<p>Hi, does anyone know what the most lucrative major is, coming straight out of Columbia? Would it be Economics? Electrical Engineering? Computer Science? It'd be really helpful if some of the alums posted their experiences on this topic as well. Thanks!</p>
<p>If that's all you're interested in, don't apply to Columbia.</p>
<p>lol... (wow)</p>
<p>I think the highest average starting salary is Chemical Engineering, with EE and Comp Sci right up there as well. But these stats mean very little and say even less about which major is the most lucrative.</p>
<p>Columbia2002 is right. Heres a list according to CNN money - <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm</a></p>
<p>ChemE's always make the most (it's become a bit of running joke between me and all my CHemE friends).
It's kinda weird though that you'd go for a major just because it makes a lot of money...why not go for something you truly love and enjoy</p>
<p>But of course, if you truly love and enjoy money...then, what can I say...</p>
<p>I had 3 friends who applied to schools/majors that they didn't like and all 3 got rejected from better schools like Columbia, Cornell, Berk, etc. If you try to go to school without any passion for what you want to study there, you will be rejected. Adcoms can tell.</p>
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ChemE's always make the most (it's become a bit of running joke between me and all my CHemE friends).
It's kinda weird though that you'd go for a major just because it makes a lot of money...why not go for something you truly love and enjoy
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<p>To put this into context, as I said before, starting salary says very little about how lucrative a major/career/profession is. In 10 years, are ChemE's and EE's making more than doctors, lawyers, bankers, businessmen, etc.? Likely not, unless the engineer himself changes careers.</p>
<p>I agree, the most lucrative major for you is the one you actually care a lot about. you'll put in the extra effort, take the harder classes, go the extra mile, and your passion will shine through in job interviews.</p>
<p>i know a lot of people who majored in econ, got out to an analyst position at an ibank, and now hate their lives and plan on quitting. (ok, by "a lot" I mean 3, but that's a lot more than the one person i know who's happy with their wall street job). If you don't actually care, you can fake it for a while, but no paycheck is worth a life you really hate. it always sounds retarded to say "do what you love and the money will come", but the converse of that, "don't do what you love, and the money won't come", is also true sooner or later.</p>
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it always sounds retarded to say "do what you love and the money will come", but the converse of that, "don't do what you love, and the money won't come", is also true sooner or later.
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<p>I totally agree with the latter, but I'm not a fan of the former. Doing what you love is necessary, but not sufficient, for the money to come. There are plenty of career paths where there just isn't a ton of money to be made.</p>
<p>i love that CNN money post
im a history major
hello cardboard box</p>
<p>Abraham Lincoln, whose upbringing in poverty and whose compassion for the less fortunate are legendary, an opinion on income this way: </p>
<p>''I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. I want every man to have a chance in which he can better his condition; when he may look forward and hope to be a hired laborer this year and the next, work for himself afterward, and finally to hire men to work for him. . . . That some (are) rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself. . . .''</p>