Most and Least Useful College Major During a Zombie Outbreak?

[RogueAI]

Just as the title says. Lets say you are a College Freshmen who, for what ever reason, believes the dead will arise in eight years (Level IV Outbreak, DOTD 04 Style). What major would choose to help you survive? What major do you think would least benefit your survival? (Ignoring Military Science/ROTC)

For an example;
I think Mechanical Engineers have the best chance for survival. They can preform maintenance and improve for the situation pretty much any piece of survival gear from a automobile to guns and even buildings. Given time or resources they could easily design and build ingenious escape routes that ensure their safety should their hideout be compromised. I think a smart Mechanical Engineer could outlive an equally intelligent Army Special Operations soldier (Ranger or SF) because of this.

I think the least useful major in a WWZ situation is Computer Science, my own major. The skills you learn won't help you in the least without electricity, and countless hours programming will leave you less physically fit then normal. The only saving grace of a CS degree is that if it were gained through an Engineering department you'd have atleast Calc III, Chemistry II, Biology I, and two-three years of Physics.

[rharmelink]

I disagree that a Computer Science major would be the least useful. Two strong attributes of a CS degree would be problem-solving abilities and logical thinking. But I'll grant you wouldn't be doing a lot of actual programming though.

Some physical education majors might not be too bad, especially if they've had training in martial arts, archery, fencing (with a machete?), or whatever. You'll definitely want some brawn.

I would think something along the lines of liberal arts with be the least helpful -- English, poetry, or philosophy-type majors?

A history major might be helpful, especially if they know something about Medieval warfare or the like. For example, they might know how to make some type of light armor or even quality edged, ranged, or poled weapons. 'Cuz ammo will eventually run out...

[jim96sc2]

Most usefull:
Health care
Engineering
Agricultural


Least usefull:
Liberal arts
Any specific academic-only field (English, history, etc)
Ethnic Studies.

[bandits1]

Most useful: Medicine

Least useful: Accounting

[Lian]

Useful one's I think would include....oh...Engineering both Civil and Mechanical.

Chemistry, Physics....you know sciencey things.

Communications I imagine could have some useful applications.

Anything Medical aside from crap things like billing and coding.

Veterinary medicine especially that centered around livestock and large animals.

Culinary Degrees believe it or not. People always got to eat, and hell after a long day of struggling to survive do you want to come back to camp to a pot of gruel or whatever the Chef could piece together, given what he's got, a satisfying meal is therapeutic as well as essential. Many culinary degrees cover basic nutrition as well.

Foreign languages...most of them might be limited in use, and could easily be lived without. Few could argue though that in America especially Spanish could be useful, but who knows when being able to speak Russian or some obscure language might help out in rescue, you never know.

Automotive tech, airline mechanic things of that nature have uses.

Agricultural Degrees.

Constuction degrees.

A psychology degree in the right hands has merit.

I disagree that a Computer Sciences Degree is useless though. Once we begin reestablishing communities and such I'd think it'd be damn handy to have someone to help me set up an electronic surveillance perimeter, a computer network between watch posts. Granted that's a little different than what your talking about but you got to have some kind of Software to run the hardware, and besides...someone has to finish Duke Nukem whenever.

Least useful majors...well Accounting does come to mind as a whole the world is gonna be reverting back to basic trade and bartering. Currency in general might take a back seat for quite some time, I do for see it making a come back eventually but initially a can of corn is gonna be worth more than that gold toilet you jacked from some rich guys house.

History popped up...and while I agree knowing who the 9th president was won't get you out of a jam with zombies involved I don't think the lesson's history has taught us should be swept under a rug either.

English is gonna by far be the least useful degree I can think of. What use is a language that takes a lifetime to master? I'm of the opinion that the language is better off dead and we all start speaking something that's more logical.

Law and Legal degrees are gonna have a lot less merit. At best the law is gonna be little better than survival of the fittest as I see it. Established communities might set down some set laws but it's not going to be anywhere as well enforced or complicated as modern law.

