 So one day I was in a little bit of a mood, okay? I came home from work and somebody left an angry comment on one of my videos and I got triggered. So barely even planning it out, I made a video called the most useless degrees and this video ended up getting over a million views and caused my channel to blow up. Now I never expected that video to do so well and it was mostly just me taking out my frustration and having a little bit of fun on the side. But it ended up doing pretty well. It was a very controversial video and a lot of people got mad at me and I sort of see why. Instead of people gently tapping the like button, the dislike button was smashed over 9,000 times. Now I admit that I didn't say it in a very nice way but I still stand by everything that I claimed in that video. For most people going $40,000 in debt for a bad degree that isn't going to help you get a job and will likely even hurt your chances of getting a job and being successful is probably not a good idea. And on top of that, there are some degrees where a lot of people think they're good, but in reality they're pretty overrated. And then there are some degrees that are so bad that they're even more useless than Fahrenheit. And when people from other countries hear about how much Americans pay for college degrees, you almost always see a shocked reaction. And the truth is, and I know it sucks, but as mankind has evolved, it's important to specialize in a skill that is in demand and you can get paid money for. Now be honest, many of you are probably just watching this video to see if your major pops up because there are some degrees out there that will get you a job, but the job doesn't pay very well and you still got to pay back those student loans. And these are the types of degrees that you should probably avoid unless you're a minimalist that like reuses toilet paper and you can live on a few thousand dollars a year. And I can't tell you how many comments I've gotten on my videos from people who are in awful situations because of their student loan debt. You know, they're depressed and they're just in a constant state of despair. And I can't stand to see that. It makes me really sad. And it's one of the main motivators for me making videos on this channel to save people from getting into the same situation. No, but seriously, if you enjoy any of these subjects, they're your passion. Don't let me stop you from following it. I would recommend maybe double majoring in this or minoring it, studying it on the side, or maybe just start your own business with some of these subjects because that might be a better option. But anyways, let's get into it. Number 10 on the list is going to be recreational therapy. So with a recreational therapy degree, you can expect to make around $36,000 a year starting out and 49,000 in mid career pay. Now, usually you would be getting this degree in order to become a recreational therapist. And what they do is they coordinate events for people who have injuries or disabilities. These events are usually treatment programs, and you're basically setting them up so that people can hang with the boys. Now, recreational therapists are going to work in a bunch of different settings, including clinics, hospitals and government treatment programs. So one weirdly specific example of this that I thought was kind of funny would be equine therapy, also known as horse therapy. And this is basically where people ride horses and just spend time around horses. And that can be therapeutic in some ways. Now, just to put this into perspective, the average income for someone who graduates with a bachelor's degree is going to be around $61,000. And the average income for somebody who doesn't go to college at all is going to be around $33,000. And then if you look at the median income for all careers and all education levels, it's around $40,000 or so. All right, so you know, I wish these subjects were high paying, but you know, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you the truth. I don't have any control over these things. And you know, it is what it is. All right. So number nine on the list is going to be educational psychology. And you're probably thinking, Shane, education is important. Why did you put this on the list? Why you got to slap me in the face like that, huh? I just give you the facts. I give you the numbers and you can make whatever conclusions you want. And I agree. A lot of the degrees on this list are in subjects that are very important. But here's the thing. If you're going to go $40,000 you really want to make sure that you're going to be able to pay that debt back. That doesn't mean that you can't make a living with one of these subjects. Hey, if it's your passion, you can get creative and figure out a way to make money with it. And this channel is all about turning lemons into lemonade, turning toilets into unicorn. Wait, what? I think you get my point here. Don't get offended if this is something that you're passionate about or your cousin's uncle's aunt that you love very much does this for a living. So educational psychology is all about studying how people learn. They're going to be evaluating different learning methods and the different outcomes from different types of methods and, you know, which method is better and different types of situations. Now this one you make around $34,000 a year starting out and $47,000 in mid-career pay. And in my opinion, it's another very interesting one. I think it's fascinating, you know, studying how the human mind works and how you learn things. It's fascinating how some people can learn things really fast. Like there was one girl I went to university with. She sat right behind me in pharmacy school and she never wrote anything down. She had like a photographic memory and so she'd just look at it a few times. She'd be scrolling through her iPad looking at everything and then she'd ace every single test. I've also been fascinated with how you can learn new things and develop new habits like the book The Power of Habits, a really good one. You know, if you get one of these