The "best" career paths/majors to go into?

Parents Forum
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<p>Arguably, the best engineers start their own businesses and many of them have become multi-millionaires and there are lot more of then than neuro-surgeons. Many other engineers made millions from stock options in start ups that went public. Similarly, the best paid physicians typically are partners or own the clinics where they work. The ones who work as salaried employees for hospitals don’t make anywhere near as much as those that are self-employed. </p>

<p>The moral of the story is that if you want to make a lot of money is any profession, you need to own a stake in the business: partnership in a clinic, law or investment firm, stock ownership in a tech company…</p>

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<p>I find that doctors can only make so much unless you Dr. Drew/Phil/Oz who branch out versus engineers or entrepreneurs who often make less than doctors, but at times can make even more.</p>

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<p>That’s because Dr. Phil isn’t a “real” doctor!</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_McGraw[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_McGraw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"In 1983, McGraw and his father joined Thelma Box, a successful Texas businesswoman, in presenting “Pathways” seminars, “an experience-based training which allows individuals to achieve and create their own results.”[11] Critics claim that many of the “phrases and the terminology and the quaint sayings” used by McGraw on the Oprah and Dr. Phil shows were coined by Box and presented by McGraw in this seminar. McGraw admits that some of the material from Life Strategies, his first best-seller, is taken directly from the Pathways seminar. However, he has never mentioned Box or her contributions to his success in any of his books or TV shows.[8] Eight years after joining Box, McGraw signed an agreement for the sale of his Pathways seminar stock for $325,000 without notifying either his father or Box of the impending sale.[8] Box founded her own seminars entitled “Choices”
“Appearing on the Today Show in January 2008, McGraw said that he has made it “very clear” that his current work does not involve the practice of psychology. He also said that he had “retired from psychology”.[19] According to the Today Show, the California Board of Psychology determined in 2002 that he did not require a license because his show involves “entertainment” rather than psychology.[19] Magraw’s license is currently is listed by the Texas State Board of Psychology as “retired” and he holds no other active licenses to practice in any other state. According to Texas State Law, McGraw could still be open to a charge of practicing without a license in Texas, since his show is broadcast in that state.[20] [21]”</p>

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<p>MDs frequently launch biotech startups or work in research and/or management in pharma, device and insurance companies. MDs can be quite entrepreneurial.</p>

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<p>Has University of North Texas revoked his Ph.D. degree?</p>

<p>If not, he’s still a “real doctor,” albeit perhaps not one currently licensed to practice anywhere.</p>

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<p>Most biotech startups are founded by PhDs not MDs (unless they are MD/PhDs). On the other hand, it is much more common for MDs to form medical device companies. They work on particular surgical procedure for years and find a better way to perform the procedure and then patent a device. </p>

<p>Many MDs get into medicine just because they were good in the STEM fields in college. Some realize later they don’t like to deal with patients and would rather tinker in a lab or come up with a new device. In that sense, they are not very different from engineers.</p>

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<p>"If not, he’s still a “real doctor,” albeit perhaps not one currently licensed to practice anywhere. "</p>

<p>You are right! After i went to wikipedia to find a quote, i realized they changed their entry. There is new information there! I believe it USED to say “As of 2008, McGraw has not completed the conditions imposed by the Board of Examiners of Psychologists, and he is not licensed to practice psychology.” The current entry is clearer.</p>

<p>I probably should have said Dr. Phil does not make his money through the practice of medicine.</p>

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<p>The practice of medicine is restricted to physicians or MDs. PhDs don’t practice medicine even if they can put Dr. in front of their name. Even lawyers are technically doctors (Juris Doctor). This is why in the medical world you don’t call yourself Doctor unless you are a physician. </p>

<p>It is the opposite in academia where MDs are not considered “real doctors” but just physicians. A famous professor at Stanford often reminded his students that not long ago, surgeons were just barbers. So-called professional doctorates (medicine, law, chiropractic, now even architecture) are a fairly recent phenomenon. The schools that issued the degrees felt that Doctor of Medicine sounded better than Bachelor of Medicine!</p>

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<p>Hospitality & Tourism…The leading industry !!!</p>

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<p>I’ve enjoyed the pro’s & cons of various professions. Just my “two cents” but here’s a plug for the science/math majors. My son ,who graduated in the spring, has found pretty good success with his undergraduate Applied Math degree. He’s had a couple of $70k-ish offers for jobs close to home where he would specifically be applying his skills. We don’t think much about it but the foundations of many of the Internet company’s is math. Google search algorithms, Facebook’s sophisticated analysis of its massive social networks, the “game theory” underlying online remarketing sites…all are applied math (as opposed to theoretical math) based. I know the subject of math is not for every student but if one likes applied math and can layer in a good amount computer science on top of it one can do fairly well and find employers interested in them. Not a huge job market but definitely out there.</p>

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<p>Well, you won’t get rich as an engineer unless you start your own business or are one of the .1% who rise through the ranks in management. As an engineer, you can have a nice, comfortable middle class income - as long as you are able to stay employed.</p>

