New study tells students the worth of their majors

[Deleted]

By KATHY MATHESON
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The choice of undergraduate major in college is strongly tied to a student's future earnings, with the highest-paying majors providing salaries of about 300 percent more than the lowest-paying, according to a study released Tuesday.

Based on first-of-its-kind Census data, the report by Georgetown University in Washington also found that majors are highly segregated by race and gender.

College graduates overall make 84 percent more over a lifetime than those with only high school diplomas, the study said. But further analysis of 171 majors shows that various undergraduate majors can lead to significantly different median wages.

Petroleum engineering majors make about $120,000 a year, compared with $29,000 annually for counseling psychology majors, researchers found. Math and computer science majors earn $98,000 in salary while early childhood education majors get paid about $36,000.

"It's important that you go to college and get a (bachelor's degree), but it's almost three to four times more important what you take," said Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce. "The majors that are most popular are not the ones that make the most money."

"What's it Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors" analyzes data from the 2009 American Community Survey, whose results were released last year. It's the first time the Census asked individuals about their undergraduate majors, enabling researchers to tie in salary data, Carnevale said.

The study found that white men are concentrated in the highest-earning majors, including engineering and pharmaceutical sciences, while women gravitate toward the lowest-earning majors like education, art and social work.

The report also categorized the 171 majors into 15 fields, discovering different majors led to different industries. About 43 percent of law and public policy majors end up in public administration, but only 13 percent of social science majors do. A higher portion of social science majors end up in finance, researchers found.

Other findings:

- The most popular major group is business, accounting for 25 percent of all students. The least popular are industrial arts and agriculture, with 1.6 percent each.

- White men have higher median earnings across all fields except three. Asians pull down the top median salaries in law and public policy ($55,000), psychology and social work ($48,000), and biology and life science ($53,000).

- The field with the highest concentrations of whites is agriculture and natural resources (90 percent), while the highest concentration of Asians is in computers and mathematics (16 percent). Law and public policy has the highest concentration of African-Americans (14 percent) and Hispanics (10 percent).

- Fields with virtually no unemployment: geological and geophysical engineering, military technologies, pharmacology and school student counseling.

- Fields with the highest unemployment, ranging from 16 percent to 11 percent: social psychology, nuclear engineering, and educational administration and supervision.

The data is important considering the high cost of a college degree and the significant loan burdens taken on by some students to obtain one, Carnevale said.

"We don't have a system in the United States where we align what you take with career prospects," Carnevale said. "Nobody ever tells you when you go to college what happened to the other people who took it before you."

The researchers' longitudinal look at lifetime earnings seems to echo a more short-term analysis of the job market by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

The Bethlehem, Pa.-based group reports that engineering majors account for seven of the top 10 highest-paying majors for the class of 2011. The other three are computer science, information science and business systems networking/telecommunications.

Chemical engineering heads the list with an average salary offer of nearly $67,000, according the group's spring survey.

Still, Rachel Brown, director of the career center at Temple University in Philadelphia, noted that the average person changes careers three to five times in a lifetime. And while median salary is certainly something students should be aware of, it shouldn't be the deciding factor, she said.

"Take that into consideration, but look at the whole picture," Brown said. "What are you doing every day? What are the job responsibilities? What are the values of the occupation in general? Advancement potential?"

Answering those kinds of questions is how Drexel University junior Meaghan Donchak chose her major of corporate communication and public relations.

Donchak, 22, of East Windsor, N.J., said she knew her strengths were reading, writing and communicating. But even after settling on public relations, her own research showed such work at nonprofits paid less than corporate or government work, and she adjusted her track accordingly.

Donchak hopes her career will allow her to travel, meet people and live comfortably. The Georgetown study found communications and journalism majors earn $50,000 annually, rising to $62,000 with a graduate degree.

"The most important thing is not the money. It's really hard to convince people of that, especially people our age," Donchak said. "It's doing what you love to do. You don't want to wake up every day dreading going to work."

[whoisjohngalt]

Am I the only one who thinks all those "studies" are a waste of time, money and complete BS just to give something to do to people who don't know what to do with themselves?

Lena

[thyme4change]

"The majors that are most popular are not the ones that make the most money."

