Out of the given undergraduate degrees, which would be the most valuable?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Out of the given undergraduate degrees, which would be the most valuable?</p>

<p>Accounting (BS)
Biochemistry
Biology
Business Administration (BS)
Communication
Computer Science
Computer Information Systems
Criminal Justice (BS)
Environmental Science and Biology (BS)
Finance
International Business & Economics (BA)
International Studies (BA)
Journalism and Broadcasting
Marketing
Medical Technology (BS)
Meteorology
Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology</p>

<p>(That is my condensed list of possible degrees that I desire)</p>

<p>I know it's never good to go after a degree for the salary, but out of curiosity which of these degrees would be the most valuable in terms of salary?</p>

<p>I'm thinking of a business administration degree, but many people on the forum tend to render it a useless degree.</p>

<p>It's such a competitive world out there. I've always been a computer guy, and ever since I was in 5th grade I've been messing with servers, HTML, running my own little hosting business, etc. I've had dreams specifically of working either at a datacenter or an office job managing an IT team, but the school I'm going to really doesnt have an IT degree just computer science and information systems.</p>

<p>Honestly, I desire a job that would pay $100,00 (not know of course, but in it's median sometime in the far future). Some of the jobs like IT in certain areas, seem to stop at 60K-70K with no potential of an increase. In this type of economy, I expect that to decrease as well.</p>

<p>What do you think? Which one of those degrees would put me "up" there? It's all about the GPA behind the degree which I will put a considerable amount of effort for any degree I choose, I just need to know the direction I should take. </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>Edit: Also, the thing I don't like about CIS is that if you don't keep up with the always changing certifications for technology, you will fall behind.</p>

<p>Edit #2: Also, my preferred type of job would be something like a Senior Client Exec for Verizon sometime in the future:
<a href="http://www.verizon.com/jobs/alpharetta/sales/jobid349740-senior-client-executive-verizon-jobs/"&gt;http://www.verizon.com/jobs/alpharetta/sales/jobid349740-senior-client-executive-verizon-jobs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Either a degree that would put me in that direction or just something else entirely different</p>

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<p>A part of the equation is “from where” and “how well you did”.
A Psychology degree from Princeton might be more “valuable” than a CIS degree from High Point, but that does not make a Psychology degree in general more valuable than a CIS degree.</p>

<p>So… assuming the same school with the same degree of success on your part. I would say that the highest-paying degrees on this list are probably Computer Science, Finance and maybe Marketing (assuming your landing a good job in these fields).</p>

<p>However, what’s more valuable in the long run can be quite different. If your goal is just to make 100K as soon as possible after graduation. You should probably focus on getting some sort of comission-based sales position and not worry too much about a particular major.</p>

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<p>Some career advice from someone who did it - never start off your career wanting to be the support staff, even IT staff, they are never the focus of the business and are never appreciated. You are an expense in most organizations, nothing more, and are often considered a necessary evil. They are also the first to go in any cutbacks. Always try and be in a position that is the focus of the business. </p>

4

<p>Probably finance/accounting on just getting a job and making good money.</p>

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<p>You might want to look here for a forecast of salaries and jobs. <a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>CS, definitely. Then Finance, Accounting, Marketing, maybe a few others.</p>

<p>That’s quite a broad list though. And I’m no expert but I would recommend against something like “Medical Technology” since it’s too specific to give you a lot of career options.</p>

<p>Anyways, choosing some of these majors based on what you expect is the ROI, may result in you wasting the next 4 years. For example, if you don’t love CS, you’re going to hate it and become a pretty bad developer. If you don’t like Math and Accounting, you’re going to HATE your job.</p>

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<p>I agree, ESPECIALLY if you’re not at a top 20 B-school. Even if you are, in general I don’t see the point in a BBA, and I think getting an MBA afterwards would be better instead. </p>

7

<p>CS or Applied Math, but I’d add philosophy. It’s rather rare and while not “practical” it’s “useful” in that it would certainly show you’re serious, logical, articulate, can write, ie., have all the critical skills employers want + have the guts to go with what you like. All in all, I’d say it’ll depend on the college and what internships you got in college.
What colleges were you thinking of?</p>

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<p>“I don’t see the point in a BBA”</p>

