Do Earnings Matter To You
Theres plenty of information out there on earning potential and salaries for working professionals across industries. BLS and PayScale, to name two, can help you do some quick research on common salary ranges by career and location. If youre looking to make some serious money after you graduate, your best course of action is to select a degree and career path that typically comes with a big salary.
What Majors Are Most In Demand
The most in demand majors right now are Business, Healthcare, and IT-related programs and will be for the foreseeable future. But dont let these rankings be your only deciding factor for what the top college major is.
The job market is growing at one of the fastest rates in recent history, which means nearly every college major will be valuable for students entering or re-entering the workforce after graduation.
What Is A Useful Major
A useful major is one that you can use to gain a paying job after college. While the major you choose to pursue shouldn’t necessarily be based on how much money you can make, it should come with some promise of stability to ensure you can support yourself and your family after graduation. Majors with low unemployment rates, high income and no requirement for future education are considered the most beneficial for college graduates.
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Talk To Advisers And Professionals
The best source of college advice is your school counselor. Theyve helped lots of students who are making the same decisions you are. Your school counselor can tell you more about college majors and program offerings. Here are five questions you might want to ask a counselor.
Check out BigFuture for a list of 20 questions to ask your counselor to get the conversation started.
You can also reach out to professionals working in the field youre interested in. They can talk to you about how they got from college to where they are now. Whether theyre your parents, guardians, family members, or people you interact with professionally, set up a time to interview them. Be prepared with a set of questions to ask.
Medical And Health Preparatory Programs
Medical and health preparatory programs prepare individuals for medical school or other health-related programs and careers. Common areas of study for medical and health preparatory students include dentistry, nursing and pharmacy. Healthcare occupations such as those pursued by medical and health preparatory majors are anticipated to grow by 14% through 2028 and bring in an annual average income of $66,440.
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How Much Do You Want To Earn
For some students, how much a career path pays is a strong driving force towards choosing it, and understandably so. With the drastic increase in student debt, your choice of major can impact whether or not you are able to pay off in a timely manner.
According to a study by Fortune, petroleum engineering, computer programming, computer engineering, computer science, and electrical, electronics, and communications engineering are the top five majors with the highest starting salaries.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Best College Majors
There is a lot to think about when choosing a college major and we have rounded up the answers to some of the most frequent questions. One factor to keep in mind is that the location of a job has a huge impact on salaries. The Brookings Institute created an interactive tool where you can see how much the same career earns in different states.
Physics majors who go into physics, astronomy and other sciences have an average salary range between $93,138 and $167,402. Pharmacists with a PharmD average pay range is $135,226 and $152,866 after a few years of experience.
A bachelors degree in marketing combined with a few years experience is the most lucrative career. Marketing directors salary range is $100,010 to 192,520, with the median salary at $133,380.
You will need to earn advanced degrees, masters or doctorate, to make top dollar in almost every field.
About a third of college students change their majors at least once, so start off in an area that is of some interest to you. Psychology or communications are good all-around majors that translate into many types of jobs. You can take classes in other areas until you find something that appeals.
Psychology tends to be the most popular major at most college.
Architecture is considered the hardest, with more than 22 hours a week preparing for classes and doing projects. That time doesnt include time spent in classes. Architecture combines engineering, physics, construction knowledge and creativity.
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What Is The Happiest Major
According to an education business poll, students in humanities are the happiest students at the college level.
This can include English literature, history, philosophy, and other related fields.
A major that appeals to your interests and skills will be a major you will enjoy.
Students majoring in humanities seem to have found their niche.
Ready To Start Your Journey
Business | Health Professions | Social Sciences and History | Engineering | Biological and Biomedical Sciences | Psychology | Communication and Journalism | Visual and Performing Arts | Computer and Information Sciences | Education
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics , U.S. colleges and universities awarded 2 million bachelor’s degrees in 2018-19. More than half of these degrees were concentrated in just six fields of study.
Plentiful job opportunities and high entry-level salaries make certain fields more attractive. For example, business and health degrees account for nearly one-third of all undergraduate degrees. Both fields continue to experience strong employment growth, making it easier for students to secure jobs after graduation.
Here are the 10 most popular college majors based on NCES data.