Probably because they are hard. I'm wondering if this study will change any of that. But, the reality is - if you had told me that business majors average $50k and engineers average $100k - I still wouldn't have switched, because I know I would have failed.

[runewell]

I think that there are studies that are a waste of time, and this is not one of them

[souldoubt]

I don't think the intent would be to make people switch majors because of the salary but hopefully it would make more kids think long and hard about going to a 4 year university right out of high school, racking up maybe 100K in student loans and ending up in a job where they make 30K.

[midjd]

I love the Census! ;D And I think this is a very useful study - there's certainly not anything harmful about students being made aware of the ROI on a particular major or course of study.

[illinicheme]

May 25, 2011 10:24:02 GMT -5 @anne81 said:

Chemical engineering heads the list with an average salary offer of nearly $67,000, according the group's spring survey.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

The study found that white men are concentrated in the highest-earning majors, including engineering and pharmaceutical sciences, while women gravitate toward the lowest-earning majors like education, art and social work.

Female college students have outnumbered male students for a long time to this point.
The US is turning out art, social work, and othe soft science majors, degreed students in massive numbers; primarily because of the shift in gender demographics. We are getting our butts kicked by China and India who turn out millions of grads in engineering, math, Comp Sci, etc.
I can say one thing is certain, the US leads the world in talking about our feelings, and feeling good about ourselves. Is it any wonder why we do not have a competent workforce and we have to look to India and China to get real work done.

[qofcc]

But someone who plans to be a counseling psychology major should be told the average salary is $29K before they go out and take out $100k in student loans. Maybe they'd still want to take that major... my mom had a PhD in psychology and a teaching certificate for special education and I out earned her by the time I was 30 but she takes pride in the fact that she's smarter than the rest of us and that makes her happy. But she didn't take out tons of student loans, her rich parents paid for her to go.

[Deleted]

May 25, 2011 10:30:34 GMT -5 souldoubt said:

I don't think the intent would be to make people switch majors because of the salary but hopefully it would make more kids think long and hard about going to a 4 year university right out of high school, racking up maybe 100K in student loans and ending up in a job where they make 30K.

But the sad reality is that we need folks to do just that. We need talented people to be elementary educators and social workers and occupational therapists and whatever else was on the low earner list.

If no one is teaching long division to third graders, we won't have any engineers in the next generation.

I don't think we have enough folks who are independently wealthy to fill all of those positions without accruing the student loan debt.

[illinicheme]

I agree that it's not about convincing folks to change majors, but opening students' eyes so they can plan their educational path with at least some awareness of what they're choosing.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Couldnt a psyche major, after they get their graduate degrees go into private counseling? After all they do charge $100+ an hour.

I know a guy who lives in Princeton, and counsels women with eating disorders. This is all he does, from what I am told.

He must gross a minimum of $2 million per year. I was at his house for a social gathering a few years ago. It was something like a 25 room mansion, intricately decorated.

[973beachbum]

May 25, 2011 10:33:48 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

The study found that white men are concentrated in the highest-earning majors, including engineering and pharmaceutical sciences, while women gravitate toward the lowest-earning majors like education, art and social work.

Female college students have outnumbered male students for a long time to this point.
The US is turning out art, social work, and othe soft science majors, degreed students in massive numbers; primarily because of the shift in gender demographics. We are getting our butts kicked by China and India who turn out millions of grads in engineering, math, Comp Sci, etc.I can say one thing is certain, the US leads the world in talking about our feelings, and feeling good about ourselves. Is it any wonder why we do not have a competent workforce and we have to look to India and China to get real work done.

Why is that so shocking? Since they each have 1.3 billion people each I would be shocked if they didn't have way more people becoming engineers than we do. It doesn't mean the countries better and it doesn't mean their graduates are any better. It just means that there are way more of them.

And not to sound simplistic, but the world needs social workers and teachers too.

[thyme4change]

Did they need to do a study on it? I mean...salary.com gives you estimates for every job title out there. Google is pretty amazing, and I suspect every entering college student this year is pretty proficient with technology. Even when I went to college in the 80's, there were sources that said approximate salaries for different careers.

