Forbes: The Most Lucrative College Majors

[cellardweller]

alamode:

Any well run Career Office should be able to tell you what jobs students with history majors got upon graduation as well as average starting salaries. They should also have statistics on how many pursue graduate studies and if the collge has a graduate departments what these graduates earned upon their PhD/MS. More than likely, the vast majority of history majors pursued careers in unrelated fields. If you are looking at academic careers in history you should also be able to find data on how many land tenure track positions.

[Kaznack]

Anyone know what one could possibly do with a philosophy major?

Would it come in handy with politics--possibly as a double major with polisci?

[afan]

I know quite a few philosophy majors who are physicians

Cellardweller, It would be asking a lot for the career office, or the graduate department, to tell you what happens to people years after they finish undergraduate studies. As time goes by, information fades. Since the undergrads will not, in general, get their doctorate degrees from the same institution, knowing the income and tenure status of graduates of the undergrad branch will be well beyond something the graduate department could accomplish. The career center might now first jobs for those completing undergrad or grad degrees, but tenure, and even tenure track positions can come along years after graduation, at which time there may be little contact with the undergrad institution.

[cellardweller]

afan:

I wasn't thinking long term after graduation. It only makes sense to obtain outcome statistics of similalry situated students from that particular institution: types of jobs, starting salaries, how many pursued grad school, where they get admitted... Similarly, many grad schools provide data on appointments of their own graduates and which institutions they join after their PhDs. It certainly helps to get a feel for opportunities in a particular field before deciding to commit to it.

[2collegewego]

is RN a registered nurse

Yes, RN is registered nurse.

My cousin in med school said there were few nurses. The science requirements aren't the same although I would think that an RN who wants to become a doctor would be very competitive after a post-bacc program. The only thing is, if you're making over $50K a year, you may not be interested in returning to school, paying all that money for a post-bacc and med school and working those long hours.

Just to expand... Look at the nursing program but most require Bio, Anat & Phys, biochem, stats. I believe most med schools prefer a year of Bio, a year of Chem, a year of Organic, a year of Physics and a year of Calculus. So most nursing majors would have to do the Physics, Calculus and Organic.

[BCEagle91]

I don't think that they have to take the Physics for Scientists and Engineers type physics though. I have a sister that's a nurse and she just skated by on calc - she didn't understand what was going on in the class and doesn't know it as an adult.

[mini]

"I guess I hadn’t noticed that RNs owned all the fancy houses in our neighborhood!"

"Even the oft-misquoted Dale-Kruger study found that the more expensive the education, the higher the lifetime ROI."

They don't because many of them didn't have the income for a four-year private college plus law school to begin with.

It is definitely true that the more you COULD PAY for your education, the higher the lifetime ROI. But, as my example illustrates, if you had that money to spare, you could get that rate of return without using it on a private education and law school.

[galoisien]

The only thing is, if you're making over $50K a year, you may not be interested in returning to school, paying all that money for a post-bacc and med school and working those long hours.

But I mean, it's a way to fund med school!

Now, if male nurses were only more accepted. Male researcher-engineer nurses.

[mini]

Roughly 50% of the nursing class at our local community is men, many of them having received payment to attend as part of severage packages from our local brewery.

But admission to the program is more selective than Harvard (and requires a year of college course pre-reqs with about a 3.95 GPA before admission.)

[galoisien]

Wait, a strict cutoff? I imagine that not all undergrad institutions are made alike...

[2collegewego]

I understand that our community college nursing program also requires close to a 4.0 to be admitted. They just have too many applicants.

[galoisien]

Nothing about the rigour of the coursework or the school one is applying from?

Or is it just the GPA of the prereq courses? Cuz if you also liked to take complex analysis and abstract algebra on the side and you got an A- average from those courses, that would kill you?

[BCEagle91]

It might be a special transfer program from a CC to a state U. Sometimes those have dedicated scholarships. I would guess that these programs don't have to deal with students that have taken complex analysis or abstract algebra. I've never seen a community college offering these subjects.

In some cases, the benefits to the community college student can be better than transferring in from another university, even with upper-level courses.