Go for the major I enjoy or a high paying major?

<p>I have always enjoyed math/programming/computers/hacking/tinkering and basically any interaction with electronic equipment. Currently I am on a path to become a computer science major. With this, I know the average starting pay at some of the top 20 computer engineering schools can be around $70,000 and the mid career averages can be around $120,000. This is, obviously, not bad pay but there are definitely better paying jobs. Would you guys purse a high paying career (Investment banking/law/medical/dental) over a job relating to something you enjoy?</p>

<p>Those are ridiculously different fields and you are assuming u can handle those jobs or med school</p>

<p>Computer science is one of the top paying majors out there right now and unlike finance (I assume this is the undergrad that leads to investment banking?) or premed is pretty much guaranteed to lead to a good job (so many premed students so few med students). Although I would agree that finance/medschool probably has a higher potential ceiling in pay.</p>

<p>If you want to hedge your bets why not take comp sci as a major and something like fiance as a minor. Or you could double major.</p>

<p>Lol, mid career average at $120,000 isn’t good enough for you. </p>

<p>Law is terrible to go into right now. Investment banking is also iffy. Doctors right now don’t see decent pay for a long time thanks to the ridiculous costs of med school. </p>

<p>Do what you enjoy. Because you won’t make it in med/dental school if you don’t enjoy it.</p>

<p>Listen to your heart. Cliche. You can’t be happy doing what you hate</p>

<p>There is little worse in life than getting up every morning to face a job you dislike, and the extra money will never compensate for that.</p>

<p>Your first job is unlikely to be your mid-career job. Major in what you want and get that great paying first job. What you do next will not depend on your major.</p>

<p>That is a great paying major regardless. I am interested in both biomedical engineering and aerospace engineering. On average, the aerospace engineers will be earning more, but I am liking the prospect of biomedical more. I’d go with my heart because as someone before me said, you don’t want to get up and do something you hate 5 days a week or whatever your work will be.</p>

<p>I was talking to an emergency room physician from Massachusetts last month, and he was saying an electrician takes home more per hour than he does.</p>

<p>Computer engineering is a high paying career! Here I am contemplating whether I should follow my passion, which is (broadcast) journalism, or choose a more practical major/career. Television reporters, those lucky enough to find a job, start at around 20-30k. So you’re passion obviously is practical and better yet you love it. You shouldn’t even have to be asking this question.</p>

<p>If it really matters, you can major in CS while leaving the door open for:</p>

<ul>
<li>Investment banking – you want to attend a high prestige school that investment banks recruit at; you probably also want to take some economics, finance, and statistics courses as well.</li>
<li>Medicine – add the pre-med courses to your schedule. But medical schools like to see (time consuming) pre-med extracurriculars like shadowing, volunteering, etc…</li>
<li>Law – no specific course requirements, so you can be pre-law with any major and any course selection.</li>
</ul>

<p>However, if you do not really like doing these things, it makes little sense to do them, especially when what you like to do has pretty good job and career prospects to begin with.</p>