Which college majors pay off

[MillCreek]

http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/HardTimes.2013.2.pdf

I was interested to read the results for chemistry, which this report says has great prospects.  I am still a member of the American Chemical Society, and their data shows that unemployment in chemistry these days is pretty high. http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i39/Salary-Employment-Survey-Chemists.html

[dm1333]

I was surprised to see elementary education at 5.0% and annoyed to see geography listed under social sciences.  I guess GIS hasn't caught on at Georgetown yet!

[Ben]

annoyed to see geography listed under social sciences.  I guess GIS hasn't caught on at Georgetown yet!

GIS and remote sensing are mostly branched off to Geopatial Science because of that. When I was in the Geog dept in grad school, my dept email sig line was, "No, I DON'T know what the capitol of "X" is!"  :)

[birdman]

Once again, engineering is key.
4th lowest for experienced grads, 7th lowest for recent, the lowest unemployment for graduate degree holders, and the highest median salary for all levels of all the groups.

[Gowen]

I can be certain, but with the way mining is booming in Nevada again, I would think anything in that field would pay well.

[dm1333]

GIS and remote sensing are mostly branched off to Geopatial Science because of that. When I was in the Geog dept in grad school, my dept email sig line was, "No, I DON'T know what the capitol of "X" is!"  

I've got an undergrad degree in geography and am working on a masters in education, I know exactly what you are talking about!  I haven't seen GIS shuffled off to another department but I have only looked at a couple of schools like Penn State and Eastern Michigan University because they have online  degree programs.  

[Ben]

I've got an undergrad degree in geography and am working on a masters in education, I know exactly what you are talking about!  I haven't seen GIS shuffled off to another department but I have only looked at a couple of schools like Penn State and Eastern Michigan University because they have online  degree programs.  

It was still in the geog dept where I was, along with a few other hard sciences with spatial associations, but for all you could tell, we were just like two distinct departments. The physical sciences side brought in a lot of grant money, plus there were a few of us that were working our .gov jobs while in grad school and thus brought those associations with us,  so we had the perk of all the nice offices and new SPARC stations and SGI machines while all the urban geography people were in dingy closets without a view working on old IBMs. :)

[Unisaw]

My daughter has one year left on a chemical engineering degree at a very good university.  Her professors are saying not to assume anything re: finding employment.  It isn't the path to guaranteed employment that it used to be.

[Scout26]

So you're telling me there's no money to be made in Womyn's Studies, Medieval French Poetry, Sociology, or Underwater Basket Weaving?

[Tallpine]

So you're telling me there's no money to be made in Womyn's Studies, Medieval French Poetry, Sociology, or Underwater Basket Weaving?

Teaching those things.

[Phantom Warrior]

My daughter has one year left on a chemical engineering degree at a very good university.  Her professors are saying not to assume anything re: finding employment.  It isn't the path to guaranteed employment that it used to be.

Tell her to get on LinkedIn.  My cousin spent a number of months looking for a job after getting her Master's in ChemE.  She set up a LinkedIn profile, tweaked it according to advice from another cousin who works in job placement, and had an interview (which lead to a job) within a week.

[Pharmacology]

The whole PharmD  thing seems to be paying off for me.

[zahc]

To make good money, you need to do something that

1) is in demand
2) that not everyone can do (either because of aptitude or barriers to entry, however artificial)
3) or that most people don't want to do

Engineering tends to work out because it has a little bit of all 3. What has been hurting engineering over the last 20-30 years is how much industry is offshoring.

[birdman]

To make good money, you need to do something that

1) is in demand
2) that not everyone can do (either because of aptitude or barriers to entry, however artificial)
3) or that most people don't want to do

Engineering tends to work out because it has a little bit of all 3. What has been hurting engineering over the last 20-30 years is how much industry is offshoring.

The solution for offshoring is entrepreneurship.

If you can't find a job, find something you can do/make that solves a problem, and sell the solution.  Now-a-days there are so many ways to both fund a development (kickstarter), a company (angellist), or sell a product (micro-distributors like etsy, but focused on other things, or even forums).

Chances are, if you have found a solution to a problem that annoys you, it like annoys others, and that means, in general, there is money to be made selling a solution.

Engineering tends to form companies at rates greater than just about anything else simply because its the very fundamental nature of engineering--solve problem X, with a solution Y, that costs less (NRE and RE) than Z.

[Boomhauer]

Skilled trades baby skilled trades. Theres a shortage and industry in America is calling for skilled people.

[roo_ster]

Skilled trades baby skilled trades. Theres a shortage and industry in America is calling for skilled people.

Indeed.

I know where I can find a world-class prostate cancer surgeon.  I have no clue how to find a world-class mechanic...or even a merely competent and honest mechanic.

[birdman]

Indeed.

I know where I can find a world-class prostate cancer surgeon.  I have no clue how to find a world-class mechanic...or even a merely competent and honest mechanic.

Depends on the vehicle brand and type, but I have had the best luck with small or sporting focused shops.

I had an M3 once upon a time, that got its services performed either by me, or by a shop that raced them.
While that doesn't necessarily work for all vehicle types (e.g "regular car") it can work for trucks, sports cars, as bikes.

[MechAg94]

Indeed.

I know where I can find a world-class prostate cancer surgeon.  I have no clue how to find a world-class mechanic...or even a merely competent and honest mechanic.

Those of us that happen to employ really good compressor mechanics try to pay them well and keep them secret so no one tries to steal them. 

[MechAg94]

Speaking of things no one wants to do, I hear nursing is a good path also for those who want it.  A guy I used to work with, his wife got her RN degree.  Her starting pay in a trainee position was something like $25 per hour.  I think she is in the 30's now that she moved to a regular job. 

[MillCreek]

Lots and lots of articles about how difficult it is for new nurses to find jobs now.  The story in a nutshell: with the economy tanking, people avoided healthcare costs as much as possible; hospitals closed units due to low census; older nurses did not retire since their retirement accounts dropped like a rock; all of this means that nurses are being laid off and new nurses cannot find jobs that they like.  Still jobs available in long term care, but few nurses want to work that area.

Hopefully, this will improve in a few years.  It has in the past and the nursing job market has improved.

[Physics]

Regionally dependent of course.  I could easily find a job 2 hours away, but there is nothing close.  On the other side of the coin, were we to move back to Oregon, I could easily find a job but my wife would have troubles.  Oh well.  As Birdman said, you invent the job that is needed if you have nothing else.  I'm actually doing that right now, starting my own lab.  

[Boomhauer]

Indeed.

I know where I can find a world-class prostate cancer surgeon.  I have no clue how to find a world-class mechanic...or even a merely competent and honest mechanic.

I dont even bother looking. I stick to the old adage..."If you want it done RIGHT do it yourself" considering that everytime I take one of our fleet trucks in for service the chosen shop screws it up I think I chose wisely. The only thing I dont do is trans work beyond the simple stuff.

[Sergeant Bob]

 As Birdman said, you invent the job that is needed if you have nothing else.  I'm actually doing that right now, starting my own lab.  

Breaking Bad?