College Majors...best..easiest..lucrative?

[Firedragon52]

I must add that most out sourcing is in the form of call centres. Theres a very nice chance that when you in the US call up a helpline for almost any product, your calls are diverted to India and someone is answering you with a fake name and a fake accent. Its an enormous industry nowadays, flourishing only because the pay scales here are extremely favourable to the employers. Also the telephone costs are not all that great even though the distances involved are enormous (Thats mainly because these people go on and hire sattelites for the purpose or rent some major communication backbone)

Thats.... ...weird. When you say "fake name and a fake accent" do you mean that they pretend to be American or English?

[pulkit]

Yes.

New recruits to call centres are taught how to speak in an American accent.

 

They pretend to be American, because that seems to be more acceptable to customers.

[bloodhound]

definitely go for mathematics. Wider range of career options. Most of them in the rich sector of the market. Thats what i am doing now anway. HAHAHAHAHAHAH. SUCKERS

[bloodhound]

to be honest. I prefer "The economist" to newsweek or time.

[pulkit]

As far as money is concerned I would think Comp Science is still up there. Thats one of the reasons why I am doing comp science.

[Treadstone]

Math is the best degree you can get imo...though i might be biased ....but with a BS is math or a masters, if you go on that far, you can work practiculy anyway, particularly if you get a stats concentration.

 

Nathan

[bloodhound]

why does everyone concentrate on stats. I might do some them. but i hate it. but whey. if it gets me rich.

[Severian]

Make sure you get plenty of English. What you know is handicapped if you can't communicate it properly.

 

This seems especially ironic coming from someone with Arnie as his avatar.

 

(But then again, who am i to talk -- I have a cow! mooo!)

[Severian]

Yes.

New recruits to call centres are taught how to speak in an American accent.

 

They pretend to be American' date=' because that seems to be more acceptable to customers.[/quote']

 

The UK outsourced call centres make no attempt to speak with English accents (presumably because Indian accents are so common here). In fact, some of them seem to make no attempt to speak English - at least I can often not figure out what they are saying. And those whom I can understand are often (not always) very rude.

[palebluehuh]

If you're looking for a (pretty much) guaranteed job after college, do something medical. I'm not talking about going to med school and becoming a doctor, since that's insanely difficult, not to mention insanely expensive. I'm talking about an allied health profession, like a lab technician (four years, normally) or physician's assistant (though that takes two years in PA school after your three or four in undergraduate studies).

 

Most medical careers are wide open, like crazy, and the pay's not bad. PA's make about $50,000 a year and the job's rather nice (you have quite a bit of responsibility, even though you are operating under the intermittent supervision of a physician). Lab technicians can make anywhere between $25,000 and $40,000, depending on what you're doing and how long you've been doing it. Nothing like the $100,000 plus of a doctor, but then again, you're not going to be up to your eyebrows in student loans.

 

You said you're poor (hey, just like me); there's quite a bit of financial aid available to those entering medical careers. Pay a quick visit to http://www.fastweb.com and check out what sort of scholarships are available. I'd recommend getting as many scholarships as you can, since even though the government is rather magnanimous to the poor in regards to the aid it gives, it often isn't quite enough. Check out the universities you plan to go to as well; they often have their own aid. And apply now, if you can. The earlier, the better.

 

Look for scholarships. I mean it. I'm attending a fairly inexpensive public university (the University of South Florida), and I'm doing it without paying anything out of mine or my parents' pockets. But I had to fight like a mad dog to get this, and in the end, it was pure luck that I had all this aid. I have two full tuition scholarships, a $2,000 scholarship from my university, a boatload of grants from the government and no loans whatsoever (they calculated the amount of loans I would need as $55 per semester, so I laughed and politely declined).

 

Here, since I've been through the whole get-in-to-college-bit, just email me, and I'll tell you anything you would need to know. You have time to get prepared, since I started my college stuff about the same time you did, but it's going to be insanely hectic at points.

 

Best of luck to you, at any rate .

[Dave]

As far as money is concerned I would think Comp Science is still up there. Thats one of the reasons why I am doing comp science.

 

Only if it's from a good uni - there's a hell of a lot of computer science graduates these days.

[bloodhound]

exactly. thats why i did maths. cos apparently there is a real shortage of qualifies mathematicians in britian. not only yhat. the range of careers was so braodl

[Dave]

Yeah, same reasons here. I was going to do CompSci, and I'm glad I didn't now because of all the tedious hours you have to spend sitting in front of a computer coding some program in a crappy language like ML. I'd rather code under my own terms in my own time.

[Firedragon52]

If you're looking for a (pretty much) guaranteed job after college' date=' do something medical. I'm not talking about going to med school and becoming a doctor, since that's insanely difficult, not to mention insanely expensive. I'm talking about an allied health profession, like a lab technician (four years, normally) or physician's assistant (though that takes two years in PA school after your three or four in undergraduate studies).