Any kind of Theological degree is a waste of brain cells.

Business degree's do have some redeeming qualities but are gonna lose face.

Journalism is garbage.

Art degree's are stupid...unless you can paint the bottom of your tree house to look like a tree to the point no one could tell, your up there or something.

Philosophy degree's are junk.

[DBCooper]

A college major all by its self will be useless. . . . .

[RogueAI]

Originally Posted by Lian

...
I disagree that a Computer Sciences Degree is useless though. Once we begin reestablishing communities and such I'd think it'd be damn handy to have someone to help me set up an electronic surveillance perimeter, a computer network between watch posts. Granted that's a little different than what your talking about but you got to have some kind of Software to run the hardware, and besides...someone has to finish Duke Nukem whenever.
...
Art degree's are stupid...unless you can paint the bottom of your tree house to look like a tree to the point no one could tell, your up there or something.

Philosophy degree's are junk.

That would be more an Electrical Engineer's field, though a half-intelligent Mechanical Engineer or CS guy could do it as well. I am changing my vote on least useful to accountant.

Art degrees are not stupid, though I don't understand artsy people. They teach you to be creative. I am sure many people with such degrees would be useless, however, a few people probably have enough creativity to think up escape routes an engineer couldn't imagine. Likewise, Philosophy degrees probably would help you find abnormal ways around problems.

(I misspelled two words. Both times my spell check suggested 'masturbate'. Typing this, I accidentally typed 'masterbate' and 'masturbate' was not on the suggested list. What is my spell check thinking?)

[mattifikation]

Most Useful: Political Science. Everything else teaches you how to do something. Political Science teaches you how to manipulate other people into doing it for you.

Least Useful: Clown College. 'Nuff said.

[bandits1]

Originally Posted by RogueAI

...Art degrees are not stupid, though I don't understand artsy people. They teach you to be creative. I am sure many people with such degrees would be useless, however, a few people probably have enough creativity to think up escape routes an engineer couldn't imagine. Likewise, Philosophy degrees probably would help you find abnormal ways around problems.

College art curriculums teach you to fully utilize whatever creativity you had coming in, but they can't teach someone who's uncreative to be creative. Believe it or not, there are a lot of fine/graphic/commercial art majors with no creativity whatsoever.

Perhaps a truly talented artist can come up with some effective anti-zombie camoflage.

[mattifikation]

Five years into a zombie outbreak, when nobody's watched a new movie, heard a new song, or seen a new painting in half a decade, I think the demand for people with the various art and english majors might suddenly rise.

While you couldn't use something like that to fight zombies, you could eventually use well developed artistic talents as a commodity to purchase the goods and services of other survivors.

I know that after going a year or two without any new entertainment, I'd probably be more than willing to give up a can of vegetables for a new book. I'd be happy to let a good musician stay in my house/base/whatever for a few weeks. Better than all of that, if somebody came along who could draw me a portrait of one of my loved ones based on a description of them, I'm sure I'd be willing to part with everything I had that I didn't really need. See where I'm going with this?

You can only be bored for so long before you go completely mad. Being capable of entertaining people would be a more valuable skill than you might think.

Although, I still say clown college would be useless because clowns are lame.

[UseYourHeadCutOffTheirs]

I totally agree with mattifikation.


In the end every major is going to be just as useful to the remaining population as it was before the outbreak. I agree an Accountant may not be able to use his knowledge to kill zeds but eventually we can use him.


Also, just because a persons major is something we would consider "useless" doesn't mean the person doesn't have a useful hobby. That art major may also have a personal passion for ancient Asian fighting technics or something. Maybe his father was a doctor and mother a nurse, I'm sure he would have picked up on some of that knowledge

[Victor Clark]

I think the most useful college course would be the one I'm planning to take: broadcast journalism. I disagree that journalism would be "garbage" when in a zombie apocalipse happens, mostly because if you happened to find out about where the best safe spots are, or how to truly destroy a zombie (which is helpful for those who have little zombie knowledge), then the journalism skills you have aquired would help to gather all the info to spread to others. And if that was combined with broadcast, then you could know how to use the radio frequencies properly, and be able to get your findings to all who are listening to the radio and save thousands (or possibly millions) of lives in your area. Garbage? I think not!