<p>There are schools that give BBAs instead of BS (Texas, Baylor, Michigan, Pace, Wisconsin,). You can major in accounting or finance in those schools. I think what you mean is don’t major in general business administration.</p>

9

<p>BBA’s are widely seen as less rigorous than BAs/BS in that they’re more vocational and have fewer general education requirements (and research has shown business school students, outside the top20, have fewer readings, write fewer papers, write fewer pages for these papers, etc.) The more prestigious the MBA program, the more likely the undergraduate degree is to be in a “traditional” subject such as math, economics, english, etc. as well as engineering.
Generally though you’re correct, it’s better to have a degree in accounting or finance, than a degree in general business administration.</p>

10

<p>CS is good ONLY for a top tier school like a Stanford or a UC Berkeley with a high gpa; basically you gotta be an amazingly gifted coder. No one cares about a half-rate coder. </p>

<p>CIS is good IF you can break into the industry. Since IT is all based on certificates you could even break in with a finance degree + a certificate in some area so the actual value of a CIS degree v a Finance or a marketing degree is questionable. You will also probably need an MBA later tho. </p>

<p>Finance is REALLY good from a top tier school like Wharton but it’s also good from a low ranked school. Make sure you really know your stuff and you are part of the schools finance clubs and what not.</p>

<p>Accounting is really good from any school, all that matters is taking the right classes so you can sit for your CPA.</p>

<p>Business Administration is just an umbrella term, finance is a field under business. Accounting is like the sister degree to BBA. </p>

<p>The other degrees are all worthless as degrees themselves, it’ll be up to you and other qualities to make them work. </p>

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<p>If you really want to make money, you should think about starting your own business, and what degree or skills would help with that. You’ll do best in your own business if it is your passion, with a small dose of “reality” (I.e., there has to be a market for it). In your own business, you’re making money from other people’s work, and you can grow it, hire more minions, and make more. If you are an employee, you are limited to the number of hours YOU can work, and you’ll top out fast (and a lot lower than a business owner would). </p>

12

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<p>Yeah, that’s what I meant.</p>

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<p>What…?</p>

<p>The demand for CS majors is so high that it simply can’t even be met by just top tier schools. In fact, the exact opposite to what you said seems to be true. You DON’T have to go to a top tier school to get a good CS education. There are SO many people I know employed in the software industry with degrees from schools that aren’t top 10 or 20 in the major.</p>

<p>In fact, you don’t even need a degree in CS to work in firms as a developer, as long as you have the necessary experience. Of course, it definitely helps, but you could major in say, Math, MechE, CogSci etc, and still end up earning a high salary as a developer.</p>

<p>IMO schools like Stanford/CMU/Berkeley/MIT etc don’t really have the phenomenally stronger CS programs than other less prestigious schools that people often suggest. Sure, you’ll be able to network at these schools better, have a wider choice of classes, be exposed to more CS research etc, but in the end, undergraduate CS programs across the country, regardless of the college, teach more or less the same things. So if you’re not going to a “top-tier CS” school, I highly doubt that that’s going to limit your career options in the software industry.</p>

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<p>IF you don’t goto a top rated CS program you won’t be able to get into a top firm like a Google or an Apple, competition into those companies s extremely high. Pay for so-so coders isn’t amazing. If you are going to treat a CS degree like a CIS degree and just work in the IT field then it’s a different story. </p>

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<p>Is this serious!?!?! So subjective. Pick what you love and it will prove to be INVALUABLE! </p>

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<p>Please, just because companies like Google, Apple etc may not actively recruit on a campus, doesn’t mean it automatically becomes more competitive to get the job for your college’s graduates. You keep saying things like “so-so coders”, “half-rate coders” etc, but going to a school that isn’t top rated in CS does not imply that you are a poor developer. You can go to ANY school in the country and still become a good developer, partially because the lack of good teaching does not have any effect on what you can learn - learning different languages and getting good at them is as simple as picking up a book, reading documentation and watching youtube videos.</p>

<p>A job at Google, Apple et al likely relies more on your interview, your Github and the projects you’ve undertaken/can show for yourself, and GPA (to get the interview in the first place), than where you graduate from. There is no bias towards Berkeley and Stanford graduates, I would think, other than the fact that they are in the bay area, so are easily accessible. And I say this as someone going to Berkeley this year.</p>