 

Most medical careers are wide open, like crazy, and the pay's not bad. PA's make about $50,000 a year and the job's rather nice (you have quite a bit of responsibility, even though you are operating under the intermittent supervision of a physician). Lab technicians can make anywhere between $25,000 and $40,000, depending on what you're doing and how long you've been doing it. Nothing like the $100,000 plus of a doctor, but then again, you're not going to be up to your eyebrows in student loans.[/quote']This is very true. I know, here in Pennsylvania, the state actually pays for you to go to school (to become a nurse) in a 1 year program and after you complete it you are guranteed a job. Sweet deal!

[pulkit]

You people make computer science look more dull and tedious than it is.

When I joined my university, after the entrance test, I had a choice of any stream in any 1 of the 7 colleges. Why did I take computer science ?

a) Its what most people in my position would take.

b) It is highly lucrative.

c) It is the most sought after course.

d) It is extremely interesting, with applications in nearly every field now.

 

I do agree that you have to be from a good university (which I am lucky to be in - the best in the country), but once you satisfy that good university criterion, isn't a cs graduate expected to earn more than a maths graduate ?

[Firedragon52]

You people make computer science look more dull and tedious than it is.

When I joined my university' date=' after the entrance test, I had a choice of any stream in any 1 of the 7 colleges. Why did I take computer science ?

a) Its what most people in my position would take.

b) It is highly lucrative.

c) It is the most sought after course.

d) It is extremely interesting, with applications in nearly every field now.

 

I do agree that you have to be from a good university (which I am lucky to be in - the best in the country), but once you satisfy that good university criterion, isn't a cs graduate expected to earn more than a maths graduate ?[/quote']Really, comp science is more lucrative than ANY other science fields in India?

[pulkit]

Hey I don't plan to stay in India.

 

I am realistic I know that in most probability I'll work somewhere abroad. Doing a degree in maths, would not leave many options to you but become a university professor or researcher, wheres the money then ?

[bloodhound]

what do u mean? more than 75% of maths graduates go into the financial sector. thats where all the money is.

[Dapthar]

Yeah, same reasons here. I was going to do CompSci, and I'm glad I didn't now because of all the tedious hours you have to spend sitting in front of a computer coding some program in a crappy language like ML. I'd rather code under my own terms in my own time.

Yup. The CSci classes I have to take for my Engineering degree are interesting in the "broad scope of the subject" viewpoint, but the work is just minutiae and tedium to me.

 

However, I agree with pulkit, when one gets far enough in their studies, it gets to be rather cool, however, I really don't have that much patience, or time. Math and EE is enough for me.

what do u mean? more than 75% of maths graduates go into the financial sector. thats where all the money is.

Yeah, but it's not really that challenging of an area of Mathematics. Also, it's not much fun, and [old cliché]money isn't everything[/old cliché].

 

It's true that there's a ton of Applied Mathematics jobs in the US, however, most of them are with the Government, and frankly, I'm not too fond of their uses of Mathematics, to say the least. I'd rather keep my morals and stay in the more theoretical areas.

[bloodhound]

, I'm not too fond of their uses of Mathematics, to say the least. I'd rather keep my morals and stay in the more theoretical areas.

I am not sure what kind of IMMORAL stuff you can do with mathematics. the only think of i to spy on transmissions and decrypt the message. but with the advent of RSA and other encryptions using one way functions, its impossible.

[haggy]

but with the advent of RSA and other encryptions using one way functions, its impossible.

 

Not impossible, just a whole lot harder.

 

As an aside: If your certificate for your https site isn't verified by someone like Verisign, you'll be susceptible to a meet in the middle attack.

 

Concerning careers: I'm doing Maths, not in it for the money, more for the enjoyment of my career.

[bloodhound]

Not impossible' date=' just a whole lot harder.

 

As an aside: If your certificate for your https site isn't verified by someone like Verisign, you'll be susceptible to a meet in the middle attack.

 

Concerning careers: I'm doing Maths, not in it for the money, more for the enjoyment of my career.[/quote']

 

yes its possible as a thought experiment, but practically impossible with the computational ability we have at hand nowdays

 

When ever i have that SSL thingy. i always make sure its verified. I only just started doing that, once i found out that phising has grown even more sophisiticated.

[r1dermon]

pulkit, what university do you attend?

[pulkit]

I am in IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)

[Dave]

yes its possible as a thought experiment, but practically impossible with the computational ability we have at hand nowdays

 

Well, that's not strictly speaking true anymore. Give a few supercomputers a 512 byte key and they can get that in a few hours due to the massive computational power and some clever trickery when factoring the prime numbers out from the public key. It does get really hard when you get the big keys though.

 

So strictly speaking, RSA isn't a true one-way algorithm. There aren't all that many one-way algorithms about.