I think that the least useful course would be Shakesperian Literature. I know that William Shakespeare is by far the greatest literary genious of all time, but the only use that "King Leir" would have against zombies would be if it was used as a bludgeon.

[Eknytz]

If you know a zombie outbreak is coming why would you even bother with college.
The money you pay for tuition could be better spent on firearms and supplies if you knew an outbreak is coming.
In addition if you had 8 years I think it would make more since to join the Army and work your way up the ranks so you can secure your safety.

[Lian]

Originally Posted by mattifikation

Five years into a zombie outbreak, when nobody's watched a new movie, heard a new song, or seen a new painting in half a decade, I think the demand for people with the various art and english majors might suddenly rise.

While you couldn't use something like that to fight zombies, you could eventually use well developed artistic talents as a commodity to purchase the goods and services of other survivors.

I know that after going a year or two without any new entertainment, I'd probably be more than willing to give up a can of vegetables for a new book. I'd be happy to let a good musician stay in my house/base/whatever for a few weeks. Better than all of that, if somebody came along who could draw me a portrait of one of my loved ones based on a description of them, I'm sure I'd be willing to part with everything I had that I didn't really need. See where I'm going with this?

You can only be bored for so long before you go completely mad. Being capable of entertaining people would be a more valuable skill than you might think.

Although, I still say clown college would be useless because clowns are lame.

You got a point that after time these things may come back and be more sought after. I won't argue that. I'm just saying in terms to helping with overall survival some things are more useful than others.

Hell after 5 years if someone came up to me and said they'd finish Duke Nukem Forever for me I'd so get them food and a place to sleep while the worked on it...to a point anyway...If he made me wait too long I might just give him a fishing pole and set him by the river to work.

[RogueAI]

Originally Posted by Eknytz

If you know a zombie outbreak is coming why would you even bother with college.
The money you pay for tuition could be better spent on firearms and supplies if you knew an outbreak is coming.
In addition if you had 8 years I think it would make more since to join the Army and work your way up the ranks so you can secure your safety.

No College = Enlisted. To go from Enlisted to Officer you have to go through college first. Without College you'd start as an E3 or below. If you want to advance the ranks fast, you'd need to choose a combat arms MOS. As an Enlisted, after eight years, you'd be an NCO... you'd still be on the front lines. If you want to avoid combat, you'd choose choose a soft skills MOS. You'd probably advance rank slower, but you wouldn't see combat unless the situation were really bad (i.e., grunts dieing in medical next to your barracks). Either way, depending on where you are deployed, you'll be left in a pretty vulnerable spot if an outbreak occurs. The military just doesn't take Zombies into account.

As for tuition money, a half or full scholarship isn't as hard to get as everybody says. Even without that, after two years as an Engineer, you could pay for your college if you lived at home; four if you didn't. How much could you buy that would help with zombies? I think the college education would be better then an extra firearm. Hell, you could dump it all on student loans since the world is going to end any way and have the best of both worlds.

Finally, you could take the first two years of ROTC. It doesn't require a commitment to the military. You could either take it as Military Science courses, or take the summer-long ROTC training program. Neither require a contract. Both teach you to shoot and basic survival skills.

If you still think the life in the Army is safer then life as a college graduate then ROTC with a scholarship is for you. If you have half-decent grades, the army along with other scholarship programs will pay your way entirely. You'll start out as an O1, a higher rank then you could make as an Enlisted Soldier. However, your MOS would not be chosen for you. About 80% of ROTC students get one of their top three MOS choices, however. You would probably be less likely to die by zombies then an Enlisted either way though.