Top Majors and Top Careers

As far as I know the sciences are a big hit for college majors! But I see a lot of Business, Art, and Education majors as well. I'd say; Biology, Business, Chemistry, Anthropology, Computer Science, Information Technology, Art, Elementary Education, Nursing, and Psychology are the most common majors. According to Princeton Review, I guessed 6 out of 10. Can you guess more?

A lot of people are going into education fields with the goal of becoming teachers.  A few years ago, this would have been a solid career choice, but the United States education system is kind of in turmoil right now.  There are fewer jobs available now.  I am concerned that people who want to become teachers will not be able to find work once they graduate college.  I understand the motivation behind wanting to become a teacher, as many of my friends want to enter the field, but it might be good to have a back of plan to earn income until you can find a teaching job. 

 Hey Java,  I don't really know how difficult it is at the moment for an education major to get a job, but I do think we are going to have to start being more selective and increase pay and benefits if we want to improve our public education system. Just don't know if and when that will actually happen. . .  If you want to teach high school or lower, having a graduate degree can really help. It isn't required for most schools, but there are private and charter schools that seek out people with advanced degrees to be teachers. Having a graduate degree doesn't necessarily make you a better teacher in that subject, but coupled with some education courses it can really help.

The top major in my university was the chemical engineering program, which was ranked 9th in the united states. So, yeah, I took chemical engineering. But, I did meet some friends in economics, political science and business majors. I know history major is one of the popular majors, but my friend complained about the job situation for history majors, especially now that the economy is low. She was frustrated with landing an internship also. My situation can't say was great. Jobs for chemical engineering are good. But, it didn't concern me, because I was new to the major, and most companies don't offer internship or jobs for international students. While at career fairs, I noticed there were tons of internships and job openings for finance, business and economic majors.

There are a lot of public debates and issues regarding the salaries of teachers in the United States. Truth is, with the Quality of teaching as it is for many of the students who are graduating, as the above poster stated, I don't believe they are earning a salary increase. Pay is often times based on performance. In this way we all, as professionals, strive to be the best we can be. Not all teachers, of course, but many are providing substandard quality education to our students and demanding higher pay. This is unbelievable. When our children begin learning the way they used to when teaching was revered, I believe we should spend time debating their salary.

Although I took Computer Science out of an interest in computers and programming, I've noticed a hidden value in this often misunderstood degree that bears mentioning. When you're looking for that ideal job, there's a few attributes of thinking involved with any career (or positions of promotion within a career). People who have taken a management course may be familiar with some of these concepts. For example, management teaches an information triangle divided into 3 components: 1. Large bottom section. This is where the bulk of workers finds themselves. Assembly line, code monkey, wait staff, cubicle dweller. The work performed by individuals in this class is very structured (i.e. the tasks performed are very repetitious, repeatable, or easily reproducible-- you can document how you do your job and someone else can follow those directions and accomplish such tasks). Structured work often carries a high amount of certainty when performing (but is often subject to the uncertainty of job security, because of the relative ease of replacement). These are the people producing the actual produce, generating the actual data, and carrying out the processes of the business. 2. Middle trapezoid. This consists of your middle management, perhaps some analysts, your business intelligence types. These individuals, while still performing some structured work, increasingly deal with more and more unstructured (i.e. less certain) work. Projecting short term trends, seeing the production output numbers and improving efficiency, and generally improving business processes to maximize productivity, profit, and perseverance of the business (generally in the short term). These work processes cannot be exactly documented, because there's a fair bit of abstraction involved. You never quite know what will happen from week to week, as your responses may depend upon the data produced or the results of various sales figures. So these people work with the data and metrics produced by the producers to see if the business is going in the right direction. 3. Finally, you've got the elite top triangle (very small)... this will be your so-called "senior management" (at least, theoretically)... or the people who work on unstructured tasks constantly. 3-5 year long-term strategies. These people don't have much in the way of hard numbers to validate their decisions, so instead they must trust their gut instincts and predict what may be the correct direction to take. Absolutely undocumentable, as it requires an understanding and constant application of strategy, where one person's decision may vary greatly from another's based on the same data sources, with equally different justifications. A high amount of abstraction is needed, as there are so many potential variables and uncertainties. Computer Science, as a discipline, focuses on the concepts of computing. Not necessarily computing as in hardware computers, but computing as in calculating and decision making (we just happen to use computers a lot, as they make good tools for letting us experiment without decision making strategies). Computer Science is awash in abstraction, requiring lots of abstract thinking and variable juggling to interact with its important concepts. While you can write a program to solve a specific task, learning how to express your solution is the act of describing the actions you wish for the computer to take (often times based on actual data, other times based on various stimuli). Computer Science is often considered so difficult by so many because it requires a development of unstructured thinking skills (it is just the computers themselves that require specific instruction!). I've run into many individuals who pursued degrees in Computer Science not to go into a computing or IT career, but to go into management, or run their own business, or teach, to extend their philosophy background, or to become a better engineer. So as you're thinking about potential careers, don't just look at the career, look at what that career has you doing, and what directions you might potentially go with that career, and ask yourself- are you getting the necessary background exposure to thinking? You might be well-served, if you don't pursue an entire degree in Computer Science, try to take at least take a couple of courses. A basic problem-solving and programming course is likely a necessary prerequisite to the more abstract but useful courses in Data Structures (how to arrange stuff to work better), Analysis of Algorithms (a more theoretical way of looking at how to arrange stuff to work better), and Theory of Computing (a lower and more abstract way of analyzing processes and what goes into a decision). Just because Computer Science has the word "Computer" in its title, doesn't mean it is just about Computers.

