My second child is a high school Junior. She is taking the ACT next month, and we are increasingly talking with her about colleges and potential majors. With almost 50% unemployment and underemployment among new college graduates, our approach to identifying her initial interests, has been to try to find the subset of majors where she is interested, employable, can earn a decent income, and also able to keep her options open longer, in case she changes her mind.
Often families put more thought into selecting a college than into choosing a good major, which is probably more important.
As part of that process, I just discovered this interesting chart. It shows lifetime earnings for many different majors. Not the be all and end all, but clearly a factor to consider. I thought others might be informative to other parents too.
It is important to think about majors, but it’s also important to realize that a significant number of students change majors during the course of their college career. Many kids start college thinking they’re going to be engineers or doctors or accountants only to get into classes and find it’s not a suitable path for them after all. It’s great to know that engineers earn the most money, but it’s also important to realize that not everyone is meant to be an engineer.
As you and your daughter talk about this, you may find that the choice of major affects the choice of colleges.
For example, my son wanted to (and did) major in computer science, but if that had not worked out, he would not have wanted to major in any other technical field. Computer science was (and still is) the only tech field that appeals to him. So my husband and I advised him to apply to universities, not tech-oriented schools, so that he would have lots of non-technical choices if he decided that computer science was not for him.
I think the important talks include the variety of skills one needs to succeed after college. Not just that a degree in X may pay more than majoring in Y, but what else. It’s not just what you study, the classes you take. They need to come out with a level of confidence, ability to present themselves, writing and analysis skills. ways they’ve developed (and can show) leadership, etc.
If you know any recent grads, try to look at their LinkedIn profiles. You can sometimes see which can only list their majors and courses and a few clubs, versus those who took on more. My humanities kid is in semi-tech (not one of the best paying jobs but she’s already looking for more.) Her first work was a grant, came in large part from a service opportunity she pursued in college.
I know IT and CS majors who moved off to lush Silicon Valley jobs- and those who started reprogramming cell phones at the mall. The whole package matters.
“It’s great to know that engineers earn the most money, but it’s also important to realize that not everyone is meant to be an engineer.”
I agree. I am certainly not suggesting that you just choose one of the top three and you are done. However, if a student is interested in multiple subjects, I think it that income and the magnitude of income difference between two areas of interest is something worth considering. I had not seen such a well organized chart of this information before.
“I know IT and CS majors who moved off to lush Silicon Valley jobs- and those who started reprogramming cell phones at the mall. The whole package matters.”
That is very true. Those careers can have a very wide distribution of outcomes, and better soft skills can be a difference maker. Another factor can be how early the student begins getting coding experience. From what I have seen, the earlier in college that a CS major begins getting real world coding experience, the better off they are. Even if they have only had volunteer internships, that is okay. Those can lead to a paid internship, and that can lead to a real job. Every bit of hands on coding skill and experience helps. Getting good grades but graduating with no experience, is not a good strategy for coders.
And, contrary to popular belief…not all CS/engineering degrees are created equal…those who graduate from Stanford/MIT with degrees in CS/Engineering command a higher salary due to their reputations/connections in the technology world than those who get those CS/engineering degrees from your average universities…
…many liberal arts/humanities majors graduating from Stanford/Harvard/Princeton can make as much or more than those who graduate with CS/engineering degrees from many of the non-top 15 engineering/CS programs…due to the networking these schools offer in fields outside of the technology world…
…Stanford is unusual in that it is tops in both CS/Engineering world and tops in the humanities/social sciences world…
I didn’t help my kids choose their majors. They chose on their own. Oldest went in as International affairs, discovered economics in college and added it as a double major. Second kid knew what he wanted to do from about 5th grade on, and youngest went in to her LAC undecided but leaning toward one science. She has since declared something else as her major and may end up double majoring also. They chose their own colleges too, for us neither of these were family decisions.
My son who had no coding job experience did OK with finding a job.
