College Students Need To Look At These Charts Before Deciding On A Major

[FarCenter]

College freshmen are often encouraged to take strange electives, on the off chance they will discover an interest in Post-Colonial African Literature, Ancient Greek History or Modern Dance.

This seems like treacherous advice these days, when a college degree no longer guarantees a good job.

In fact tons of information is out there about majors, employment and earnings. We've pulled out findings from a report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

http://www.businessinsider.com/majors-pay-the-most-2011-11?op=1

[pnwmom]

1. Most students are still required to take a set of foundational courses

in addition to the major, and that variety of courses may very well include some electives the Business Insider might consider "strange."

The major might be important, but the electives are unlikely to prove "treacherous."

Interestingly, students with a Business major don't do as well in business as those with a humanities degree. It turns out that being able to think and to write is fairly important, even in business.

[FarCenter]

2. The most common undergraduated degree for S&P 500 CEOs is engineering

Not only do you have to be able to think and write, but you need to be able to think quantitatively, be able to evaluate probabilities and use statistics, and understand abstract quantitative models and their limitations.

[pnwmom]

4. That might be true, but I bet there are more non-engineering degrees

than engineering degrees overall.

[badtoworse]

10. I have a BS in engineering and have had an interesting, lucrative career.

I recommend it highly as a major. I also took some electives in anthropology, philosophy, literature, etc. that were interesting and worth taking. That said, I can't recommend liberal arts as a major - the risk of not finding a job is too high.

[pnwmom]

15. I have several close relatives who are engineers, and they are great people.

Even engineering firms have layoffs, however. And it took my nephew, a recent high-GPA grad from a very respected engineering school, with two internships under his belt, a full year to get his first job -- and at a pay level of about 2/3 what new grads were getting a few years ago.

A friend of mine is an alum from the same college who is active there and tried to help my nephew. When he contacted some of his friends for referrals, he was shocked by how bad things have gotten. My nephew finally moved in with his parents in another state and found a job on his own.

My niece, meanwhile, had a communications degree, with a psych minor, and she is making as much as her brother. Her pay started out lower, but she got a job before she graduated -- just by going to a job fair and then having an interview -- and her salary was quickly increased.

So there is no guaranteed right choice. And luck is a factor, too.

[badtoworse]

17. My own experience is similar

When I graduated in June 1972, the job market was pretty bad. My first job out of school was delivering pizza for a couple of months. Next job was selling men's clothes at Bloomingdales which I did until Feb 1973 when I got an engineering job with the NYC Board of Water Supply. I got started in the electric power business in 1983 and have been involved with it ever since. I've been laid off a few times over the years, but have always managed to find something. Last April, my company was bought out and I didn't want to move to Houston, but I was able to land a good job as an advisor to a group of investors that want to invest in the power business.

Besides being good at what you do, the one thing that has made a difference for me over the years has been my network. I would advise your neice and nephew to stay in touch with people they work with at different jobs - a Christmas Card and an occasional email or phone call is all it takes. Most of the good jobs are filled by word of mouth and having a good network of industry contacts is invaluable if you are job hunting. Since 2000, I've had 4 jobs and all of them came by word of mouth from the network.

[pnwmom]

20. Yes, my daughter just found a job that way.

She was sending her resume around while finishing up her engineering PHD, and applying to certain advertised jobs. But someone in a different area happened to hear about her and contacted her and asked her to apply there.

[frazzled]

3. Jeez, what a lumpen, anti-intellectual article

Look, even if you're going into Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (and don't we all want to do that--it would be great to have a country of nothing but engineers and pharmacists, according to this article)--you still need to know something about history, art, literature, political science, etc.

"Electives," I might remind the author of this drivel, are courses meant to supplement one's major. Nearly every college and university (even focused ones like Cal Tech) require their students to take a variety of courses in different subject areas, in addition to fulfilling their major. That is what getting an "education" is, as opposed to vocational training.

And there's nothing wrong with training to be a literary scholar, historian, or artist either. Our world would be unbearable without them.

I hate this kind of bull.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. +100

[EFerrari]

7. I want everyone that was encouraged to take Ancient Greek History

as an elective to raise their hand.

lol

[frazzled]

11. Actually ...

My daughter-in-law co-majored in "classics" (including ancient Greek literature and history), but also got her degree in economics. She loved the first, not so much the second. Of course her job is now in the economics research field, but she would not be a happy person at all if she hadn't been able to indulge in the ancient Greek stuff.

[Posteritatis]

12. o/

My academic and professional development took me in other directions, but the Roman and Hellenistic history courses I took rank among my favorite decisions.

[EFerrari]

16. I don't remember any more why I took Latin.

It wasn't needed for an English degree but I only regret not taking more.

[The Genealogist]

19. Classical studies were a major part of my degree

I never did take a course from the history department called "Ancient Greek History." I did take numerous courses in classical studies like Greek Civ, Roman Civ, and language courses in Ancient Greek. None of it is doing me any good now, employmentwise, anyway, though I do not regret taking the courses and learning about the subjects I studied.

[AmericaIsGreat]

5. Yeah, I mean, we've known that for a long time

So, should we just have every college student study engineering?

I mean these median wages for counseling jobs and the like is part of the problem. Working for pharma and big oil makes you money (because it makes them money while they screw over as many people as possible), working in a counseling center, helping people, makes you nothing.

[dtexdem]

8. The most horrid advice on how to choose a major.

And a complete nonsequitur comment on "strange electives" -- believe it or not, an engineering student could take an elective in Ancient Greek History or any of the other smeared elective titles.

[fishwax]

21. +1

[surrealAmerican]

9. So, in order to avoid the "horror" of ...

... a career that doesn't pay well, students should aim for a well-paying career doing something that doesn't interest them, or that they don't enjoy?

[Posteritatis]

13. Gotta love that Puritan work ethic. (nt)

[riderinthestorm]

14. My high school freshman daughter and I attended an Open House at a magnet high school

The principal there said that forecasters now predict that 60% of the careers for that high school freshman class, have not yet been invented yet.

60%

How the hell does anyone take a "sure fire" major with that kind of forecast?

I say follow your dreams and work to be the best at it, that way you will always be reasonably happy and satisfied (and presumably well educated). What was once a "sure fire" career in teaching just 5 years ago, is now undergoing massive upheaval. Shit happens.

[XemaSab]

18. The chart of the "whitest" degrees

made me laugh and laugh and laugh some more. :rofl:

[trackfan]

22. Et sounden kina dumn a me.

http://www.answershack.com/college-majors-pay.htm

What a pure load of stinking shit.