I was surprised at how many of my friends graduated with various degrees (English, Russian Literature, etc.) and had no plan. They became admins and waitresses. Not that there is anything wrong with admins and waitresses - but I don't think they ever said "I really want to study art history and then go work at Applebees for a few years."

I don't think the problem is a lack of information - it is just a lack of foresight and planning.

[Deleted]

May 25, 2011 10:45:31 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

And not to sound simplistic, but the world needs social workers and teachers too.

[souldoubt]

May 25, 2011 10:43:15 GMT -5 @craftysarah said:

May 25, 2011 10:30:34 GMT -5 souldoubt said:

I don't think the intent would be to make people switch majors because of the salary but hopefully it would make more kids think long and hard about going to a 4 year university right out of high school, racking up maybe 100K in student loans and ending up in a job where they make 30K.

But the sad reality is that we need folks to do just that. We need talented people to be elementary educators and social workers and occupational therapists and whatever else was on the low earner list.

If no one is teaching long division to third graders, we won't have any engineers in the next generation.

I don't think we have enough folks who are independently wealthy to fill all of those positions without accruing the student loan debt.

No one is saying we don't need those people. However as has been pointed out on here several times before you can always go to a JC and transfer to a 4 year after getting your first 2 years out of the way for substantially less than going straight to a 4 year university. We hear often about how recent grads weren't prepared for the fact that they would have thousands of dollars of debt while getting low paying jobs.

My GF is a psych major and just graduated but she did it by going to a JC first, transferring to a state school, working while going to school and got out debt free. If she chooses to be a social worker which she's thought about that's her deal but I'm at least comforted knowing she doesn't have 100K in debt for a degree that lands her a job that barely allows her to make ends meet in our HCOL area.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

And not to sound simplistic, but the world needs social workers and teachers too.

Teachers I agree with. Can't teachers have their SLs forgiven?

Social work is a govt fabricated job category. We do not "need" social workers.

[achelois]

Women are still steered into lower paying fields and they still often do no have the same support networks holding down the home front that males do.

When I was in anesthesia school, studying for a lucrative career, I still worked 24 hrs a week at a paying job and still had all the household responsibilities and the driving of kids to activities etc.

My (now ex) went to work and came home.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Why is that so shocking? Since they each have 1.3 billion people each I would be shocked if they didn't have way more people becoming engineers than we do. It doesn't mean the countries better and it doesn't mean their graduates are any better. It just means that there are way more of them.

It is not shocking. They are producing what the market is demanding, and we are not.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

My (now ex) went to work and came home.

That is more reflective of your choice in mates, than more responsibilities.

[gs11rmb]

'The US is turning out art, social work, and other soft science majors, degreed students in massive numbers; primarily because of the shift in gender demographics. "

BTW it is social science not soft science ;D

My academic background is in the social sciences but I do have to agree to an extent with SF. I used to work for a research university and the gender, race, ethnic makeup in students graduating with degrees in chemistry vs. sociology was shocking.

[973beachbum]

May 25, 2011 10:50:37 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

And not to sound simplistic, but the world needs social workers and teachers too.

Teachers I agree with. Can't teachers have their SLs forgiven?

Social work is a govt fabricated job category. We do not "need" social workers.

It is after paying in based on their income for 10 years and it is a 10 year plan. Anything not paid by then if they work for a public school is forgiven. In theory it sounds great but in NJ I doubt very much if any would be left to forgive. Starting salary for a teacher in NJ is not exactly low paying anymore.

This program was designed for the MSW, lawyers, and doctors who wants to work for legal aid or help the community and has a carp load of loans for their masters/JD, med school. This way they can work for peanuts as a public service, and only pay a percent of their discrtionary income and after 10 years any unpaid is forgiven. For a worker with just an undergrad it would be almost impossible to not make enough to pay most of the Fed SL's off.

[973beachbum]

May 25, 2011 10:52:22 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Why is that so shocking? Since they each have 1.3 billion people each I would be shocked if they didn't have way more people becoming engineers than we do. It doesn't mean the countries better and it doesn't mean their graduates are any better. It just means that there are way more of them.

It is not shocking. They are producing what the market is demanding, and we are not.

We are too, but since we have 1 billion less people we are just producing them in smaller numbers.

