Top 6 Majors Students Should Reconsider: What They Offer That Other Majors Don’t

Guest Entry By: Natalie Bracco

When choosing a major, many students go with their “hearts.” While it’s important to do something you truly love, some careers simply don’t offer the same opportunities and earning potential as others. It doesn’t do a graduate much good when they graduate with big student loans and no job.

So before deciding on a major, learn more about what career fields your major can turn into. Here are the fields most likely to earn you a sizable and dependable paycheck.

6. Medical Assistants
Even recent graduates in this field enjoy very low unemployment rates. Graduates start out making about $43,000 per year and quickly achieve salaries over $50,000 per year. Most work in doctors’ offices with short, manageable work weeks. Jobs for medical assistants are expected to grow by 31 percent by 2020, compared with an overall job rate growth of only 14 percent. Some medical assistants with associates degrees earn as much as those with bachelor’s degrees.

5. Chemical Engineers
If you enjoy a heavy load of science classes, chemical engineers enjoy some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, even among recent graduates. Right out of school, graduates can earn $64,000 per year, eventually expecting to earn $86,000 or more. Within a few years after graduation, chemical engineers are often making $30,000 per year more than their fellow graduates in other specialties.

4. Treatment Therapists
Respiratory therapists, radiation therapists and recreational therapists make as much as physical therapists with only a bachelor’s degree. With four years of college, you could be earning as much as physical therapists with doctorate degrees. This high earnings rate starts right out of school, and the average treatment therapist earns about $62,000 per year. Most work in hospitals and nursing homes.

3. Transportation Scientists
Most of the jobs in this field are in aeronautics and aviation technologies, but there are also opportunities with materials engineering and automotive technology. Enjoying low unemployment rates and salaries close to six figures per year, transportation scientists can expect to make $53,000 right out of college. This career depends on a heavy background in science, and many students invest in SAT Prep courses to score well enough on these exams to assure themselves a spot in the best colleges.

2. Nurses
A large percentage of nurses are nearing retirement age, opening the door for new faces to enter the field. Nurses almost always enjoy low unemployment rates, even during the roughest economic times. This field is projected to add 26 percent more jobs by 2020, as the population of the U.S. ages and there is a greater need of health care for the aging. In nursing, more education leads to higher salaries, with associates’ degrees commanding about $48,000 per year and bachelors’ degrees promising about $60,000 per year.

1. Pharmacists
Whether you earn a bachelor’s degree and go into drug research or complete your doctorate and become a pharmacist, there are many job openings for these majors. Some work for drug companies while others serve patients in stores and hospitals. This field expects a 25 percent growth rate by 2020 and has one of the lowest unemployment rates of any profession. Bachelor graduates earn about $50,000 per year, but those with doctorates degrees earn solid six figure incomes.

All of these jobs offer a chance to serve others while earning a solid income and facing low chances of being out of work. According to employers, all job candidates have a better chance of securing employment if they’re willing to relocate. So better your chances of employment by learning more what your major entails and be flexible in relocation for your major’s career field.
References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/11/28/the-10-best-paying-college-majors-for-women/
http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T012-S001-10-best-college-majors-for-a-lucrative-career/index.html