Four Foolish Majors To Avoid

If going back to school is on your horizon, great. Just be aware that not every degree can put you on the path to a career you desire.

By Terence Loose

Are you thinking of going back to school, but want to make sure the degree you earn is one that can help breathe life into your career, rather than kill it?

That's smart thinking. College is a big investment of time and money, so it's important to choose a major that will give you a good shot at a return on that investment.

But how do you know if your major is a good choice or a bad move?

"Right now, in this economy, getting a degree that gives you skills that employers want is vital because there are too many people out of work, so the competition for jobs is fierce," says Susan Heathfield, a career expert and writer of About.com's Guide to Human Resources.

We should also be clear that we're speaking to you adult learners - moms, dads, and professionals with family and work obligations. For you, going back to school is probably about getting a promotion or finding a new, exciting career that pays the mortgage or rent.

So to help you think twice about the degree you may want to pursue, we studied up on a few majors that might be career poison. We also pulled the unemployment rates associated with those degree holders from a 2012 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce called "Hard Times: Not all College Degrees Are Created Equal."

But don't worry; it's not all doom and gloom. We also got the skinny on good alternative choices. Keep reading to learn more about what we uncovered.

Opportunity Killer #1: Liberal Arts
Unemployment Rate for Recent College Graduates: 9.2 percent*

Don't get us wrong, we love the liberal arts. Studying a broad palette of subjects including everything from literature to philosophy, to history and even sociology sounds like a dream. Unfortunately, employers live - and hire - in reality, and may not see a liberal arts degree in the same divine light as the ancient Greeks did.

"I don't think the majority of [liberal arts grads] are going to be employable because they don't come out of those degrees with any marketable skills," says Heathfield. "But even worse than that, they spend the money to go four years to college and then get a job that pays $30,000 a year with no upward prospects."