History Main / ADegreeInUseless

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'': Subaru has studied a wide range of very minor things which are not really useful in [[TrappedInAnotherWorld his new life]], such as doing a cat's cradle, making bamboo dragonflies, musical accompaniment (and singing), sculptures, bed-making, ironing, sewing, cooking, sign language, tongue-twisters, [[SmartPeoplePlayChess othello (reversi)]], [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]], and so on. He also [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat reveals]] knowledge of astronomy that turns out to be useful to interpret important characters' {{Stellar Name}}s.

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'': Subaru has studied a wide range of very minor things which are not really useful in [[TrappedInAnotherWorld his new life]], such as doing a cat's cradle, making bamboo dragonflies, musical accompaniment (and singing), sculptures, bed-making, ironing, sewing, cooking, sign language, tongue-twisters, [[SmartPeoplePlayChess othello (reversi)]], [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]], and so on. He also [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat reveals]] knowledge of astronomy that turns out to be useful to interpret important characters' {{Stellar Name}}s.

->''"It is said that a student at Plato's Academy once asked in frustration 'but how is any of this useful?' Plato expelled the student, but first gave him a copper coin so he could say he gained something from his education."''

* Friendly reminder to STEM majors: be nice to Liberal Arts majors. After all, [[NiceToTheWaiter they'll be serving your food]].

* ''Akane-Banashi'' plays this for drama. The main character's father, pre-story, was a student of a Rakugo school for nineteen years and made meager money performing in the interim. He was expelled from the school along with every other person taking their last exam, and as a result he left rakugo altogether and went into a cement company. Nearly everybody in his life applauds him for it, celebrating that he has a stable career and mocking him for ever seriously pursuing rakugo--everybody except for Akane, who ''knows'' her father is dead inside from having his dream crushed instantly and genuinely loved seeing her father perform. At the very least, it's implied the acting and communication skills he built up over his schooling were applied at his job.

[[caption-width-right:312:[[MajorGeneralSong ♫ I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable, but but me down as "undecided"-Every Major's Terrible. ♫]]]]

[[folder:Tabletop]]
* In ''BoardGame/PrimordialSoup'' (a.k.a. Ursuppe), one of the mutations your character can take is a PhD. Of course, since all characters are ''amoeba'', the mutation card spells out that the PhD is rather useless. It's a cheap way to score some points though.

Another thing is, even for degrees which seem more useful at the beginning of this century (technical degrees), you frequently '''need''' other subjects as well. You like Informatics, for example? That can be paired with Linguistics (translator engines), Psychology (user interface design, advertisements), Biology (medical devices), Arts (colour theory, computer graphics), Humanities (digital humanities), English (technical writing), Law (patent law), Philosophy (information ethics)... and a host of others, as long as you're willing to look for examples. The point is, you'll find almost every study subject is intertwined with others the more complex it gets.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'', being set in a struggling community college, has more than a few jokes about this kind of degree: Britta at one point asks "How many schools would let you get a degree in Theoretical Phys-Ed?" A RunningGag is that the school's only alums with money to donate are graduates of the HVAC[[note]]Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning[[/note]] program.

* Nodded at in ''Series/LastManStanding'', Vanessa has a Doctorate in geology from [[{{InsistentTerminology}} The Ohio State University]] and admits that her career choices are either energy companies or teaching.

* On ''Series/RedDwarf'', one of the many, many things holding [[{{BrilliantButLazy}} David Lister]] back in his career prospects is the fact he only went to Art College, which he complains about all the time.

* This is one of [[{{Meganekko}} Beatrice Trudeau]]'s greatest fears in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'':

* ''Akane-Banashi'' plays this for drama. The main character's father, pre-story, was a student of a Rakugo school for nineteen years and made meager money performing in the interim. He was expelled from the school among every other person taking their last exam, and as a result he left rakugo altogether and went into a cement company. Nearly everybody in his life applauds him for it, celebrating that he has a stable career and mocking him for ever seriously pursuing rakugo--everybody except for Akane, who ''knows'' her father is dead inside from having his dream crushed instantly and genuinely loved seeing her father perform. At the very least, it's implied the acting and communication skills he built up over his schooling were applied at his job.