To say there's a "top ten" based on the stats of other colleges, other people, and other worlds is just silly. You're much better off simply by going by what interests you and building a top ten from that. But, on the topic itself, let me just say a major should be one that is universally accepted as a valued trade OR capable for you to enter a niche with. Why? A skill-based major (such as Computer Science) allows you present yourself as efficient and capable to apply tasks and accomplish goals, something every employer will want. It's also just a trade that is more likely to generate revenue and needs than more aesthetic majors where several may apply to one job. A niche, on the other hand, will allow you to become an expert in a single field and become a value to someone who needs exactly what you serve. It may be more difficult to find a job, but the security is much greater than the cookie-cutter environments. In the end though, follow your heart, the money should follow!

abnormalalien wrote: As far as I know the sciences are a big hit for college majors! But I see a lot of Business, Art, and Education majors as well. I'd say; Biology, Business, Chemistry, Anthropology, Computer Science, Information Technology, Art, Elementary Education, Nursing, and Psychology are the most common majors. According to Princeton Review, I guessed 6 out of 10. Can you guess more? I will play devil's advocate here and say that out of all the majors, you said only Computer Science, Information Technology and nursing are top majors for undergrad. Just about all the other majors you have mentioned really require an additional graduate degree to really have any real-world value to them, so that would mean they aren't top undergrad degrees.  But again maybe we all have different views of what top majors are, it really is subjective.  If your point is that a lot of people study those majors, and that makes them top then I can see your point.  The only thing I would dispute is that a lot of people in undergrad study computer science as compared to the other majors you mentioned.  

Software and Mechanical Engineering majors are extremely popular considering that they have one of the best-paid majors and are increasing in demand when I think about it. Yes, Psychology is popular as well as Education, but when you think about it, most news with regard to those two majors do not end with people getting paid or in high demand. Business is another one as well as Criminal Justice. Political Science, and Nursing. My future profession does match with one of the following, that is in Psychology as well as Art. Art is considered a somewhat popular major, although this field is extremely competitive and brutal as well as difficult to gain steady income with a reputation to attract rather disagreeable customers. Once I wanted to pursue Education, however, after researching more on that field, I found that I did not exactly want to pursue the careers that followed it, being a teacher sounded nice, really it did, but considering the amount of difficulty managing a classroom full of children, commanding respect and displaying good examples as well as leadership skills in order to inform clearly the next generation of the lessons they need in order to survive. It sounded nice, but was not what I actually wanted to do. 

Granted, not being a nurse this is more second-hand knowledge, but of the people I do know who are in the nursing field, I'd have to say the field is both in high demand AND high turnover.

For those personalities that like something new every few months or years, nursing would seem to offer an exceptional opportunity to do what you love (nursing) and not exercise fidelity toward a particular employer. Where I live there are easily 4 full-service hospitals within 30 minutes of one another... nurses are constantly hopping between these institutions, and departments within the institutions. This isn't directly a bad thing... although I guess there can also be a lot of politics that goes on behind the scenes as well.

But, with the high-demand, the nurses aren't punished for jumping ship. They know they've got the qualifications and their services are needed, so if they're not happy in one setting, they can easily jump to another.

There also seems to be a higher variety of working shifts as well-- the typical daytime, but also nighttime, and also 12-hour days (I know some people who work in nursing and prefer to work three 12-hour days, giving them 4 days off a week).

