Careers
New Study Tells Students the Worth of Their Undergraduate Majors
By kathy Matheson
of The 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 high-
ly segregated by race and gender.
College graduates overall make 84 per-
cent 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 psycholo-
gy 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 pop-
ular 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 con-
centrated in the highest-earning majors,
including engineering and pharmaceutical
sciences, while women gravi-
tate 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 sci-
ence majors end up in finance, researchers
found.
Other findings:
— The most popular major group is busi-
ness, accounting for 25 percent of all stu-
dents. The least popular are industrial arts
and agriculture, with 1.6 percent each.
— White men have higher median earn-
ings 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 concentra-
tions 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 unemploy-
ment: geological and geophysical engineer-
ing, military technologies, pharmacology
and school student counseling.
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 com-
munication and public relations.
Donchak, 22, of East Windsor, N.J., said
she knew her strengths were reading, writ-
ing and communicating. But even after set-
tling 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 communica-
tions 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.’’
Nobody ever tells you when you
go to college what happened to
the other people who took it
before you
— 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 life-
time 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
Shifting Economy Leads Middle
School Trend in Chinese Language
naShville,
Tenn.
(AP) — As Tennessee’s
economy shifts to business-
es with ties to China, stu-
dents as early as middle
school are taking an interest
in learning the language that
could help their careers.
Tennessee
industries
export $1.87 billion in
goods to China, a trend that
is nationwide, and in
response, more public
schools are offering classes
in Chinese language.
Spanish still ranks as the
most popular foreign lan-
guage taught in schools
across the nation, with 2
million students enrolled.
But a recent report from the
American Council on the
Teaching
of
Foreign
Languages showed Chinese
is the fastest growing lan-
guage course offered in
public schools.
Students studying Chinese
grew 195 percent between
2005 and 2008, while the
number of Spanish students
grew by just 2 percent in the
same period.
The Tennessean reports
about 1,200 students in
eight Nashville schools are
learning Mandarin Chinese
and other counties offer it as
part of after-school pro-
grams.
Page 10 The Portland Skanner May 25, 2011
One of those students is
Jerry Nelson Jr., a Hillsboro
High School junior, who
plans to study physical ther-
apy in college and minor in
international business.
Before his school offered
an introductory Mandarin
course that launched in the
fall, Nelson tried to learn
from books in the public
library. He’s now watching
a Chinese film with English
subtitles in his classroom.
“I follow in bits and
pieces,’’ Nelson said.
Marty Abbott, director of
education at the council,
noted there was a boom in
Russian language courses
after Russia launched the
first satellite in space and a
similar increase in Japanese
in the 1980s when the
Japanese economy was
strong.
“If you look at our history
of language learning, we
always react to another
economy threatening our
position,’’ Abbott said.
The increase in businesses
that export or do business in
China both in Tennessee
and nationwide is likely
what is causing the boom in
interested students, Abbott
said.
“Now, they are looking at
China as the next big econo-
my that will challenge the
U.S. economy, and coupled
with that, the Chinese gov-
ernment is interested in pro-
moting Chinese,’’ Abbott
said.
Tennessee
Chinese
Chamber of Commerce
President Ming Wang said
the state ranks sixth in the
nation in exporting goods to
China.
“There are tons of jobs for
Americans who speak
Chinese,’’ Wang said.
“Understanding the lan-
guage opens opportunity.’’
Hillsboro Principal Terry
Shrader said offering the
class through the school’s
International
Business
Academy could help stu-
dents who want to work in
trade with China.
“Certainly, our students
that are working in interna-
tional business would have
a leg up on their competi-
tion if they could speak
Mandarin,’’ he said.
The high school is part-
nering with the University
of Memphis at their
Confucius Institute, which
promotes the language,
gives proficiency tests and
provides teacher training
and exchange programs.