- Median Annual Salary :$72,250
- Job Growth Rate :8%
- Common Specializations:Accounting, business administration, business intelligence, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, international business
Business majors are among the most popular undergraduate degrees in the U.S. Nearly 1 in 5 bachelor’s degrees, or 390,600, was awarded in business in 2018-19.
Business programs explore fundamental business principles and practices that enable companies to run efficiently. Students pursuing a business major often study multidisciplinary concepts so they can develop strong communication, leadership, and critical thinking skills.
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Top 15 College Majors For Good
- Engineering
- Game Design
- Pharmacy
Keep in mind when looking at salaries listed for each major that there is a wide variation between states, regions, and urban and rural centers. We looked at several employment websites to figure out the starting salary, and mainly used the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the median salary.
Plus, for helpful comparison, average job growth in the United States is 8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics job outlook index. Here are some really valuable degrees. Lets figure out what is the best college major for you.
Be Smart With Your Majors
Before you choose your double majors, choose which two programs you want to study. This is quite tricky, especially if your heart goes out to many different fields. The key is to pick a double major that couples both your passion and professional goals. Say, for instance, you love singing but becoming a professional singer is out of the picture. Instead, youd rather be a financial planner. Go for a double major that lets you learn more about your passion and help you build your future profession .
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What Are The Top Easiest Majors
Often Education, English, and Journalism are considered easy majors because it involves a lot of reading and people generally have a high-grade point average.
However, business administration could be even easier because there is not a lot of homework, students usually have a high GPA, and there is a good return on investment.
Business Management And Business Administration
There’s a lot of overlap between business management and business administration. Fundamentally, both fields are about understanding and optimizing a company’s functions. Both feature courses in marketing, ethics, and accounting. But management tends to look at big-picture issues such as expansions and mergers. At the same time, administration focuses more on the daily operation of a business. Either degree will stand you in good stead.
- Median salary: $62,000
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What Are The Alternatives To Double Majoring
You dont really need to have a dual degree if you want to improve your career prospects. Instead of completing two majors, opting for a minor or two can work for first-year students earning their bachelors degree from a four-year institution. A minor usually requires fewer courses and still counts toward your degree program.
Study abroad programs, work study programs, and internships can bolster your credentials. Clearly, these initiatives go beyond the traditional academic trajectory in college. They make you more attractive to potential employers and graduate schools.
Double Majors Why Not
While deciding what course to take is daunting on its own, some students like the idea of taking that challenge even further. Overachievers set their minds into taking dual degrees. Common and interesting mixes-and-matches include major/minor undergraduate combinations with a focus on foreign languages. Korean and Mandarin, for example, are either paired together or taken with some other languages. Double majors have become popular among college students. You may even be interested in pursuing a double major. It will not only look good on your resume, but you will also graduate with a multidisciplinary background.
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Is Double Majoring Worth It
A dual degree is an excellent choice if you are looking to broaden your horizon but its crucial to understand your strengths, weaknesses, objectives, interests, and career goals. It may be worthwhile to consider a dual degree if it greatly increases your chances of getting hired in your field of specialization.
However, if you are easily burned out, choose one major and fill out the remainder of your schedule with a variety of classes. In the end, its all a matter of weighing your options, plans, and goals.
Economics And Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management is concerned with products and supplies, whereas Economics is concerned with scarcity. Both of these disciplines are critical to business operations, from raw materials to completed goods. Students gain expertise in logistics and economics as well. Supply Chain Management-Economics double majors work in firms and organizations operations management and procurement departments in todays e-commerce-driven environment.
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Should You Choose To Double Major For Law School
If you are seriously interested in two different areas, a double major can allow you to dive into two subjects and show that you are up for the challenge, writes Gerald Bradshaw in the Chicago Tribune.
If you are serious about law school, a few clients suggested you go one more step and take a double major. If you enjoy history, for example, why not add a second major such as economics? Economics requires a strong quantitative component while history will require a lot of writing. Both skills are highly valued in the job market and by potential law schools. Even if you decide to work after graduation and attend law school at a later date, what you gain by taking harder classes will pay off when you take the Law School Admission Test , says Bradshaw, an international college admissions consultant with Bradshaw College Consulting. A double major, or even a single major with a strong concentration in a secondary subject, will make you that much more competitive. But be cautious. Some majors are easier than others to combine. For example, engineering requires so many prerequisites that it might not leave room for a second major or even a minor area of concentration.
