College Choice doesn't matter for income, but major does

[Candid]

Here's an NPR story on the report:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/09/219372252/the-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors-in-1-graph

 

Here's the actual report:

http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/whatsitworth-complete.pdf

[maize]

I only read the NPR report, but I did notice that several of the low earning majors are for career tracks like medicine or psychology where graduate schooling is the expected path after graduation.

[Gwen in VA]

This is fascinating! So my son is going into a field that is 3% female -- wow! And it has about the largest gap between high and low income earners in the field -- who knew?

 

My one comment about looking at average income by major: The majors are BROAD areas.

 

The job market for a muclear engineer and a materials engineer are very different, but in this report they are lumped together under engineering. Likewise, the market for elementary special ed teachers is very different from the market for high school math teachers, but they are lumped together.

 

The data is seriously fun to look at, but I'd hate to have anyone make a career decision based on it!

[creekland]

 

Gardner was shocked when I told him people who majored in petroleum engineering have a median income of $120,000. But, he said, even if someone had shown him that graph when he was a freshman, it wouldn't have changed his path.

 

"I came into the school knowing where I want to go and what i wanted to do," he said. "Honestly, I don't mind the money. It's more of a fulfilling thing for me."

 

I far prefer my guys get jobs doing what they like and are talented at rather than chasing anything for the money.  Life is about far more than $$.

 

IME, not "just anyone" can do engineering (well) either.  Hubby is great at it.  I would be driven bonkers if I had to do it for a living.  He feels the same way about my job.

[Candid]

I far prefer my guys get jobs doing what they like and are talented at rather than chasing anything for the money.  Life is about far more than $$.

 

IME, not "just anyone" can do engineering (well) either.  Hubby is great at it.  I would be driven bonkers if I had to do it for a living.  He feels the same way about my job.

 

I agree with this. I worked for a while in photography. Commercial photographers make a lot more, but they work in an isolated environment, just them, their equipment and a can of soup. I knew i'd never want to do that.