degrees, you go $40,000 in debt. It's almost going to be like trying to drive a car down the highway when it has its emergency break on. No matter how hard you try, when that emergency breaks on, it's not going to be able to go more than like 10 to 20 miles an hour. And it's also just going to be a really bumpy ride. And I think the subscriber summed it up really well when she said, major in something you'll get a job in, minor in something you love. Number eight on the list is going to be rehabilitation counseling. Okay, so this is another one where it's like, right, you're going to be able to counsel someone on a psychological problem with just a bachelor's degree. Probably not. This degree sounds more sus than when you're in public during a pandemic and someone coughs right next to you and you're just like, um, no. So I did some research on this in order to become a rehabilitation counselor. You generally have to get at least a master's and that's at least a lot of the time you're going to have to get a doctorate. So at the bachelor level, you'll probably have to settle for a lower position like assistant, for instance. But let's say you do become a rehabilitation counselor, which is really cool because you get to help people with disabilities overcome their issues. So one very specific example of this would be, let's say somebody goes blind midway through their life, they would require some specialized training in order to survive on a day to day basis. So obviously it would be much more difficult and they would require training when it comes to cooking, cleaning, paying their bills, grocery shopping and traveling. And unfortunately, many of these same opportunities, if you're interested in them, would be open for people who just simply got a psychology degree. And I wish this degree paid better than it does. Again, I feel like a broken record here saying this, but unfortunately, it doesn't. With this one, you would start off around $38,000 a year and mid career pay would be $46,000 and keep in mind most people are going to go on and get a master's or a doctorate. So this is another example of one of those degrees where the job itself sounds really cool, but the degree is kind of redundant. And one thing you find when you look into the different college degrees is you see that there is a widening gap between the good ones and the bad ones and it's getting worse and worse every year. So for instance, the wages for the bottom 50% of college graduates are much worse now than they were in the year 2000. So the next degree on the list is going to be addiction studies. And this is exactly what it sounds like. But wait a minute. Code red. Did I hear the word studies? That is usually a horrible sign. Now addiction counselors are going to help patients overcome destructive behaviors like gambling, spending too much money, drugs and even behaviors like eating too much food. That's right. Did somebody say something about food? I think I might need a counselor for my addiction to ice cream. Yeah ice cream. Yeah. So this is yet another one where you're going to have to get at least a master's in order to become an addiction counselor. And for that you're going to start off making around $36,000 a year and mid career pay is $44,000. Now a lot of people imagine that this job is going to be 85% patient interaction and 15% paperwork, but in reality it's actually flipped. And there are many jobs out there, especially in healthcare that are like this unfortunately, where you think you're going to be doing one thing, but in reality you're doing probably something that you don't want to do most of the time. So if you're somebody who's passionate about this, you spend a lot of time getting into it and you realize that you're either not able to find a job or the job you're able to find is not going to pay you enough, then I do have some good news for you. The way I like to think about this is I don't think about it as a waste of time. I think about it almost like it was a matchstick. So your passion for this was sort of like a matchstick. And even though it's gone out at this point, it's not going to be that useful anymore. You can use that match in order to light a different candle that can burn for a lot longer. So chances are you got a lot of great experience and you learned a lot of skills that you can end up using in other areas of your life or other professions as well. So there that's my spiel to avoid hate comments. Yes, I know that this is an important career and I appreciate everything that people do. But this is a personal finance channel. So I have to give practical, tasty personal finance advice. Next on the list, number six is going to be outdoor education. And don't get me wrong. I think spending time outdoors is great. In fact, especially after this last year, we just lived through I want to be outdoors as much as possible. We've all been struck inside and luckily for you, you've been able to watch my amazing videos with the highest, most just high quality content available. That's right. My content is like when you mix perfect information with high quality curated meme humor and it creates an explosive result. You're welcome. So with this degree, you would expect to make around $35,000 a year starting out and $44,000 in mid-career pay. Now, of course, you could work for a non-profit, give people tours, something like that. But of course, the highest quality jobs, the ones that everybody are after are going to require advanced degrees. And a lot of the entry level jobs don't need a degree at all. So next on the list, we're going to be talking about child and family studies. And again, there's that word, studies, that is a red flag. Damn, son, where'd you find this? So with this one, you're going to start off making around $34,000 a year and $43,000 in mid-career pay. Usually with this degree, you're going to end up working in education, social services, or maybe some sort of government job. And again, a lot of the time, the best careers are going to require further education. Now, this one is a lot like the next one on the list. So