Our DD has a bachelors degree in engineering. She never intends to be an engineer of any kind. She picked up a double major that is more closely related to her ultimate career goal. So…even IF your kiddo majors in engineering, there is no guarantee that the kiddo will choose to work in that field.
More bluntly: These are the schools where investment banking firms recruit. And investment banking pays very high salaries. But that career field also has important downsides.
@mamabear1234 “I didn’t help my kids choose their majors. They chose on their own.”
When I went to school, it didn’t seem to come up as much as part of he college selection process. However, if she thinks that she may have an interest in engineering, business, or education, for example, then it impacts the choices because a lot of colleges do not have all of those majors available. Additionally, some colleges require the student to apply to a specific school, so you have to discuss that issue.
I completely agree that, in the end, the college she attends has to be her choice. The student has to be happy with their school and major, and it is important that they own those decisions.
“…many liberal arts/humanities majors graduating from Stanford/Harvard/Princeton can make as much or more than those who graduate with CS/engineering degrees from many of the non-top 15 engineering/CS programs…due to the networking these schools offer in fields outside of the technology world…”
We will not be looking at top 15 for DD2. She is a good student, with about a 3.6 gpa unweighted and a very rigorous course load. Her practice ACT was a 30, with a 31 in math. She takes her first real attempt at a real ACT next month. I would guess that we are looking at top 100 schools, but not top 15.
This chart is interesting in many ways, not the least of which is a snapshot of what our culture is currently emphasizing as important. As one data point in the “picking a major” conversation it is useful, but clearly not the entire picture (as the OP pointed out).
@stradmom Agreed. It was also interesting how much differentiation there seems to be related to math ability, with most of the majors in the top half requiring at least some calculus and or statistics. It looks like very few in the bottom half of the chart require those classes.
So many tippy tops schools are taking a harder look for great humanities kids right now. Gravitas has mentioned Stanford, we know Harvard is, and also the school I work for. We’ve had time to realize STEM itself isn’t the only thing that makes the world go 'round. And that all those techies and entrepreneurs and IB folks need employees who can strategize, analyze, write, present, project, and crisis manage. and they will pay for them. It’s going to be an interesting next ten years.
" And that all those techies and entrepreneurs and IB folks need employees who can strategize, analyze, write, present, project, and crisis manage. and they will pay for them. It’s going to be an interesting next ten years. "
I don’t understand this sentiment at all, and it comes up often. Somehow that STEM majors aren’t capable of strategizing, analyzing, writing, etc.
My son will never be as good as his sister in writing, she loves it and has a real flair for it. DS will never hit her level but it doesn’t make him incapable of writing or any of the other qualities attributed to the humanities.
“I don’t understand this sentiment at all, and it comes up often. Somehow that STEM majors aren’t capable of strategizing, analyzing, writing, etc.”
I don’t think she means that. I think she is just saying that humanities majors have a lot to contribute and can add a lot of value even though they may not have a lot of technical knowledge.
^ Right. Not all engineers have time to stop engineering and write. Or do marketing presentations or collect feedback on what the market wants. They don’t always want to stop to write manuals or deal with project management projections and timelines. They don’t want to customize that order or write those proposals. I happen to love the engineer mindset and personality, the creativity and curiosity. But who do you think are the wind beneath the wings in Silicon Valley or Wall Street and beyond? The needed level of tech (or industry specific) knowledge can be acquired by a smart, logical, analytical humanities kid even if they can’t engineer the project or decide what stocks to put in a mutual fund.) Etc.
And, contrary to popular belief…some of the most powerful Silicon Valley founders and influential leaders were not CS/Engineering grads…
Peter Thiel…philosophy/law school both from Stanford
Reid Hoffman…symbolic systems in cognitive science Stanford/philosophy masters Oxford
David Sacks…economics Stanford/law Chicago
Keith Rabois…political science Stanford/law Harvard
just a few examples…
