Although most students claim that future salaries are a minimal factor in their choice of majors, a Forbes report suggests the most lucrative college majors are in line with the most popular majors at Washington University.
The Forbes “List of the Most Lucrative College Majors,” published over the summer, includes a wide variety of disciplines. The major that provides graduates with the highest estimated salary is computer engineering, followed by economics, electrical engineering and computer science.
Although science- and math-based majors dominate the list, English, history, political science and communications majors were also recognized for earning significant salaries.
Several social science majors also made the list, but a relatively large gap still remained in the average salaries between the two categories.
The computer engineering major, at the top of the list, is credited with a starting salary of $60,500 and an average salary of $104,000 with 10 to 20 years of experience. The figures for electrical engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering follow in a similar fashion.
History, ranked at number 12, is listed as having an average starting salary of $37,600 and an average salary of $68,000 with 10 to 20 years of experience. For the 15th-ranked English major, the average starting salary is $36,700 while the average salary with experience is $62,300.
Many of the University’s most popular majors made the list according to data provided by the Office of Student Records. Most students, however, deny the notion that they chose to study a course for its potential financial benefit.
“For me at least, it’s more genuine interest,” freshman Will Stock said of his choice to study biomedical engineering (BME). “I’ve wanted to study BME since approximately ninth grade when I had a personal injury. I feel that from my personal experiences, this is the most rewarding career choice. [I made my choice] entirely because I want to do it, not because of financial gain.”
Biomedical engineering is the engineering school’s most popular major with 235 students declaring it as their major last spring. It is not listed on Forbes’ “List of the Most Lucrative College Majors.”
Other students, however, acknowledge the importance of choosing a major that will likely yield a high salary.
“I’m studying finance because I really want to be an actuary,” freshman Natalie Rufat said. “My freshman math teacher told me that I’d probably be good at it because I like math. [She] also told me that it was one of the highest paying jobs that you don’t have to do so much work for.”
The idea of a high salary is enticing, Rufat said, because working is not her only goal in life.
“If I can support a family and do something that I like, that’s what I want to do,” she said.
Finance is ranked sixth on Forbes’ list of most lucrative majors with an estimated average starting salary of $46,900. At the University, 239 students declared a major in finance in the spring of 2008, making it the second most popular business school major, after business administration.
Freshman Ryan McCombe plans to major in civil engineering, the third most popular major in the University’s engineering school and the eighth most profitable major according to Forbes.
McCombe sees how students’ choosing a major for purely financial reasons could be detrimental.
“It’s the people that are really passionate about their jobs, people that love their jobs, that are the people who are going to get out there and do the best,” McCombe said. “They’re going to become the executives, and those are the people that are going to make the largest salaries.”
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