Outdoor Recreation Majors

[Howells Outdoors]

Don't know what you all studied in school, but hopefully this will make people realize a degree in Outdoor Recreation isn't a joke degree. Everytime I say I'm an Outdoor Rec. major people give me a strange look and say, "What are you going to do with that?"

oh well

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=23834498&nid=148&s_cid=rss-extlink&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[Aldaron]

My brother got a Bachelor's in Outdoor Recreation and a Master's in Recreation Management...now he's the director of Outdoor Recreation at a university. Can't beat that kind of job.

 

[Nick]

Dude... I might be biased but a degree in OR doesn't seem that useless. I can think of countless other degrees that are far more useless. And then there's the vast majority of people who get a degree that could be relevant but then work in a totally different field. Like me with a degree in Political Science working web dev and photography and another BCP member I know of who has a degree in marine biology and works on websites that have nothing to do with it!

 

[Aldaron]

And, of course, we all love what my degrees are in and what I do for a living

But there's a dirty secret that many people don't realize about getting a job in the outdoor rec field: it's still a job. I think my brother wants to think that his job should be all about teaching outdoor skills to people and taking them to do cool, fun things. Which is why it's even more frustreating when he has to deal with the politics of the university, the problems with personnel, budget challenges, etc.

 

[moose droppings]

yeah, i once entertained the idea of an OR degree.
as a young buck back in the mid-90's i was heavily involved in mountaineering up in my home turf, the PNW. My father's friend who guided on mt.rainier, hired me for summer season grunt work, aka sherpa... to help cultivate my desire of OR pursuit. the guide was a people person and had a penchant for introducing noobs to the sport. however, he relied heavily on folks like me to assist the flailing back down, while he continued upward with the able and willing. spending more time resolving peoples issue vs the act of scaling mountains took it out of me. ended up pursuing engineering.

my takeaway: turn a hobby into work and it will no longer be fun.

however, a cool degree in the outdoor industry would be Industrial Arts / Design. contribute to the progression of outdoor rec-ing without compromising the FUN in hobby.

 

[Nick]

my takeaway: turn a hobby into work and it will no longer be fun.

So true.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

my takeaway: turn a hobby into work and it will no longer be fun.

Completely agree!