<p>I think this is an interesting discussion. What interests me is the question in the first place about most profitable careers right out of college. It interests me because back when I chose a field in college and grad school and same with both of my kids (one now a senior in college and one in her first year of grad school), the criteria of "profitable" never arose in the choice of field. I went into education and it had been a lifelong interest of mine from a young age. My oldest is going to become an architect and while it wasn't an interest from a young age, she got interested starting in high school and went with her area of interest. My youngest has had a lifelong passion for musical theater and her college major was never discussed as we all knew it years in advance and she will graduate in that field this May. None of us chose our fields/careers based on how much we'd potentially make. Just another approach.</p>
<p>I agree with soozievt. I come from a lower middle-class background, so it's not like I always had money or anything or that I have a huge trust fund waiting for me, but for me in college the most important thing in selecting a career was something that I would love to do. Yes, it was important that it put food on my table and gave me enough so that I could take care of myself and my future family, but I never wanted to be rich, just comfortable.</p>
<p>But in answer to the question at hand: well, Wall Street did recently kind of blow up, but it's patently untrue that the Financial District has become a "ghost town" and that restaurants that catered to financiers are closing in droves. I live in New York; the financial district is far from a ghost town. It's still bustling. Yes, some firms did take a hit, but as someone else said, we will always have banks in the U.S. It's still going to be a profitable field to go into; chances are it's just that it will become more competitive as banks consolidate and hire fewer people.</p>
<p>Healthcare is another really good field; most economists dub it recession-proof. Regardless of how bad the economy gets, people are always going to get sick. Nurses make good salaries, especially with bachelor's degrees; also, health care administrators make good salaries and you don't need to have a master's (although increasingly hospitals are recruiting people with MBAs and MPHs in health care management). There is of course a cap; nurses and most administrators are not generally going to be be breaking 6 figures, unless you go for a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist (both of which require a master's degree) or you rise higher in the administration. Physician's assistants require a master's as well, plus some experience in patient care, but the salaries are good there as well.</p>
<p>Engineering is also a good field to go into with a bachelor's; one of the few fields left where the promotion/advancement is not necessarily contingent upon going back and earning a higher degree.</p>
<p>If you are looking to put food on the table, don't major in environmental science. Graduates are pouring out of colleges and there are few jobs. Two graduates I know were thrilled to finally land jobs as a home health aids @ $10.00/hour.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And some thoughts in the article below about investment banking bonuses. IMO, given the damage that Wall Street has done to the financial security of many Americans and given the fact that Americans are footing the bill for the Wall Street bailout, it would seem appropriate that Wall Street share in the pain and sacrifice and forego bonuses entirely in 2008.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But there is a way for Wall street to hide</p>
<p>Engineering in any fields are difficult. Many do not survive the first 2 years. My husband, brother in law, father in law are all engineers. My 2S into Eng at 2 top public U. Both complained it is difficult. Stick it out, you will be rewarded. I myself is in allied health care. Yes, it is quite recession proof. In this down turn of economic, we just got 5% raise and still have projected probably 5% bonus. Think of laboratory scientist, physical therapy, nursing, research scientist, pharmacy etc., most do require at least 4 yrs BS. All these science fields are just as difficult as engineering. The 1st 2 yrs are worst then the upper division, many basic knowledge in different discipline. Good luck.</p>
<p>UCLA is overstating the outlook for lab scientist/research. These most certainly do not fit the "most profitable careers right out of college" discussion. Right out of college you can enter into a graduate program (stipend of 25000 to 30000 per year), work as a lab tech (30000 to 40000 per year) or some industry positions (30000 to 45000). Obviously the location is the key factor in determining what end of the range your salary falls into, but in any case, these are not especially profitable. Also, as much as we in academia would like to believe, we are not recession proof. Our funds are derived from NIH grants and the NIH is directly tied to the economy and politics. Over the last five years of inflation and flat NIH budgets, the scientific enterprise has seen R01 grants (main grants for research) drop in award rates from 30% to about 10%.</p>
