whos standing on the UE line next to you

regarding jobs and hiring i had this argument with patientrenter 4 days ago

patient renter
remember a few days ago i posted this comment
"i know a young lady
who just graduated last may
from a venerable school in oregon
8th out of a class of 410, phi beta kappa
with a degree in environmental science
who has been looking for work for 5 months
works two temp part time jobs for minimum wage
and was just turned down after an interview for a job that pays 9.50 per hour
there were over 90 applicants, some with post baccalaureate degrees
shes gone thru this drill a couple dozen times so far
so to those who say they will wash dishes if they have to
i think you are going to meet a lot of capable, hard working people with advanced degrees standing in line with you for that job"

and patentrenter you wrote, kinda harshly i thought

""a degree in environmental science"
Sounds like an interesting hobby, with only a moderate chance of becoming a reliable source of a good income. I would never have chosen envir. science if I wanted to maximize my chances of a secure good income. You don't get the right to a secure good income doing whatever you want. I wish her luck, but people do have to live with their choices....."
and i responded
"sounds like a hobby..." ?
Environmental science includes broad scientific areas such as ecology, environmental chemistry, environmental biology, and geology. It also includes lesser known areas of study such as sustainable natural resource use, climate change, soil and water conservation, and pollution mitigation.
companies and agencies like exxon mobil, the epa, ADM , nasa, weyerhaeuser... employ environmental scientists
but as is the case with many other scientific and engineering degrees, the economy has hit many hard
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and patient renter you responded with
Interesting, my X is a chemist who went into envir science. I respect her technical abilities and work ethic, but there is no doubt that many of the people in the field are fluffy and expect a paycheck for supporting their favorite political cause. (I support much more focus on our environment, but I know waste when I see it.)
(find this exchange at http://www.hoocoodanode.org/node/7792)
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so i just wanted to set the record straight, that your claim environmental science was a "fluffy" major and a "hobby" for people often times to just support their politics, is just not an accurate judgment as supported by this article below

hat tip barry ritholtz over at bigpicture who referenced this article

of 75 college majors researched at payscale.com environmental science was 24th with a median starting salary of 43k and a median career income of 78k
http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp
that leaves about 50 college majors below environmental science
my major is near the bottom criminal justice - police science
...patientrenter, care to share your major?