<p>Okay, so I know the business field has some pretty useless majors, like marketing and entrepreneurship, but what are the "almost guaranteed to make a decent living within a couple years of graduation" majors? I've heard accounting is pretty good?</p>
<p>No such thing. However, you probably have the best chance as a Accounting, Finance, or MIS major (depending on what field you are interested in.)</p>
<p>I agree with ^^^. All business majors have alot of students who are struggling. I wouldnt call marketing or entrepreneurship useless, but definitely less marketable (hehe) than some of the others.</p>
<p>It also depends on how you define decent.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, pretty all the public accounting jobs (which are the majority of jobs offered to graduating students) require 150 semester or 225 quarter credits. Which, depending on how many credits you took in undergrad, can mean an additional year of study. And if you already earned your degree, the credits to make up the difference ae not eligible for most financial aid, since you’ve already got 1 degree. And then you’ve got to weigh in the cost/time of education VS the return. I don’t think that the odds are on your side for any business major, if you want what I call a “decent” living.</p>
<p>“And then you’ve got to weigh in the cost/time of education VS the return. I don’t think that the odds are on your side for any business major, if you want what I call a “decent” living.”</p>
<p>My question to you is what career path would give a better return/cost-benefit than say an accounting, finance, or IS degree? Certainly not a medical or law degree. Engineers have their own problems; upward mobility is very limited. The only option with a better path would arguably be a tech-based career path. The caveat here = techies are largely born not made; you have to like math and circuits and binary code and so on.</p>
<p>Engineering has a better return/cost-benefit than accounting by a lot: <a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp[/url]”>http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp</a></p>
<p>Any lack of upward mobility is due to the arrogance and awful social skills of many engineers, don’t be a weirdo and it won’t be an issue.</p>
<p>Anyhow, accounting, engineering, and nursing all seem to be weathering the recession better than most. Number-crunching will still get you a “decent living.” Perhaps the idea of what a “decent living” is has become somewhat inflated lately…</p>
<p>Finance, Accounting, or Actuarial Sciences would probably be your best bets.</p>
<p>My definition of a decent living: A nice 2-3 story house in a nice metropolitan/suburb area. No debts, because financially, I can support myself/family without having to borrow money. I can replace my car every 2-3 years, with a new Honda/Ford/whatever middle class car you can think of. Every now and then I can take a vacation to x destination, and so on so forth. So in 1 word, comfortable.</p>
<p>A 30 roomed mansion with 5 Lamborghinis in my garage would be heavenly, but come on, that’s not gonna happen xD.</p>
<p>As mentioned acct,finance or MIS, but majoring in those doesn’t guarantee a job. So before you get all excited about your future outcomes, know how you plan on making it happen.</p>
<p>Haha Tedron, that may be true. But is it possible that my idea of a “decent” living wage is rising along with the cost & risks associated with going to college? </p>
<p>Shouldnt the return be at least equal to the risk? With tuition rising 15% every year & the increased difficulty in finding a job, I’d like at least 40 K starting salary. However when you put in the opportunity cost, financial cost, and student loan pmts on a 5 year degree, 40 K still is less than ideal. </p>
<p>However, so many students cant find jobs in their field at all. Getting a degree in business is a huge gamble. I have no idea about other career paths.</p>
<p>Well then learn a trade at cc or no college at all if you want the “most idea risk and return” according to your logic. The risk and return ratio (wage/debt from college, which I made up BTW) for these people is anywhere from about 4 - infinity, whereas the same ratio for a 4-year college student is at best 1.</p>
<p>Your logic is too short-term minded.</p>
<p>
They do? Not according to [url=<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html]WSJ.com[/url”>WSJ.com]WSJ.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Starting Salaries:
ChemE: $63,200
EE: $60,900
Economics: $50,100
Finance: $47,900
Accounting: $46,000</p>
<p>Mid-Career Salaries:
ChemE: $107,000
EE: $103,000
Econ: $98,600
Finance: $88,300
Accounting: $77,100</p>
<p>Wow, those “problems” with “limited upward mobility” sure are harsh for engineers, eh? It sucks how people with all the other degrees are able to surpass engineers later on in their careers.</p>
<p>trizz, i dont quite get what your saying. </p>
<p>to change the subject a little. Does everybody believe the starting salaries statistics? </p>
<p>Do starting salaries include the wages of all of the unemployed/students who continued working at retail after they graduated? I think not. I really doubt the average of my fellow graduating accounting class one year after graduation will be 47K.</p>
<p>
[Accountant</a> Salary & Job Description, Accounting Salary Data - PayScale](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Accountant/Salary]Accountant”>http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Accountant/Salary)
As you can see, typical accountants in the US make from $29,928 to $60,777.</p>
<p>[Salary.com</a> Salary Wizard- Do you know what you’re worth?](<a href=“Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth?”>Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth?)
