Ntu sociology degree
 

Hey guys I was just offered a place to read sociology. I would like to ask would anyone know what are the job prospects for a soci grade. Are they good or bad (i know its kinda subjective but yeah haha). Should i be looking for smth else to major? Thanks for all your help (:

If you want a job related to what you studied it'll be mostly in academia. If you want a social science degree most applicable to industry it'd be economics.

When you said academia you mean like teaching sociology or smth like that?

Yeah I guess, like PhD then lecture in uni etc. I don't think secondary schs etc. have sociology as a subject.

I mean you could do general degree related jobs but I cant really think of a job that specifically requires sociology knowledge. Maybe a journalist would require some of the skills learnt?

Oh ok. I've asked a friend of mine who studied soci in nus and she said that her seniors have gone to industries such as banking and biz. Possible? And if so would the salary range be significantly lower than one who has studied biz in one of the local unis?

Well, if you have a first class in sociology it is possible to get into banking back-office ops role. If you are talking about investment banking, forget about it. A sociology degree is not going to get in.

If you have a 2nd upper in sociology, you are pretty much doomed, nothing you can do except some administrative roles in civil service. Rather than ask me, ask yourself what you think you can do when you are armed with a sociology degree? There are no such demands at all. The most likely degree to get you jobless gotta be sociology and linguistics.

Hmmm what about a job in market research and analysis? Because according to the programme, there is quite abit of analysis work to be learnt and done and since with soci you'd study a lot on society, one could use the knowledge learnt and apply it to analysis and research?

Are you actually a sociology major? It is true that civil service is quite a common career path for sociology majors. I'm a sociology major with 2nd upper with a policy related job in civil service and other friends doing programmes planning. Marketing and also careers with NGOS/non-profit sector is also another common route.

Sociology and other social sciences in general teaches you critical thinking, research skills, and really improves your writing which are applicable to some industries. Sociology is not entirely without its demands especially if you are interested in social issues and you take quantitative statistics modules as well. I still think passion is quite important, it's going to be tough studying four years for a major that will make you miserable.

Yup that was what i was thinking too. I was offered SMU info sys but then i totally dont have have interest in IS though the prospects might be good. When you mean marketing do you actually mean market research or the actual marketing of a product or service? Btw is there anyway i can contact you if you dont mind? Have tons of qns to ask man lol.

What he said was true and hence why I mentioned most sociology majors join civil service. That's why the administrative and policy making part comes about.

Forget about those craps about critical thinking skills. Science and engineering major all say the same things. We all studied in uni and know the truth, it's rubbish.

Having said that, civil service mostly require a 2nd upper. Hence anything lower you are doomed. Except for civil service, any business requires sociology grads. Check out the employment rates and salary on this forum front page yourself.

Those tells you the real situation rather than talks. So many of my sociology friends in the cohort who do not want to join civil service or cannot find a job even after a year.

Oh ok, but lets say if i were to want to work in marketing/sales department, would it be possible? I have a biz ad diploma too and i majored in marketing. With a soci degree would i be able to rise up to managerial roles in the private sector?

MNC & local blue chip not possible but those leftover jobs in SME got chance, but then in SG honestly SME pay sux and they expect long hours. Can join them for 4-5 years and hopefully move on to bigger co. after that.

When you mean move on to a bigger coy, you mean like get experience first then maybe try to get into an mnc?

Not so easy, most mnc dun hire sme staff unless no choice. You will need to jump b/w different local companies and move up the ladder first, once you have 10+ years of exp with senior managerial jobs in SME it will be easier to secure a AM/Manager job in MNC.

To be very frank, a sociology degree is always deemed as a 2nd tier degree where people with not so good results go to.

My brother graduated from nus business with a 2nd upper is still looking for a job. The job market is not that rosy like the nice picture painted. You are not going to be well look upon with you sociology degree. Tell me, what kind of advantage you have over business students who have spent 3 years in a related course?

Don't tell me about creative thinking and stuff, can talk no use. In interview nowadays, show me the evidence and not tell me you can think critically. Furthermore, many of these business students are very competitive and the environment in sociology is imply no good. Doesn't make you hungry and fight for achievements.

It is just my advice to you get out of Sociology if you wanna do business. Sales is done, you eloquent will do. Sell properly insurance etc.

Yea. I totally agree. Now the market is not like last time whereby a general degree can get you a decent job. Good companies are looking for ppl either with experience or those holding relevant degree + good results. I would say NUS biz is not as good as those from NTU and SMU, however, it is definitely better than some technical and all humanities degrees. To describe the job market nowadays, fresh grads with good and relevant degrees are finding it hard to secure a job in private companies. Have few friends from SMU with awesome results still looking around for jobs. I would say many who initially wanted a career in private sector are now looking to apply for positions in the public sector due to desperation.

I do agree with what you said actually, I never regretted being a sociology major even though I know the job prospects are not as rosy outside the civil service because I know that I'm interested in social issues and my passion was never in the private sector/business. That's why I emphasis to only choose a major/sociology that OP is really interested in, and since OP seems more interested in a business related career, it might be better to not pick sociology actually.

Yeah i'm still considering uh. I dont know about you but as much as I have interest in soci, ultimately the remuneration for the job that I am going to take in the future must be pretty good. How good? That I dont know too for now. For the public sector is it true that it is very hard to get a pay increase or the increment is very slow. And if one is a non scholar, there is a certain level that i can rise to and then i would stay stagnant there?

Even if non-scholar the default ceiling is still Deputy Director. Ask yourself how many people who join pte sector can even reach Manager or Director level in their lives?

Hmmm yeah you do have a a pt there. Do you know whats the income level for a dy director?