I also would dispute that all those "engineers" educated in China and India are what you or I would call an engineer.

"About That Engineering Gap...
Is the U.S. really falling behind China and India in education? Not really. Take a closer look at the data"

"One would expect that the numbers used in such debate would be defensible and grounded. Yet researchers at Duke University have determined that some of the most cited statistics on engineering graduates are inaccurate. Statistics that say the U.S. is producing 70,000 engineers a year vs. 350,000 from India and 600,000 from China aren't valid, the Duke team says. We're actually graduating more engineers than India, and the Chinese numbers aren't quite what they seem. In short, America is far ahead by almost any measure, and we're a long way from losing our edge."

Here is the link for the rest of the article www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2005/sb20051212_623922.htm

[cronewitch]

Education isn't always job training. Some have an interest in art history or English lit and just want to learn.
My friend went to Cornell for art history and English lit, her mother went to Cornell and got a degree in Engineering, both became housewives. The mother never worked a paid job in her life, the friend worked 6 months before quitting then raised kids and decided to take a job when the oldest was in college. She got a degree in accounting to get a job and became a CPA until the youngest finished grad school, then went back to housewife. They met husbands in college and the oldest girl went to Harvard for grad school in political science where she met a husband. The younger girl got a masters in Biomedical engineering and took a job and never married. All the women are smart and well spoken and if they needed to take a job getting a more useful degree would be quick. The MRS degree is still work getting.

[thyme4change]

Some have an interest in art history or English lit and just want to learn.

I have no problem with that - but having a plan is usually a good idea. I don't think it is viable in 2011 to say "I'm going to study underwater basket weaving and then get married and be a housewife and never work another day in my life." I know it still happens - but not as often as it did in the 40's and 50's. Men don't automatically expect that, and women shouldn't count on that. Especially the part where they never have a job.

As it turns out, my friend that became an admin is a SAHM, and I suspect her contributions to the workforce will never be significant. She is very happy. My friend with no plan that became a waitress ended up supporting her husband through his many failed business ventures, until she finally tossed him out and went back to school. She is now an excellent teacher. Her feeling is that it would have been more efficient to get a teaching certificate while getting her English major. She said "No one ever encouraged me to think about what I wanted to do with my life. They only asked what I liked to study in school." I'm guessing her family expected her to be a housewife, because they didn't know that she was going to marry a loser.

[qofcc]

I used to work with a very nice lady with a degree from Cornell. She was an admin and I was her supervisor. She was a smart lady and taught me about day trading and the stock market. Eventually she quit her job and went back to school for computer programming.

My sister has a 4 year degree in communications from a private college and the student loans to prove it. She's working as a waitress after years as a part-time bartender and SAHM because there just aren't any jobs in that field where she lives in rural PA.

Both of them could have benefited from better career planning. Better guidance counseling at the HS level would be worth investing in.

[qofcc]

The MRS degree is still work getting.

Not sure if you really meant work or worth... suppose it's both and that is maybe one reason to choose the 4 year university route rather than community college if you can afford it.

[achelois]

No, it wasn't simply my choice of mates. It is still societal shaping. Most male anesthetist that I know have sahw or ones that work relatively low stress jobs and these women do most of the household and childcare tasks. Of course you know I am older and back in the day most men considered,at least in that area of rural PA, that anything to do with house and kids was " women's work" and so beneath them.

Most of the female crnas still do both their jobs and the bulk of the household and childcare tasks despite bringing in most of the money and putting in more time on the job. I am sure there are men out there who do pitch in, but I am quite certain women still do the lions share.

The younger men seem to help more with childcare than their older compadres imho

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I didn't choose either of my undergraduate majors because of the salaries that might eventually follow ~ I chose them because that was where my interests and aptitude lay.

But I do think that before students (or their parents) spend huge sums of money on an undergraduate degree, they should consider a cost-benefit analysis of how much the degree is costing them vs. what salary can be expected (especially if student loans will need to be repaid.)

Since I took out student loans for my graduate degree ~ and chose to attend a private university ~ I did consider my future earning ability when deciding to continue on with my education.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

My first thought when I read this is what did the guys who did this study major in and how much are they being paid?