HI, first post, so I am a high school senior who has already been accepted to a couple of colleges that I cannot decide between, mostly because I cannot decide on a major and some of the colleges are better for certain majors than others. So I am wondering if anyone could recommend me a major that fits my interests and characteristics. I am NOT interested in going to graduate school or a 2 year degree. I just want to get a 4 year bachelors degree and then get on with my life.
I am so far considering:
-Computer science
-Engineering (namely electrical, computer, or energy)
-Accounting
-Mathematics
-Ideally I would like to major in a field where I can make at least $40,000 right out of college.
-I have no desire to major in the liberal arts (history/art/music/English)
-I have enjoyed all of my math and science classes in HS and have taken some advanced ones including calculus AB, AP biology, physics, and genetics.
-I enjoy working with computers and am more than competent with them (I work computer repair part time), though I have very little scripting experience as none of my schools have ever offered computer program classes
-I am currently taking year 1 accounting and very much enjoy it
-I dislike English classes, but I must be at least decent at it as I have earned an A in AP English
-I have a 3.95 GPA (unweighted) and 1870 SAT and 28 ACT
You can make at least $40K with a lot of majors. What determines how much you make is the job you take, not the major. An art history or philosophy major could end up working on Wall Street making $50K; an economics or engineering major could end up working at a nonprofit for $30K. Some majors do have, on average, higher starting salaries than others - but that's because those majors are more likely to go into higher-paying work for a variety of reasons. With that said, the average starting salary of all of those majors is over $40K, so don't worry about that.
Mathematics and computer science are both liberal arts majors. What you mean is you don't want to major in the humanities or social sciences, which is fine.
You can work with computers (and will, in fact) in any one of those jobs.
You might like accounting 1 because you are great at accounting, or because you like math. In addition, you can really like something without majoring in it - I really like history, but did not select that.
It doesn’t matter what you pick, and frankly, I think you are going about the college choice slightly wrong. You aren’t picking a specialized program or school, like for a PhD; you are picking an undergraduate school. You select those for more than the major - for the holistic experience, as most of your classes actually won’t be in your major AND you will spend more time out of class than in it. So if you are at an impasse because all of your colleges offer all of these majors, and the programs are all good solid programs, then start narrowing down based on non-academic factors and/or factors that aren’t concentrated on a particular major.
Do note, though, that all of these majors have sequenced classes. So even though your colleges do say that you can wait until sophomore year, you really do need to choose one before the end of your freshman year - so you can ensure that you are taking the classes in the right sequence. This is especially true of engineering, but is also true of math, since you have to finish the calculus sequence before you can take basically anything else.
Another thing to consider is how you like to think - more in the abstract/theoretical or more in the applied. Accounting and engineering are both very applied - what you learn is going to be immediately applied to real problems and real things. They also are majors that lead directly to specific kinds of jobs - most engineering majors go onto be…engineers. Accounting majors typically go become accountants.
A mathematics major is much more theoretical and abstract; it invokes a lot of logic, and by the time you are in the 300-level classes you actually will be seeing fewer numbers than you would expect (lots of symbols and Greek letters!). Computer science is somewhere in the middle - but it is a science, and is thus not quite as applied as an engineering major.
So are you the kind of person who need for your learning to be directly applicable or are you happy thinking in the abstract? Did you like writing proofs in algebra II/precalculus? Do you want a major that leads directly to a specific job field, so you know exactly what to do next, or are you okay with the greater exploration but relatively uncertainty of a math major? (Computer science is somewhere in between those two.)
Recent college graduate math majors have some of the lowest unemployment rates (5.9%). Engineering majors vary depending on type (7.6% for electrical; 8.1% for mechanical) and then computer science, despite the hype, has one of the higher rates (8.9%). However after about 5-7 years of experience, they all even out to about 4% unemployment.
Thanks for the advice, I hadn’t thought about it that way, I will definitely consider that now. I didn’t necessarily like the Algrebra 2 proofs (in my school there were very few, if any, proofs in Pre-Calc or Calculus) but I do very much like calculus and that is why I am considering mathematics. I could picture myself doing either directly applicable or abstract tasks, so I don’t think that really narrows it down.
I have a new question though, would I be at a disadvantage with any of these majors if I don’t go on to graduates school and obtain a higher degree? I have no desire to go to graduates school, at least not until a couple years after I graduate.
I’m not an expert in math but calculus is only one branch of math - others being geometry, analysis, and algebra. I vaguely remember a math major on CC saying one time that an issue with math is by the time you finish calculus in high school, you are barely - or haven’t even entered - the complete state of knowledge of math today in the 21st century. My husband loved calculus, too, but actually disliked his math major and changed to statistics. It was too abstract for him and he wanted to do problem-solving.
And no, I don’t think you would be at a disadvantage if you don’t attend graduate school with any of these majors. Most people don’t go to grad school. Accounting and engineering lend themselves more directly to job options without graduate degrees, but math and CS majors do BA-level work too.
It’s extremely difficult to make 40K right out of college with no experience in that work force. you can’t pick a major based on how much many you’ll make right out of school, look how many kids don’t even get jobs after graduating college. I would say engineering or computer science. Technological advances are where the money is at and will continue to be.