<p>A friend's wife got her Phd in a bio area from an Ivy and didn't find anything good in the job market. She now has another job in a different area (housewife).</p>
<p>well, the high paying jobs you get depend on what you major in...</p>
<p>to answer the op's question</p>
<p>Usually econ/business majors can make a lot of money and go into i-banking, hedge funds, and etc. only if they come from top schools and are the best at those top schools...not every harvard MBA becomes an executive... even econ majors form princeton and harvard have competition getting junior analyst positions and i-banking firms, and those junior analyst positions entail 100+ hour work weeks with even more competition to get promoted. Basically, you have to be incredibly smart and have good connections to get into those high paying finance jobs </p>
<p>Liberal arts and other random majors will land you no where, although if you major in something that you love you will be successful </p>
<p>My answer is engineering/comp sci majors, with undergrad degree you start out at around 60K+, with a masters 70-80K+. However, engineering tops out at around 120K with project managers, so there isnt much room for growth. Yet you have much greater chances of finding a stable, decent paying job with engineering rather than econ/whatever. Many engineers also drift into that finance area, and many become execs of the companies or start their own companies. So engineering is a good choice</p>
<p>Nursing is also well paying, out of college its 60K starting, and nurses can make 100K + with overtime, but its a very high stress job, and many burn out</p>
<p>Med school and law school are good options for making bank:
General Physicians usually make 120-180K
Specialists can make 200-600K depending on ur specialty
Corporate Lawyers can get 120K + coming out of law school at a big firm
Yet all these positions combine tough additional schooling, fierce competition, and hours of hard work</p>
<p>Overall, if your main goal is just to make money, i suggest you go into economics.</p>
<p>how about accounting?</p>
<p>If you're a a real math whiz and also good with talking to people, you can make a million dollars a year as an accountant(because a friend's parent does exactly that). But I compare accounting to law, in that the typical accountant is a failure but an exceptional accountant has almost no limit to what he can make</p>
<p>that's depressing. I have taken some calculus, but I am not really good at math. I won't consider myself good at talking to people knowing I am a recent immigrant, but I was able to adapt easily. I guess I am somewhat shy, but I don't let my shyness hold me back from what I want. And what I want is just a job that pays entry level salary of 40k up, thats all.</p>
<p>Talked to a neighbor of mine yesterday. He said that Conoco Phillips was offering 84,000 base salary with 20,000 bonus straight out of college with a bachelors degree. Sounded amazing to me.</p>
<p>Move to China or India with a degree in Computer Science and wait.
You could always marry into money too.</p>
<p>you dont need a masters to become a physician assistant. Most require just a bachelors and some medical experience. it depends on the location. I will become a pa soon and after reading actual job requirements most dont need a masters.</p>
<p>by the way pa's make 70 grand a year out of school.</p>
<p>I think alternative sources of energy could be an extremely profitable career, but Im set on doing economics or business, science isnt really my thing. Is it easy to get a job on the business side of energy? and what would the pay be, i think it would be an extremely interesting career</p>
<p>how about the most rewarding career regardless of salary is one you enjoy and can't wait to wake up to every (most!) morning(s.) </p>
<p>go for passion, not moolah.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The great(?) thing about the banking industry, if you're an employee, is that when things go really bad, the government will come to bail you out. However, if you're working in the tech industry and things go really bad, nobody will come to bail you out. Nobody was proposing that the government inject capital into tech firms, or buy bad assets from their books, or provide special lending facilities to them. The tech firms were all left to fend for themselves. I suppose that's one "advantage" that the banking industry will always have over the tech industry.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Moral hazard much, sakky?</p>
<p>Right now I'm thinking the best thing might be to move on to emerging markets, if you're really into chasing money.</p>
<p>Overseas might be the way to go either way though. Salaries going down, I'm totally fine with that. But the housing bubble needs to burst big time.</p>
<p>High paying jobs generally have some or all of the following qualities:</p>
<ol>
<li>Are boring (or perceived to be)</li>
<li>Require long hours</li>
<li>Require travel</li>
<li>Require a high intellect or have some other barrier to entry</li>
</ol>