* Nodded at in ''Series/LastManStanding'', Vanessa has a Masters in geology and admits that her career choices are either energy companies or teaching.

* Subverted in ''Film/LegallyBlonde'', where Elle's Major in Fashion Merchandising is said by other characters to be likely to prevent her from getting into Harvard Law. However, the fact that she has a 4.0 and scores incredibly high on the LSAT helps her get in. Additionally in an early scene, her knowledge of fashion prevents her from getting scammed by a clothing store worker.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' episode "You Doo" features a guy who majored in French philosophy. This guy happens to be the elementary school's janitor. (He also apparently put a lot of his money into Internet stocks, but that's neither here nor there.)

* ''Akane-Banashi'' plays this for drama. The main character's father, pre-story, was a student of a Rakugo school for nineteen years and made meager money performing in the interim. He was expelled from the school among every other person taking their last exam, and as a result he left rakugo altogether and went into a cement company. Nearly everybody in his life applauds him for it, celebrating that he has a stable career and mocking him for ever seriously pursuing rakugo--everybody except for Akane, who ''knows'' her father is dead inside from having his dream crushed instantly and genuinely loved seeing her father perform.

** An earlier strip had a convenience store that stocked Liberal Art Degrees next to Particularly Low Quality Brand of Toilet Paper. They got a lot of complaints. From the toilet paper vendors.

Wow, you took ''that'' degree? Ha! [[FutureLoser Well, first your peers will laugh at you for partying instead of studying for a real degree, then you will find it is completely worthless and work at]] BurgerFool for the rest of your life -- [[EvenBeggarsWontChooseIt assuming the Burger Fool will hire you, that is]]. Or [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]] rather than [[FateWorseThanDeath that]]. Of course, if you are lucky you can become a MadScientist's experiment or something and at least make a ''name'' for yourself there.

Of course, people go to college/university for far more reasons than getting a bigger paycheck at the end of it; in terms of personal fulfilment, a person may gain much from their liberal arts degree. From another angle, many students seeking advanced degrees often accumulate classes that will help them get into a good graduate program but not help them in the job market at that point in time. There are a lot of different majors that are subject to such ridicule, being hopelessly specific or too generic to offer you any advancement. See [[Analysis/ADegreeInUseless Analysis]] tab for more.

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[[quoteright:312:[[Webcomic/{{XKCD}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xkcd_major_in_history.png]]]]

[[folder:Magazines and Newspapers]]

[[quoteright:257:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lib_arts_7679.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:257:[[Theatre/AvenueQ Four years of college and plenty of knowledge have earned me this useless degree.]]]]

* The Pixar film ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' has this for the clown that gave Riley her fear of them. In the credits we hear his emotions talking about how he spent six years in acting school to be a birthday clown.
* Art from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' is a New Age philosophy major.

Another thing is, even for degrees which seem more useful at the beginning of this century (technical degrees), you frequently '''need''' other subjects as well. You like Informatics, for example? That can be paired with Linguistics (translator engines), Psychology (user interface design, advertisements), Biology (medical devices), Arts (colour theory, computer graphics), English (technical writing), Law (patent law), Philosophy (information ethics)... and a host of others, as long as you're willing to look for examples. The point is, you'll find almost every study subject is intertwined with others the more complex it gets.

Another thing is, even for degrees which seem more useful at the beginning of this century (technical degrees), you frequently '''need''' other subjects as well. You like Informatics, for example? That can be paired with Linguistics (translator engines), Psychology (user interface design, advertisements), Biology (medical devices), Arts (colour theory, computer graphics), English (technical writing), Law (patent law)... and a host of others, as long as you're willing to look for examples. The point is, you'll find almost every study subject is intertwined with others the more complex it gets.