Choosing a degree can be stressful, whether you’ve just graduated from high school or are looking for a career change later in life. It feels like your whole future is riding on this one decision, and in some ways, it is. Some degrees offer more promising futures that others, so here are three you should definitely have on your list to consider.
A liberal arts degree
The liberal arts have been ignored a lot in the last twenty years. As individuals all looked to a digitized and automated future, careers in the maths and sciences seemed like the only safe way forward. That’s created a glut of STEM graduates and a famine of graduates who really know how to think.
An online liberal arts associates degree teaches you all about the humanities while also allowing you to choose a specialization in whatever direction most interests you. You can study languages, history, literature, communication, fine arts, social sciences, mathematics; and even more specific courses in things like cross-cultural understanding, ethics, and environmentalism.
What’s great about this degree is that it makes you a well-rounded person who knows how to think, solve problems, and communicate effectively. HR departments everywhere are starting to see that people with these skills are more valuable than those who know how to do very specific things but can’t bring that rich perspective of liberal arts context to the table.
Industrial design
The world is constantly changing, and there’s always a drive on to make everything, from the doors you open to the roads you drive on, more useful, efficient, and beautiful. It takes a special person to marry these three goals perfectly, and that person is typically specialized in industrial design.
An industrial design degree teaches theoretical concepts and then shows you, step-by-step, how to apply those concepts to practical designs. You learn about the history of design and how humans have progressed over the ages. You also learn drawing, prototype design, and visualization techniques, then apply all this in design studios, projects, and labs.
Industrial designers are popular hires because they have context, practice, and problem-solving under their belt. Industrial designers bring a wider perspective to a problem. As an industrial designer, you could work in drafting, fashion design, desktop publishing, manufacturing, or many other areas that might interest you.
A business administration degree
A quick glance through the internet will show you how dissatisfied people are with their bosses. From micromanagers who don’t know when to let go to bosses who think being the boss means they’re supposed to be better at each job than anyone else, a leader can make or break a company.
With a business administration degree, you’ll learn the basic knowledge you need to run a company, like financial administration, human resources, project management, logistics, and even the behavioral sciences. You’ll learn best practices that apply to business and how to get the data you need to analyze and solve problems. Along the way, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to create plans and see them through until you become an expert.
This degree will teach you how to be a leader. A great business leader isn’t better at every job than everyone else. Instead, they know how to find, manage, and motivate the people who are. This degree is all about problem-solving, planning effectively, choosing the right people, keeping them motivated, and combining all these skills to push a company forward.
These are just three degrees that can lead to a promising career and a bright future; and they all have one big thing in common. Each is premised on the idea that critical thinking skills are the best skills of all.