Considering the cost of higher education, it’s no surprise that many students hope to pursue a major that will jump-start their career once they graduate.

In a recent survey of job seekers by the job-search platform ZipRecruiter, 44% of respondents with college degrees said they regretted choosing their major — with English, communications, sociology, and marketing management falling under the most regretted majors. Within each field, the survey found, the highest-paid respondents were more likely to be happy about their college-major choice. 

While many college advisors will tell you that no major is truly useless — even ZipRecruiter found that of those who regretted their choice of major, 72% said they would choose it again — job experts caution against certain majors that limit your career options and salary potential.

Here are 12 majors that are unlikely to get you a good return on your investment.

1. Acting or theater arts

Brianna Doe, a marketing manager at Inventables who’s also a certified career coach and mentor for Arizona State University students and recent graduates, told Insider acting and theater degrees weren’t likely to provide transferable skills.

She said the new graduates she’d mentored who studied these fields had struggled to find roles outside theater, especially in the current economic climate, and an internship at a local theater isn’t likely to boost your résumé for a corporate role.

2. Film

Film is similar to acting in that you don’t need a degree to succeed in the field, Kelly Donovan, who’s been a career coach since 2008 and is the principal of Kelly Donovan & Associates, a firm that works with job seekers nationwide, told Insider. “Racking up massive student-loan debt for a film degree is risky,” she said.

Instead, she said to think about the degree after getting some in-the-field experience.

Doe said she was able to pivot her film degree into a marketing career, but she had to work to communicate how her skills translated. When communicating her story to prospective employers, Doe focused on what film study taught her about how media influenced society, how society affected media, and how that related to marketing and building an audience.

3. Anthropology 

If you want to get a job as an anthropologist, you’ll likely need to go to graduate school. Otherwise, Donovan said, your bachelor’s won’t be useful.

“Most private-sector employers don’t have a demand for candidates with specialized anthropology knowledge,” she said. 

4. Civilization studies

Unless you’re going into the field of archaeology, Doe said there’s not much you could do with a major in civilization studies when trying to land a job because it’s such a specific area of study — the degree focuses on how the world and civilization have evolved and is designed for those who want to work in archaeology. 

5. Philosophy 

Philosophy is another niche degree that isn’t much use outside the field if you don’t pair it with a graduate degree. According to Doe, it’s not worth spending the money if you don’t plan on working in that field. While some skills the degree teaches, such as critical thinking and analysis, are useful, it might be hard to market yourself outside academia.

6. Psychology 

Many roles in the field of psychology require graduate degrees, so if that’s not in your plan, Donovan said, it’s not the right move because the earning potential is much lower without a graduate degree.

“You could still use your knowledge of human behavior to build a strong career in a field like sales, but you could also just earn a business degree and take a few psychology classes as electives,” she said.

7. Communications

Building a career with a communications degree alone can be challenging, Ronnie Green, a retired career counselor for Jewish Community Services, told Insider. She said communications was one of the most common degrees among people who sought career counseling from her.

“I’ve run into hiring managers, colleagues, and friends who really struggle to communicate the value of that degree,” Doe added.

8. English

Majoring in English can be a smart move if you plan to be a teacher or a writer, but it’s hard to carve out a lifelong career from this major without going to graduate school, Green said.

An English degree can serve you well in careers related to writing and content creation, such as journalism, web-content writing, copywriting, technical writing, or grant writing. But students who aren’t sure what they want to do after graduation should go with a business major because that comes with more-transferable skills, Doe said.

9. History

Like an English degree, history is useful only if you want to get a job related to history. You might also need a graduate degree for some of those roles, such as professor, librarian, or lawyer.

Doe recommended having a specific idea of what you want to do with a history degree before pursuing one. For example, consider whether you want to work in a museum, work as a historian, or use the degree as a starting point for a degree in law or teaching.

10. Interior design

Interior design is another specific degree that’s useful pretty much only if you go into the field.

“You’re not going to get your return on investment,” Doe said, adding that you’re better off going with a graphic-design degree.

11. Marketing

There are plenty of career options in marketing, but Doe said the field was rapidly changing.

“You can’t even really read a book about marketing and expect it to be completely irrelevant by the time you’re done,” she said.

12. Photography

Photography can be a great career path, but Donovan said you didn’t need a four-year degree to get work in the field.

“You could take a few photography classes on an ad-hoc basis rather than going into debt pursuing a degree for four years,” she said.

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Genes are segments of DNA located on chromosomes. A gene mutation is defined as an alteration in the sequence of nucleotides in DNA. This change can affect a single nucleotide pair or larger gene segments of a chromosome. DNA consists of a polymer of nucleotides joined together. During protein synthesis, DNA is transcribed into RNA and then translated to produce proteins. Altering nucleotide sequences most often results in nonfunctioning proteins. Mutations cause changes in the genetic code that lead to genetic variation and a variety of effects. Gene mutations can be generally categorized into two types: point mutations and base-pair insertions or deletions.

Point Mutations

Point mutations are the most common type of gene mutation. Also called a base-pair substitution, this type of mutation changes a single nucleotide base pair. Point mutations can be categorized into three types:

Silent Mutation: Although a change in the DNA sequence occurs, this type of mutation does not change the protein that is to be produced. This is because multiple genetic codons can encode for the same amino acid. Amino acids are coded for by three-nucleotide sets called codons. For example, the amino acid arginine is coded for by several DNA codons including CGT, CGC, CGA, and CGG (A = adenine, T = thymine, G = guanine, and C = cytosine). If the DNA sequence CGC is changed to CGA, the amino acid arginine will still be produced.

