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Friday, July 23, 2010

What college majors are in demand this year?

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/pf/college/highest_paying_college_majors/index.htm

This article discusses how college grads are doing in the job market this year. At least there is some emphasis on what engineering majors are earning. Unfortunately the US is graduating far fewer engineers that we need.

But this article fails to report on the starting salaries for Ethnomusicology, Sociology, and Gender Studies majors. Could it be that there are no starting salaries for these interesting but not-in-demand majors because there are no job offers?

Let me ask you how many History major graduates you know that got a related job or even a job that pays more than their non-college graduates this year? I can’t find a single one – but I am still looking.

So the school you attend is not the important thing. What you study and learn is what counts. And if you are borrowing to attend an expensive school and graduating with a Bachelors degree in Psychology then you may be considering (ill advisedly I might add) going to grad school so you can postpone starting to pay off your student loans.

Study something that is in demand, pay for it as you go and pay attention to the cost. This is advice that will result in a solid payback for an investment in college. But borrowing big time to attend a prestigious college with a pretty campus in order to study Liberal Arts, will leave you with few choices and Law School as your only alternative.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a recently "retired" engineering manager I'll toss in my 2 cents about this article. First, employers want people who are self-starters and can function by themselves or in teams. Babysitting costs the company $$$. All STEM majors force this discipline into the student. Second, believe it or not, engineers, etc are creative people who can solve problems for the company either saving or producing $$. Lastly, a STEM degree gives you the tools and critical thinking skills to help you solve problems in the real world. You will stand a better chance of not getting suckered.

As far as the other majors go, they are a waste of time and effort.