By Kaitlin Keane
In today’s cut-throat job market, students graduating with humanities degrees tend to have a more difficult time finding a high-paying job than their peers with technology degrees, according to a recent CNN report. Students that are reported to get the most for their money are those with pharmacy and chemical engineering degrees, with average starting salaries of $52,853 and $81,235, respectively.
Less tech-minded grads, in majors such as English and history, tend to be in the $30,000 starting range.
Whether it is a personal choice or the result of parental pressure, some students have made the choice of financial stability over the major they initially desired. Undecided freshman Chelsea Gammon said she faces this decision as she attempts to declare a major before sophomore year.
“What I’d really love is to be a dancer, but we all know the term ‘starving artist,'” she said. “I’m trying to be sensible in choosing a major — I don’t want to be poor.”
Choosing a major that promises financial stability with a minor that one is passionate about could be the solution for some students. Others plan on making their money through a potentially less satisfying career, only to be able to do what they love later on.
Choosing to put her plans to teach on hold, Kelly Chromley, chose to pursue a degree with a higher starting salary.
“I’ve always wanted to teach, but I’d like to make money,” the freshman engineering major said. “I’m math-minded, so I’m going to be an engineer for awhile and eventually become a teacher or professor.”
Changes in enrollment in the different colleges at Northeastern could be considered evidence of students’ practical major choices. According to the Northeastern University Fact Book, enrollment in the College of Computer Science, a degree promising an average starting salary of roughly $47,000, jumped 82 percent between 1996 and 2001. The College of Engineering had a 21 percent jump during that time, with a fairly constant freshman application rate each year.
In general, the factors considered in choosing a major drastically vary based on the individual. For Will Roditi, a freshman engineering major, money is undoubtedly an issue.
“I basically found a list of the jobs with higher salaries, found the highest, and declared chemical engineering,” Roditi said.
For others, the idea of basing their course of study on a future salary is unheard of.
Seeing no reason to adjust her major, Melissa Jacquart, a freshman marine biology major, said that prospective income wasn’t a factor in her decision.
“Marine biologists make no money, I know that,” she said, “but that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, so it isn’t an issue.”