I decided to just put them together and that is going to be early childhood education. Well, this one does sound useful, right? I mean, teaching kids is important and it might be a good idea to go into this. And with this one, you would make around $34,000 a year starting out and $43,000 in mid-career pay. Now, there's a lot of education degrees out there and the rule of thumb when it comes to education is to either do education itself and then maybe double major or minor in something else or just major in something like mathematics. And you can always go back and get the certification and become a math teacher. You don't necessarily have to get an education degree in order to become a teacher. And so keep that in mind, always make sure to do your research. Next one on the list, number three, is going to be a mental health degree. All right, guys. So just for a moment, let's get a little bit serious here. I'm going to tell you a secret. You can't tell anybody this. This is very important. There are some degrees in some subjects that are going to require advanced training, especially when you're studying something that's probably the most complicated thing in the universe, which is the human brain. So this is another one of those degrees where most people don't realize that it's going to require advanced training. You're going to have to get either a master's or a doctorate at least in order to get your foot in the door. Because of that, it's extremely competitive and saturated, especially at the bachelor's level. So if you don't know what you're getting yourself into, you could be in a lot of trouble. We'd like to offer you a job as a psychologist. Really? No, it takes like 10 years of experience. Now, usually if you become a mental health council, you're going to be working with either individuals or groups in order to promote optimal mental health. And with this degree, you could expect to make around $35,000 a year starting out and $42,000 in mid-career pay. And this is one of those jobs where it's very important because you're going to be working with people's physical, mental, and emotional well-being. And so you really need to know what you're doing. And that's why most of the jobs here are going to require a graduate level degree. Number two is going to be a medical assisting degree. And with this degree, you can expect to make around $35,000 a year starting out and $42,000 in mid-career pay. Now, as a medical assistant, you're going to be working alongside a doctor and you're basically just their assistant. So you'd be working in a clinic or a hospital setting. Now, this is one of those degrees where in order to go into the career where most people are looking to go into becoming a medical assistant, you actually don't need to get a bachelor's degree. You can get into it just with a certification. So this is actually the opposite problem of a lot of the other ones. You don't even need a degree in order to go into it. Now, to be fair, this is a profession that's growing extremely fast. And there's going to be a lot of demand in the future for people who have these skills. And if you apply yourself, you can work your way up and become a medical coder or even a clinical manager. It's also a really good prerequisite or first job if you're thinking about maybe becoming a physician's assistant or a nurse down the line. And on top of this, as the profession gets more established, it's possible that having a bachelor's degree might help you in the future. But anyways, number one on the list, the one that you've all been waiting for is going to be metal smithing. A metal smith or a smith is basically a craftsperson who fashions different items using metal. This is actually one of the oldest occupations. I mean, metal smiths have been around for thousands of years. And 100 years ago or 1000 years ago, this might have been one of the most valuable skills that you could possibly know. But unfortunately now, especially when it comes to getting a college degree, it's not nearly as valuable. So with this degree, you can expect to make around $38,300 a year starting out. And in mid career pay, it jumps a whopping $100 to $38,400 a year. And the truth is, this is a career that has been largely replaced by technology. And the few people who still have this skill, you probably aren't going to learn it in college. The best way would be to actually seek somebody out who is really good at it and just be an apprentice or pay them for their time to teach you. But Shane, this is still valuable. You can make fine jewelry, for instance. And that's true. You can become a silversmith or a goldsmith. And that is one of the few professions that still left in the smithing category. But unfortunately, you can get certified for that in around six months to one year. So again, you don't have to go to college. I always like to say any skill can be learned, but not any skill can be taught, especially in a classroom setting. College is perfect for teaching some types of skills. But there's a lot out there that are much better learned in other ways. And this is sort of like a trade career, where the only way you're going to be learning it is if you actually do it on the job training is the way to go. Now, if you consider yourself an artist and you want to become a silversmith or a goldsmith, what I like to say is when it comes to art careers, you sort of have to build the ladder that you end up climbing yourself. There's not going to be a lot of people out there who are hiring artists to do art. So what you need to do is you got to get a little bit creative and you have to figure out how you can make money, how you can monetize your art in a different way. Something like YouTube, starting a blog, et cetera. Now, if you haven't done it already, go ahead, boop that like button, hit the subscribe button, ring the notification bell and comment down below any thoughts, comments, criticisms, et cetera, especially if you're somebody who's familiar with these degrees. And whatever you do, don't leave. Check out my other videos right here. I made them just for you.