Choosing a Major

College offers you many academic freedoms. You can cultivate existing passions and explore new interests–all the while figuring out which major will eventually help you earn a living. Whatever major you choose, don't pick what's easiest–or what your best friend is studying–because you'll only be cheating yourself out of some great opportunities! And college is, after all, about opportunities.

These are not necessarily the degrees that garner the most demand in the job market, they don't lock you into a set career path. Each major offers unique intellectual challenges and develops skill sets that will be applicable to various careers.

The Princeton Review's Top 10 Majors

1. Business Administration and Management/Commerce

It is about stellar people skills, problem solving, number crunching, decision making and communication skills. Job areas: accounting, finance, marketing, economics, statistics, and human resources functions. Other issues: kinds of organizations, diversity, ethics, politics.

2. Psychology

It is about biology of our brains, human mind, cognition, intelligence, motivation, emotion, perception, personality, mental disorders and inherited features. Job areas: education, communication, and resolving problems surrounding human behavior.

3. Nursing

It is about sophisticated technology, evaluating, diagnosing and treating health problems. Job areas: nursing in general, other fields such as geriatrics, neurology, oncology, obstetrics, and pediatrics.

4. Biology/Biological Sciences

It is about microscopic organisms, cloning procedures, human, plants, animals, environments, cells and the ecosystem. Job areas: cure for disease, genetics, biotechnology, veterinarian, optometrist, ecologist, or environmentalist.

5. Education

It is about Patience, Creativity, Dedication, Enthusiasm and Compassion. Goal: to become an effective and inspirational teacher, to influence young children, general education material.

6. English Language and Literature

It is about William Shakespeare, Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, the trochaic octameter of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," author Annie Dillard and Walter Abish. Job areas: literature, language, writing, good preparation for a future in law, journalism, publishing, graduate studies etc..

7. Economics

It is about study of choices, allocation of resources, heavy doses of critical thinking and math, study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and making sense of the intricacies of the modern world. Job areas: business, for graduate studies in law, public policy, and international studies.

8. Communications Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric

It is about storytellers, quick wits, fiery personalities, speeches and scripts, strategies , verbal and nonverbal messages, audience reaction, communication environments. Job areas: business, advertising, human resources, public relations, government, education, media, and social services.

9. Political Science and Government

It is about current events, statistical analysis, politics of government, public policy, foreign affairs, political philosophy, comparative government, critical thinking, communication skills, understanding of history and culture, lots of reading, writing and math. Job areas: lawyer, politician, journalist.

10. Computer and Information Sciences

It is about computers hardware and software, applications of such knowledge, database, technology focus,  Robotics, natural language recognition programs, artificial intelligence, programming languages, numerical analysis, gaming technology and problem solving. Job areas: computer programmer, system analyst, data analyst, database administrator, network specialist and IT management etc..

Source: Princeton Review - http://www.princetonreview.com/college/top-ten-majors.aspx

 

America.edu’s Top 20 most popular majors by Pay

 

	Top 20 Best Paying Majors in US	Starting Salary
1	Computer Science	US$56,200
2	Nursing	US$52,700
3	Construction Management	US$50,400
4	Accounting	US$50,000
5	Economics	US$48,800
6	Biology	US$48,000
7	Finance	US$47,500
8	Business Management	US$43,000
9	Political Science	US$40,100
10	Marketing	US$38,600
11	History	US$38,500
12	Human Resources	US$38,100
13	Health Care Administration	US$38,000
14	Paralegal Studies	US$37,000
15	English	US$37,000
16	Sociology	US$37,000
17	Education Degree	US$36,000
18	Psychology	US$36,000
19	Criminal Justice	US$35,600
20	Graphic Design	US$35,400

Source: http://www.america.edu/top_20_most_popular_majors_and_what_they_pay.html

 

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences - National Center for Education Statistics

The most popular majors for postsecondary students

(response of the 1,650,000 bachelor's degrees conferred in 2009-10):

Undergraduate degree level:

Business (358,000)

Social Sciences and History (173,000)

Health professions and related programs (130,000)

Education (101,000)

Master's degree level:

Education (182,000)

Business (178,000)

Doctor's degree level

Health professions and related programs (57,700)

Legal professions and studies (44,600)

Education (9,200)

Engineering (7,700)

Biological and biomedical sciences (7,700)

Psychology (5,500)

Physical sciences and science technologies (5,100)

 

Source: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37

 

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