.Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You Think By Zac Bissonnette This article first appeared in "The Choice," a New York Times blog, on November 3, 2010. Here's an excerpt from a letter that an indignant father sent to his son after hearing that he had opted for an impractical major: I am appalled, even horrified, that you have adopted Classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on my way home today. … I am a practical man, and for the life of me I cannot possibly understand why you should wish to speak Greek. With whom will you communicate in Greek? … I suppose you will feel that you are distinguishing yourself from the herd by becoming a Classical snob. … I think you are rapidly becoming a jackass, and the sooner you get out of that filthy atmosphere, the better it will suit me. The reaction of Ted Turner's father, who wrote that letter(1) to his son, years before he founded CNN, is pretty typical. Many students encounter tremendous pressure from their parents to adopt "practical" majors, and I've talked to a handful of students whose parents flatly refused to provide for their educational expenses unless they majored in something career-oriented. With less than half of recent college graduates(2) landing jobs that require a college degree, this concern is understandable. But it's misguided. In recent years, research into the importance of choice of major has led to a surprising conclusion: it's really not all that important. To wit: A University of Texas at Austin professor, Daniel Hamermesh, researched career earnings data sorted by choice of major and concluded that: Perceptions of the variations in economic success among graduates in different majors are exaggerated. Our results imply that given a student's ability, achievement and effort, his or her earnings do not vary all that greatly with the choice of undergraduate major. A study conducted by PayScale Inc.(3) found that history majors who pursued careers in business ended up earning, on average, just as much as business majors. Ramit Sethi, a blogger and the author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" is also a fan of "impractical majors." He studied in the Sciences, Technology, and Society(4) Program at Stanford. "I never thought of my university education as technical training. If it was, why wouldn't I just go to ITT Tech?" he said in an e-mail, adding: Where else will you get four years to intellectually challenge yourself and learn subjects in university-level depth? In fact, pair a 'weird' major with summer internships and interesting projects and you've got a leg up on the typical 3.5-G.P.A., by-the-book student. I majored in an obscure major — S.T.S. — and I use my background in social influence, persuasion and behavioral change every day of running my own company. To be sure: if a student wants to be an engineer or an accountant, those are fine majors. But don't think that you are doomed to a life of poverty if you pick the wrong major.