Say what?? Who said all non-scholar has CEP to DD? There's only one DD in each department (directly below D) of 10-20 staff. Also, may scholars in their early 30s will parachute to be your DD (in ministries, almost all DD/D are AOs). There's also Snr AD, and I've seen some people in their late 40s still holding Snr AD positions.

So your pt being a non scholar might not even make it to be DD until very late in life even with a local degree?

You gotta be practical here, default ceiling at DD means you will get it near retirement, i.e. late 40s or early 50 yrs old for average performer.

Pay is not bad, ceiling for DD is 14k IIRC. 14k monthly salary might seem peanuts to you now; When young everyone fantasize they can make it big in pte sector reaping in millions of dollars annually, but ask people in their late 40s or 50s degree educated around you, how many even make it past 10k pay?

Many are lucky if they can cling on to their job w/o getting retrenched. If u join some SME I think can reach 5k by 40 already very heng.

The keywords are "non-scholars" and "local grads". You gotta realise the number of scholarship holders has increased exponentially through the last 10-15 years, both local and overseas (more prestigious) . Folks who are now in their 40s and 50s did not have to compete with the many overseas scholars. Practically all stat boards are giving scholarships now. From what I see, it's now very hard for local grads nowadays to compete with these many overseas scholars and the local grads would not be a happy bunch.

This guy has sum it up pretty well (taken from ST not too long ago):
----------------------------
Good grades cannot equal experience

I GREW up believing that Singaporeans should work hard and strive for stability. However, I have seen attitudes change as a new generation entered the work force. With the introduction of scholars, many young bright students with excellent academic qualifications leapfrogged ahead of their peers as well as many experienced senior workers.

This has left behind a group of very unhappy Singaporeans. This large group, coupled with the generations X and Y who are not among the selected scholars, will be the forces that the PAP (People's Action Party) Government will have to deal with.

Finding willing and capable Singaporean leaders to step forward to lead a group of unappreciative followers may become a problem for us as a nation. We have to continue with the basic building blocks of family and community bonding. We need to continue to discipline our children as they grow up.

We also need to continue rewarding experienced workers with higher salaries. Intelligence and academic achievement can never equal experience.
- Joseph Lim Beng Huat

I rejected SMU biz for NUS sociology, now abt to graduate. Never regretted the decision cos I thought business can be learnt. Just as those peeps above are saying soci is a 2nd tier degree, biz is a general degree that isn't worth 4 years of your time...

If you're good, you're good. This nonsense abt the private sector and the possibility of making millions is a pipe dream for many. Only some make it, not all. Don't get lulled into that rhetoric.

Just do what u like, it's very impt. As for getting rich and being proud of what you've done, u probably ought to do a business. I woul think it's much fulfilling than banking etc. And to do a business u don't need to be a biz grad. Ideas don't only come to them.

Best of luck

You haven't even start working for 1 day yet, isn't it way too early to declare you "never regretted the decision"?

Once you hit 40 drawing a crap pay struggling to pay mortgages and kids bills and you can still say you never regret becasue you like doing sociology then I will respect you. Undergrad bravado means nothing now.

That 20 years between now and 40 is impt, much more impt than the 4 u do to mug in university. Just like how my bravado counts for nothing, so does of those who spout the idealised story of the private sector.

In summary, do sociology degree means be prepare to join academic or government. dun try & act hero to test water in pte sector.

67837 demor
 

Haha ok i get what you're saying. So do you have any idea what you'd be venturing to once you grad?

lol. i think you are about to regret that decision once you start looking for a job.

Yea. I think in general SMU biz is better. However, TS might not be able to score what she has gotten for her sociology major. SMU biz is very competitive and being just good is not enough. I won't be surprised if nowadays SMU biz students are having difficulties in finding jobs. Everywhere is reducing headcounts and big MNCs might not need so many biz grads but more of those with technical backgrounds. Maybe someone from SMU biz could enlighten us.

Just to clear things up, TS is a male and has yet to matriculate lol.

Just another naieve teenager follow passion, prepare for yet another kpkb thread 3 years down the road when he cannot find job.

lol. my bad. Having read some many comments I have gotten all the info jumbled up. I guess the major chunk of my opinion still valid :)

Thank you for posting the article. One of the best things that sums up situation in Singapore. Off topic, but i felt that we should all understand that not everyone is going to be super successful. Take the hard truth, stop dreaming about earning millions without doing something creative or starting business. We are now suffering from the side effects of rapid economic progression. Not much people broke 10k barrier.

Back to TS. Find something that best combines passion with pragmatism. Is there something you can do well too? Maybe doing an engineering degree with a minor in sociology?
Your learning does not stop at the university. You can always learn more by self-reading.

Maybe sociology grads can find a job in marketing and communications area. I know that this departments hires mostly humanities grads. I am in an asset management company, and this is what I see.

In Singapore property is the most common way to make millions, start business much more risky and 80% biz will close down.

Marcoms will always go for business grads first, humanities like economics, pyschology, journalism will rank behind. Sociology is in the same garbage league as things like Political Science, Philosophy etc. This is the sad truth in Singapore.

Nope, marcoms jobs go to marcoms grads first, followed by business and everyone else.

Marcoms is a discipline under business in most univiersities

Marcoms is actually okay. I work with the marcoms, I don't see anything technical in their work.
My company has a five person marcoms team, just organise projects after projects. Must be good in communications. I think anyone who read up on marcoms and is a graduate will fit in to the role. The head of marcoms team is business grad, the rest are humanities grads like psychology etc.

Is political science on the same level as philosophy? I doubt so. That's in my opinion. Political Science seems to be on par with econs and psychology. Then i think sociology, philosophy will follow behind.

Are you a bit generous with 80%? I'd say 90% within first five years sound more likely.

Currently is property, i agree with you. No idea why everyone is still heading towards finance. Freeze headcounts still got loads of people trying to get in.