Is a degree from the science or engineering departments worth it?

Richard Vedder writes persuasively about what he calls the STEM Scam, using an acronym common in Washington funding circles for the Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In other words, the departments that rely on equations and logical abstractions.

He says that there’s myth floating around that there’s a real demand for STEM degrees, a myth that I often parrot. The college industrial complex is often smart enough to concede that English degrees are pretty much worthless, but they like to talk about how universities build technical prowess and suggest that it will drive our economies into the future. So get a STEM degree.

Vedder points out that the numbers don’t support the idea, if only because there will only be a modest growth in narrow fields. The world will need more biotech engineers, but only a few thousand of them. There won’t be any more demand for physicists, mathematicians, etc.

This lines up with my personal experiences. Most of my friends who majored in physics or mathematics are now writing computers software. Most of the STEM PhDs hit a brick wall when they’re around 30-35. There’s plenty of money for grad students and post-doctoral, but then the jobs disappear. The pyramid is very steep and the university systems are designed to milk the young to support the tenured few.

Many people in industry report similar problems. Competition from overseas is brutal and many report being replaced by either H1-B or foreign firms. As I point out again and again in my book, the abstract symbol manipulation jobs nurtured by the college industrial complex are the easiest to ship overseas.

This is disturbing news for young people who are trying to guess where to place their bets. Lawyering is oversubscribed. The humanities never paid off for all but a few. If the STEM career path disappears, the only majors worth anything will be in College Administration.

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2 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

STEM PhDs at 30-35 either need to be hired as lab directors, for which there are limited jobs, or they need to be raising their own capital and starting multi-million dollar companies. Most don’t have the business sense or personal skills to do something like that, which is putting it gently… (remember- they’re nerds).

1. BB on March 1st, 2010 at 5:43 pm
So clearly they’re not getting the right kind of education to help them succeed at the path you suggest– a path that you, I, and the other taxpayers are buying. Whooo hoo.

2. admin on March 1st, 2010 at 6:48 pm