Here, they claim the range is $36,254 to $52,572.</p>
<p>So actually, 47k starting doesn’t seem that bad compared to the overall data.</p>
<p>Engineering is one field where the school name is far less important as long as the program is certified.
In business the name on the degree matters and there is a world of difference between a business/finance degree from a Top 10 B school versus one from Idaho State or Southern Illinois or worse. Lots of marginal schools give business degrees.</p>
<p>It’s true that the starting salary for accountants would make 47k on average. Their pay raise is not high and some would never even make it to the six figure digits. Earning a CPA would bring you at a closer chance to a six figure, but would still take many years of work experience before earning so high. It also depends on the firm your working at. Here is an average of how much a person would make if they worked for the Big 4.
[Careers-in-Accounting.com:</a> Your Guide to Salaries](<a href=“Web Page Under Construction”>Web Page Under Construction)</p>
<p>[A</a> Close Look at CPA Salaries - The Salary Reporter](<a href=“http://blogs.payscale.com/salary_report_kris_cowan/2010/04/cpa-salaries.html]A”>A Close Look at CPA Salaries | Payscale - Salary Comparison, Salary Survey, Search Wages)
Salaries for a CPA</p>
<p>Whatdidyou, its true that payscales statistics do include those people who continued into retail. Go look at the most popular jobs by major section of the site and you’ll see a lot of liberal arts/humanities graduates taking jobs as retail managers, admin assistants, and related jobs.</p>
<p>The official govt labor and wage statistics confirm most of the salary numbers pumped out by payscale. Do the research.</p>
<p>Yes, medwell’s second post (with the payscale data) seems much more reasonable than the previously posted 47,900 K starting salary. </p>
<p>When I click on accounting for the major it doesnt seem to have a whole lotta data. I’m guessing people who majored in acctg, but went into retail, did not enter themselves into payscale’s surveys as accountants…but idk. Too lazy to really look into it. </p>
<p>Based on payscales figures, id figure its common for accountants to make 29-40K after graduation, probably on the low end of that, if you don’t get into public acctg. Maybe WSJ’s 47 K, was the public accounting average?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that although a business or other non-engineering major CAN POSSIBLY surpass an engineer’s salary in the later years, that experienced business major has to pretty much be either:</p>
<p>a) Top in his/her game
b) Create a successful business
c) Bring in big business to an employer</p>
<p>along with COMPETING against a LOT of others trying to do the same thing.</p>
<p>In certain areas of software engineering, while it would rare to go over the $180k-$200k yearly salary, you can get that $180k-$200k just by merely “existing” and have more job openings than folks vying for the jobs.</p>
<p>Its true that engineers face upward mobility problems, but that’s a promotional issue not a salary issue. Engineers get paid A LOT of money because they have highly technical and irreplaceable skills. But, if you want to rise to the top of a company, you eventually have to move towards managerial type roles. This is what is meant by “upward mobility problems.” Lots of companies are run by engineering majors, but they had to go back and get their MBAs before they could move up into those upper management positions.</p>
<p>Oh, and as to the accounting salary question. Most schools publish salary statistics for their graduating class. 55 is about right for a public accountant from a top school. Its a little higher in corporate accounting because the exit opportunities are weaker. </p>
<p>Here’s the Ross employment profile:
[Employment</a> Profile - University of Michigan Business School](<a href=“http://www.bus.umich.edu/EmploymentProfile/ByFunction.htm?StudentType=BBAGrads]Employment”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/EmploymentProfile/ByFunction.htm?StudentType=BBAGrads)</p>