While a double major might not be for everyone, the point is, once again, to challenge yourself in your undergraduate studies.
Start During Your High School Years
While you can have a double degree during college by the time youre in college, its a wise idea to start your program during high school so you can make the most of your time later. How can you do that?
- Take AP/IB Courses. Commonly referred to as college prep courses, AP/IB courses are designed not only to help you prepare for a college workload. This also allows you to test out and even earn credits for certain college courses.
- Take Dual Credit Courses. High schools allow their students to concurrently enroll in a local college so they can earn some freshman course credits for basic classes such as math or composition. Programs like this can easily help you earn transferable college credits that will count to your university core.
- Try to Test Out. If your high school doesnt offer college preparatory courses, you still have hope. Most universities today offer exams such as the CLEP test. You take this exam in the summer before your start your college freshman days.
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Strategies Resources & Tools
University of Minnesota Duluth Career and Internship Services
UM Duluths site will help you explore your major options in a step-by-step fashion and consider your possible career paths, interests, personality type, and academic strengths. Youll also be able to see what UM graduates from similar majors are doing today, which serves as a valuable reference.
Foreign Language And Political Science
If you are interested in getting into jobs with a globalized workforce, studying foreign languages will help you be a competitive candidate. This is especially true if you want to work in international organizations or other organizations dealing with people from other countries. It is also true if you want to get a degree in Political Science.
When studying Political Science, the field that you would want to get into will involve international organizations and domestic organizations. In the latter type of organization, interacting with people coming from different backgrounds and cultures is inevitable. For this, you might want to try getting a foreign language and political Science as double majors to increase your competency.
Political Science and foreign languages, to a certain extent, cover similar topics. Both majors train their students to be knowledgeable about history, culture, politics, and economics, so there are many advantages in combining a foreign language major with a political science degree. One advantage is you will be a competitive employee in the globalized organization that you work in compared to your peers because you can speak more than one language.
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Quiz: What Should You Major In
We’ve got the quiz to help you decide what career-focused program is best suited for you.
We’ve got the quiz to help you decide what career-focused program is best suited for you. We’ll help you hone in on your search and feel confident in the pathway you’re about to embark on here at Herzing. Take this quiz today to learn what major you should study.
* Bureau of Labor Statistics , U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2020. BLS estimates do not represent entry-level wages and/or salaries. Multiple factors, including prior experience, age, geography market in which you want to work and degree field, will affect career outcomes and earnings. Herzing neither represents that its graduates will earn the average salaries calculated by BLS for a particular job nor guarantees that graduation from its program will result in a job, promotion, salary increase or other career growth.
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Computer Information Systems And Supply Chain Management
Obtaining a dual degree in Computer Information Systems and Supply Chain Management provides a broad understanding of logistics, information technology, and economics. Supply Chain Management is being optimised by integrating state-of-the-art Information Technology and communication technologies so as to achieve organisational competitiveness, improve service levels, reduce inventory, supply chain costs, and reduce electronic risks.
This choice is perfect for those interested in a career in purchasing, procurement, or logistics.
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What Are The Entry Requirements
To qualify for a HND/ foundation degree, youll need a minimum of 100 UCAS points. You can gain these through a number of qualifications that are studied at high-school from A-levels, IELTS, VCE, a BTEC or a diploma. Each course may have varied necessities, so do check well-before the application process to ensure you have what is needed.
Can You Double Major In Community College
In case you are wondering if you can major in two things in community college, then yes, it is absolutely possible to earn a double major.
However, it is important to note that not all community colleges offer that choice, so make sure to find out whether the college youâre looking to apply to has a double major program or not. For example, The City College of New York offers the option of taking up two majors just as long as they both lead to the same degree.
However, it is imperative to weigh your pros and cons before making a decision.
Pursuing a double major means additional course time, this means that rather than completing your associateâs degree in two years, as done traditionally, it may take you a year or so more to finish.
The choice of whether you wish to pursue a double major or not is typically made after completing freshman year. A double major can be extremely beneficial if you are passionate and have a clear vision of how to utilize your majors in the future.
It is important to make sure you donât confuse a double major with a dual degree. A double major earns you a single bachelorâs degree with two specializations. On the other hand, a dual degree means that you earn two separate degrees/diplomas in two specific fields.
A good example of a double major would be a business management major with an accounting major. This combination can help you prepare to one day have your own start-up business.
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