Missense Mutation: This type of mutation alters the nucleotide sequence so that different amino acid is produced. This change alters the resulting protein. The change may not have much effect on the protein, may be beneficial to protein function, or may be dangerous. Using our previous example, if the codon for arginine ​CGC is changed to GGC, the amino acid glycine will be produced instead of arginine.

Nonsense Mutation: This type of mutation alters the nucleotide sequence so that a stop codon is coded for in place of amino acid. A stop codon signals the end of the translation process and stops protein production. If this process is ended too soon, the amino acid sequence is cut short and the resulting protein is most always nonfunctional.

Base-Pair Insertions and Deletions

Mutations can also occur in which nucleotide base pairs are inserted into or deleted from the original gene sequence. This type of gene mutation is dangerous because it alters the template from which amino acids are read. Insertions and deletions can cause frame-shift mutations when base pairs that are not a multiple of three are added to or deleted from the sequence. Since the nucleotide sequences are read in groupings of three, this will cause a shift in the reading frame. For example, if the original, transcribed DNA sequence is CGA CCA ACG GCG…, and two base pairs (GA) are inserted between the second and third groupings, the reading frame will be shifted.

Original Sequence: CGA-CCA-ACG-GCG…

Amino Acids Produced: Arginine/Proline/Threonine/Alanine…

Inserted Base Pairs (GA): CGA-CCA-GAA-CGG-CG…

Amino Acids Produced: Arginine/Proline/Glutamic Acid/Arginine…

The insertion shifts the reading frame by two and changes the amino acids that are produced after the insertion. The insertion can code for a stop codon too soon or too late in the translation process. The resulting proteins will be either too short or too long. These proteins are for the most part defunct.

Causes of Gene Mutation

Gene mutations are most commonly caused as a result of two types of occurrences. Environmental factors such as chemicals, radiation, and ultraviolet light from the sun can cause mutations. These mutagens alter DNA by changing nucleotide bases and can even change the shape of DNA. These changes result in errors in DNA replication and transcription.

Other mutations are caused by errors made during mitosis and meiosis. Common errors that occur during cell division can result in point mutations and frameshift mutations. Mutations during cell division can lead to replication errors which can result in the deletion of genes, translocation of portions of chromosomes, missing chromosomes, and extra copies of chromosomes.

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Education Data Tells a Tale

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) compiled educational data from nations across the globe each year for its publication Education at a Glance. The most recent version for 2018 reports that, in 2015, the United States spent approximately $12,800 per student on elementary and secondary education. That is over 35% more than the OECD country average of $9,500. At the post-secondary level, the United States spent approximately $30,000 per student, which was 93% higher than the average of OECD countries ($16,100).

Education Funding Sources

The U.S. spending estimate includes money spent by public sources, such as federally guaranteed student loans and direct loans from the Department of Education, and private funds. Private funds include fees and expenses paid by parents and students and private student loans, which are not federally guaranteed.

Several countries outspent the United States for elementary and secondary schools, including Austria, Norway, and Luxembourg, which spent $13.931, $14,353, and $20,900, respectively, in 2015. Luxembourg spends the most per student at the elementary/secondary level, and Mexico spends the least at $3,300 per student.

The United States also spent less of its total wealth on education than many of its counterparts. In terms of the percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) spent, the United States, at approximately 6.2%, trailed Norway, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and Chile.

Public Funding for Education

On average, educational institutions in OECD countries are mainly publicly funded. According to the OECD, governments provide 90% of funding for primary, secondary, and post-secondary non-tertiary schooling and 66% for tertiary education. Chile, Colombia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States account for the largest shares at approximately 70%.

Some public money is also transferred to the private sector for the funding of tertiary education and accounts for approximately 5% of total funds across OECD countries. Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom transfer the most funding from public to private institutions, between 20% and 35% of the total funds devoted to tertiary education.

Education Spending in the United States

Students in the United States fare considerably worse than many of their counterparts across the globe in terms of knowledge gained from education. According to data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 15-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 31st on OECD standardized mathematics tests, and their test scores were far below average in reading and science.

The United States was one of only five countries in the OECD to cut funding in the years prior to the OECD study. The OECD report for 2017 found that education spending in the U.S. decreased 3% between 2010 and 2014 while spending in other nations was up 5%.

Education Spending as a Percentage of GDP

Among the 34 OECD countries reporting data in 2015, 17 countries spent more than the average percentage (5%) of GDP on total government and private expenditures on education institutions for OECD countries. Norway spent the most on education as a percentage of GDP at 6.4% followed by New Zealand at 6.3%, the United Kingdom at 6.2%, and the United States at 6.1 percent.

Conversely, 17 countries spent less than the average percentage of GDP on total education expenditures for OECD countries. Ireland and Luxembourg reported the lowest total expenditures as a percentage of GDP, both spending 3.5%, followed by Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Greece, all at 3.8%.

Spending on Post-secondary Education

At the post-secondary level, the United States spent more than the average (1.5%) for OECD countries on total government and private expenditures at 2.6%. Only three other countries spent 2% or more of GDP on post-secondary education. Those countries were Canada at 2.4%, Australia at 2%, and Chile at 2%.

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