[Vision2020] WSJ: From College Major to Career

[Kenneth Marcy]

>From College Major to Career

Choosing the right college major can make a big difference in students' career 
prospects, in terms of employment and pay. Here’s a look at how various 
college majors fare in the job market, based on 2010 Census data. Some popular 
majors, such as nursing and finance, do particularly well, with unemployment 
under 5% and high salaries during the course of their careers. 

http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/NILF1111/#term= 

Note: Be sure to notice that you can sort on the column headings, such as 
popularity or 25% earnings. Also, you can search for particular careers. For 
example, eng brings up Engineering and English, with sorting then available.

You might notice, and it's no surprise, that for those majors with 25% 
earnings at $50,000 or above, there is a strong mathematical and statistical 
base applied to some science or technological specialization. As one looks 
rightward into the median and 75% earnings columns, one sees much higher 
future earnings rates. Extended over several years, the higher initial levels, 
and their stronger growth rates, are the indicators of better monetary 
success, not only in engineering, but in other majors as well.

So, a key counseling takeaway appears to be that reading and writing are 
important, but so is arithmetic, too.


Ken