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Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson - Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees business coverage for the website.
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He is a visiting research fellow at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget at the New America Foundation. Derek has also written for Slate, BusinessWeek, and the Daily Beast. He has appeared as a guest on radio and television networks, including NPR, the BBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.

Which Majors Lead to Jobs That Require a College Degree?

By Derek Thompson
May 21 2011, 10:52 AM ET Comment

Catherine Rampell charts the majors most likely to land you a job that requires a college degree.

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1) Can't get over the depressing humanities bar. A majority of Philosophy and English majors under 25 are in jobs that don't require the degree the typical student incurred $20,000 in debt to obtain. That's pretty astounding. On the other hand...

2) ... just because a 25-year old is unemployed or waiting tables doesn't invalidate her college investment. Time spent out of the workforce dulls skills, but education isn't like other investments like, say, a car that loses half its value when you drive it off the lot. It's an appreciating asset, a ladder to a first college-requisite job, which becomes the basis of lifelong career.

Read the full story in the New York Times.


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