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<p>It’s interesting to read about these kids who are getting offers in the 60-80K range. My husband has been a chemical engineer with the same company for 26 yrs and earns just over $100K - with the occasional bonus.</p>

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<p>WDAVEO - I know what you mean and feel the same. Well educated, hard working professionals in frankly tough & important fields (such as engineering) dedicate themselves to a field and/or company for a few decades and never/barely/rarely break six figures and then new runny nose undergrads gets almost the same pay.
Granted it doesn’t happen every day and those opportunities are probably shrinking but it still happens enough for most people to maybe know some.
My son had two computer science classmates this year who went to work for Microsoft and Apple making $85k and $100k respecticely, plus bonus on top. Another friend graduated from Notre Dame in CS the previous year (2010) and went to work for Microsoft in the $80-90k range.</p>

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<p>“Science/math majors” are not all the same with respect to job and career prospects. Applied math is one of the better ones, as are computer science, physics, and statistics. Biology and chemistry job and career prospects are not very good, though; a flood of new biology graduates each year means stiff competition for the few good jobs and even the more numerous low pay lab technician jobs.</p>

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<p>I think Media/Communications is also a good path…that’ll be there no matter what the state of economy.</p>

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<p>One way to address this is to look at what career paths are chosen by students at the nation’s most selective schools. Judging from College Confidential posts, 4 general areas seem to attract especially high interest: law, medicine, finance, and engineering. Are these in fact the most popular career paths for graduating seniors at top schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford?</p>

<p>Roughly 20% of seniors at HYPS apply to law school (source:<a href=“http://www.lsac.org/LSACResources/Data/PDFs/top-240-feeder-schools.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lsac.org/LSACResources/Data/PDFs/top-240-feeder-schools.pdf&lt;/a&gt;). </p>

<p>The percentage of HYPS seniors applying to med school seems to be smaller. At Harvard, for example, the figure has been roughly 10% in recent years (source: [Competition</a> for Medical School Stiffens | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/17/competition-for-medical-school-stiffens-the/]Competition”>Competition for Medical School Stiffens | News | The Harvard Crimson)).</p>

<p>In 2008, as many as 40% of Harvard seniors headed directly into business, consulting and finance after graduating ([Harvard</a> Graduates Head to Investment Banking, Consulting | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/6/22/harvard-graduates-head-to-investment-banking/]Harvard”>Harvard Graduates Head to Investment Banking, Consulting | News | The Harvard Crimson)). This may be a 1-year anomaly. Maybe some other CC poster can find data on the number of HYPS graduates who enter MBA programs.</p>

<p>As for engineering, 19% of Princeton students major in it (according to the school’s 2010-11 Common Data Set). At Stanford, the figure is 13.5% (with another 3.4% majoring in “engineering technologies”). At Yale, it was 14%; at Harvard, less than 5%.</p>

<p>It does appear that these 4 general fields attract a majority of top American students. All other career fields (academia, architecture, education, government service, journalism, social work, etc.) must be fairly small slices of the pie. Of course, your major choice is another issue (since you can major in virtually any liberal arts program and still go to law, medical, or business school). At HYPS, the social sciences are the most popular majors, by far.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t get in to a career based on what the state of the economy is. Follow your dreams. Your younger years might be the only chance in life you get to do so.</p>

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<p>Whenever you are an employee of someone else, projecting future employment is difficult. What will be outsourced, consolidated or eliminated is unknown. I think the best path is one that enhances critical thinking and reading skills. Such people who can also communicate should be able to find meaningful and steady employment regardless of the twist and turns in the economy. And if they cannot, well… such a world would not be missed.</p>

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<p>For med school especially, you need to look at at graduating students applying 2-5 years out not just seniors applying as the majority of med school applicants apply later.</p>

<p>According to the official numbers from the AAMC, the annual number of med school applicants in 2010 represented the following percntages of an average graduating class:</p>

<p>Harvard 18.45%
Stanford 18%
Yale 17.5%
Princeton 14.6%
MIT 13.6%</p>

<p>Other notables:</p>

<p>Duke 20.4%
Brown 17.5%
Columbia 17.6%</p>

<p>The average for the top 20 schools is around 17.5% or slightly more than 1 out of 6 students eventually applying to med school.</p>

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<p>If I could do it all over again I would never have gotten a degree in Interior Design. But it sounded good when I was young and wanted to pursue my dreams! In reality, this is one of the worst degrees to get, and probably for most, would be best pursued as a hobby. I ended up in an area with basically no demand for this service, almost no employement opportunities and in a professionon that is highly dependant on the economy. </p>

<p>I have one kid in college and another is a high school senior, and I’m recommending that they think a lot more about the usefulness of their choice in degree than I did. As the world becomes more specialized and technical, it’s not enough to simply have a college degree in ‘anything’ which is what I was told back in the 80s. Thankfully my husband is an engineer with an MBA and has had no problems being in demand and earning money.</p>