I did my undergrad at a top 10 university in the US. At the time (around 2015), most students fell into either "come from extremely rich families" or "very poor

I did my undergrad at a top 10 university in the US. At the time (around 2015), most students fell into either "come from extremely rich families" or "very poor students on full financial aid". This bifurcation has only increased since I graduated. One thing I have absolutely hated, especially since entering the tech industry, is how many of my friends who came from poorer backgrounds were misled by academia into pursuing things like "education for its own sake" or "studying what you love", and subsequently missed out on opportunities to study something that could have changed the socio-economic trajectory of their lives. It can be hard, at these universities, to see who has invisible safety nets. You might decide to major in education because, well, it changed your life! You look around and, wow, so many other cool people are also majoring in education, it must be okay. What you don't realize, though, is that half of those kids plan to go into consulting or finance or whatnot via their parents connections. I do value learning for its own sake and I don't think the liberal arts should solely be the privilege of the rich! But for a lot of kids from poorer backgrounds who make it into good schools, pursuing a more vocational major is the best chance of making enough money to go on to change their circumstances in life. This is sadly a fact of reality, and those who deny it (such as the professors encouraging these kids to jump into history PhDs) are taking away people's chances at upwards mobility.