<p>Of course, I might be wrong, and MAYBE graduates from these schools have a better chance. However, I’m fairly certain that the competition for non-top rated school graduates doesn’t magically increase the amount you’re suggesting.</p>

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<p>Well, of course it depends on what you mean by valuable.</p>

<p>It’s really close to impossible to answer this question…it more depends on the job you get and what you decide to do post-college. I know a psychology major who probably makes more than a lot of finance majors because she has a job with a major advertising firm. I know an English major who works for Forbes.</p>

<p>You can also look this up at the BLS. Georgetown also has an unemployment report with these figures. The below are taken from this.</p>

<p>Recent grads / Experienced Grads / Graduate degree holders</p>

<p>Accounting: $43,000 / $65,000 / $90,000
Business administration: $36,000 / $60,000 / $76,000
Marketing: $37,000 / $65,000 / $81,000
Finance: $44,000 / $72,000 / $95,000</p>

<p>Medical technologies: - / $60,000 / - </p>

<p>Philosophy: $30,000 / $48,000 / $62,000</p>

<p>Communications: $34,000 / $57,000 / $65,000
Journalism: $32,000 / $58,000 / $66,000</p>

<p>Information Systems: $43,000 / $68,000 / $80,000
Computer science: $50,000 / $81,000 / $96,000</p>

<p>Psychology: $30,000 / $48,000 / $61,000
Sociology: $32,000 / $50,000 / $60,000
International relations: - / $65,000 / $91,000</p>

<p>Biology: $31,000 / $56,000 / $87,000
Biochemical sciences: - / $69,000 / $96,000
Environmental science: - /$55,000 / -
Geology and earth sciences: - / $63,000 / - (meteoreologists average $89,260 a year per the BLS).</p>

<p>The answer is - it really depends on what you do. If you major in biochemistry or finance but end up managing a retail store, you’re going to make less money than the psychology major who worked at Merrill Lynch for 2 years after college and then got an MBA. The degree isn’t the magic key to making money; it just gives you preparation for a potentially lucrative career.</p>

<p>That said, it’s no secret that business and STEM majors tend to have skills that are in high-demand in careers that can yield high salaries. From the Georgetown survey, computer science, biochemistry, accounting, and finance seem to be some of the highest paying careers with a graduate degree. Those are the ones that average close to $100,000. Interesting enough, so does international relations. Biology, metereology, marketing and business admin aren’t that far behind. But even a master’s holding biology major isn’t goint to make $87,000 if he’s teaching ninth grade English at the local high school, and a graduate degree-holding sociologist can make more than $60,000 if he becomes a sociology if he becomes a noted sociologist at a prestigious university. It just depends.</p>

<p>There’s also a lot to be said for enjoying your job and being fulfilled and happy at work. I’m not saying that you should feel warm and fuzzy at work, but it shouldn’t be something you hate and dread, either. So if you like computers, working with them may be a great idea - but there are a LOT of jobs that require strong computer skills, including programming.</p>

<p>Also, small business owners don’t always make a lot of money, so starting your own business isn’t necessarily a remedy for making a lot of money. Most businesses lose more money than they make in the early years.</p>

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<p>If you are interested in CS, and by the looks of it you are, then go for it. You will know what you are doing and won’t be lost in a new world. You don’t have to go to a top tier school for a top job…if you prove that you can do all the coding/programming, etc and if you can show that you are different from everyone else then you will definitely be able to land a great paying job at Google, Apple, fb, etc</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t use the word “definitely.” Even though computer science is a smaller major, nearly every computer science major wants to work at Google, Apple, Facebook, or Twitter, and the vast majority of CS majors will NOT work at one of those companies. A new CS major can definitely have that as a goal and something to work towards, but should also recognize that chances are good that they won’t be working at one of those companies - and be okay with the idea of having a more mundane/less prestigious (and probably lower-paying) position in the field somewhere else.</p>

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<p>Wait in addition to Berkeley and Stanford, wouldn’t MIT computer science also have a lot of recruits to Apple/google/fb? I mean it is one of the top computer science schools even if it’s not on the west coast and I know some people from there who have been recruited to these companies. Also, doesn’t Carnegie Mellon have the best or one of the best CS schools?</p>