally I tend to think the employment risks are often overstated. Only about a quarter of graduates work in the field they're qualified in. Certainly the times I've been on the hiring side we...

    Personally I tend to think the employment risks are often overstated. Only about a quarter of graduates work in the field they're qualified in. Certainly the times I've been on the hiring side we didn't care about what people had a degree in, only that they had a degree and job-relevant experience - that's the thing which proves you're intelligent and adaptable and that's what matters. Some of the best people I've worked with had completely unrelated degrees to their job (including me, I studied philosophy and literature, then became a developer/sysop). My sister's degree is sociology, now she produces and writes TV shows.

    Look at it the other way around, do you really want to spend all that time and money studying something you don't really enjoy?

    2 votes
    1. BunnyBrown
      Link Parent
      Look at it the other way around, do you really want to spend all that time and money studying something you don't really enjoy? Very good point! Thanks. Also I am looking into learning programing...

      Look at it the other way around, do you really want to spend all that time and money studying something you don't really enjoy?

      Very good point! Thanks. Also I am looking into learning programing languages and statistical softwares. I am currently completing freecodecamp but I have not gotten so far. Thinking of finishing it in a year. I think it would be cool to mix political science and IT technologies. I think it is going to be big topic in the future who knows what are the political implications of social media and its influence on elections as such right?

      1 vote
  3. BunnyBrown
    Link
    Thanks for the answer. Regarding pay and work flexibility, I think can manage that. Since I am not planning to have children or buy house so I think I can work with that. I considered economics...

    Thanks for the answer. Regarding pay and work flexibility, I think can manage that. Since I am not planning to have children or buy house so I think I can work with that. I considered economics and currently studying on my own. I like it but to me it seems to abstract especially microeconomics. But so far I do enjoy studying macroeconomics.

    1 vote