In my opinion, as long as you are happy with what you are doing, then that is what is important as far as a career is concerned. It is along those lines that I personally intend to choose my major. But since happiness will not buy food for my family and pay my bills, I will give a list of the most marketable/ highly paying majors today according to the Huffington post, a highly reliable source :) 1. Petroleum Engineering: It ranks first with a pay of approximately Starting Median Pay: $97,900 Mid-Career Median Pay: $155,000 ( I didn't even know such a course existed, hmm.... ) 2. Chemical Engineering: Comes second with a starting median pay $64,500 Mid-Career Median Pay: $109,00 3. Third is Electrical Engineering: Pays as follows, Starting Median Pay: $61,300 Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000 (Seems like the engineers really have it better than all of us ) 4. Materials Science and Engineering (whoever invented this course): Starting Median Pay: $60,400 Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000. 5. Aerospace Engineering: Starting Median Pay: $60,700 Mid-Career Median Pay: $102,000 6. Computer Engineering: Starting Median Pay: $61,800 Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000 7. Physics: Starting Median Pay: $49,800 Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000 8. Applied Mathematics: Starting Median Pay: $52,600 Mid-Career Median Pay: $98,600 (Hurrah for Mathematicians out there!! :) 9. Computer Science: Starting Median Pay: $56,600 Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,900 10. And finally, Nuclear Engineering: Starting Median Pay: $65,100 Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,800 ....Either the writer has an engineering firm and is using this evil plot to convince people to major in engineering and work for him in the future, or we should all be engineers so as to pocket big bucks....life sucks when engineers get all the cash :( ...this will teach you to always do your math homework...it pays...and it pays real good!

Of course, it's true that bad teachers are being lumped in with everyone else, and schools are firing people to cut costs if they can. But it's also true that class sizes are always brought up when discussing how to improve the education system. If the country gets more serious than it already is about increasing the value of primary and high school education, then teachers will be in higher demand as schools try to hire more teachers to reduce class sizes. The best way to make sure you're hired after school is to be a great teacher, since you'll be more likely to be hired by being a more effective instructor, and when the school--like any company--looks to cut costs, they'll start with the less productive teachers first. Even then, the worst-case scenario is working at a school where teachers are always in demand, and solid teachers can always teach their students regardless of the area. If there's nothing else to be said for the teaching degree, it's a career-oriented college pathway, rather than the less directed, less productive majors in the arts and humanities, which--for all their benefits--often end up drawing in the students who simply don't want to do any work (not the kind of people who go into teaching to begin with). 

One of the values of a career-oriented major (nursing, communications, finance, etc.) is that it transmits the knowledge from people in the field or people studying the field to better prepare students for the world they're about to enter. I wholeheartedly applaud this, but I would raise questions as to the value of a college education other than this technical preparation--couldn't this career training take place alongside a more structured program in the humanities, or even science? Of course these questions are largely irrelevant from the perspective of the college administrators, most of whom probably would structure such a two-track (or three-track, if science is included) system for people who want to read for four years and people who want to learn how to better become parts of the workforce (or a combination of both for the sciences). But even if the only change is for the people on the technical track, a partial system of majors--or a system of only technical minors--would encourage people already set on a given field to explore the big questions of life, and might move some of the people in the purely literary fields to better prepare for life after college (and in the sciences, the major is usually one in both, leaning towards technical preparation). 

It's important to make sure you have a job lined up, but it's equally important to make sure you can do that job well once you have it. Someone can study a theoretical major like English and be unable to write articles, or may study a "big tent" major like economics and not be able to productively balance a budget. Developing skills in college is important, of course, but the pure amount of knowledge you can gain will be important in translating those skills into productive activity in the workforce. The opposite is true, as well--someone can know everything there is to know about a field, and be practically unable to translate that knowledge into productive action because he or she doesn't know how the information fits together, in reality. A balance of the two is necessary to ensure you can be productive, and anyone in any major can accomplish this--the kinds of people who go into history or literatures are usually the same kinds of people who aren't interested in the workplace to begin with, so it's unsurprising they end up unable to find jobs, both for lack of expertise and for lack of research into the companies. They can always get jobs in writing and history, but since they were unfocused on the jobs' market, it's more difficult to do this. 

Biomediclal Engineering -- it seems like this has the potential to be a bubble, and it largely depends on whether developments made in the next few years can translate into productive advances in medical care. Some certainly have the potential to transform healthcare, such as the toxin delivery system for tumors, but it does seem a bit too much like science fiction to have wide-ranging impact over the next few years, at least. Predictions about the future, especially involving technology, are difficult to make, as the internet was initially poorly understood on the one hand, but cars function essentially as they did in 1945. Medical care seems to be more like cars, at least today, in that it has received and benefited from several technological advances, but most of the advances were in the development of treatments and the understanding of the body itself, rather than delivering existing drugs more effectively. That's not to say biomedical engineering won't completely transform medicine--it probably will, one day--but it's questionable whether someone majoring in biomedical engineering in college today isn't walking into a speculative bubble as science departments try to break through with a number of treatments and delivery systems, only to have one or two of them go on and continue to be tweaked 5-10 years from now.