Students who go to college and graduate with a bachelor’s degree earn a staggering 86% more than those who only have a high school diploma. This amounts to roughly an extra $1.2 million over the course of their lifetime. However, the average salary of a college graduate can vary substantially based on the specific degree that a student picks. Additionally, the school itself can impact the future earnings of its graduates.
Unsurprisingly, most of the highest-grossing majors are in various STEM fields. Despite their lower salaries,majors such as business administration, nursing and psychology are generally more popular among students.
The importance of predicted future salaries in picking a college major fluctuates greatly because everyone comes from a different background and prioritizes elements of the college experience differently.
For Wyatt Hogan, a senior at the school, the predicted future salary was more of a bonus than a consideration when he decided to major in mechanical engineering. However, future job opportunities were an important factor in his decision-making process.
“I’ve always been interested in engineering [and] tinkering with things,” said Hogan, “and mechanical engineering leaves the most possibilities for me to go into the field of engineering.”
Even though he did not decide based on predicted earnings, he does think it is good to do so.
“I think it really depends on the person and their financial situation,” said Hogan. “[For] some people, finances are the key driving point for what they’re trying to do, and it’s what they value. For me, I’m more valuing just studying engineering and trying to do stuff like that.”
Alena Topchy, a current senior at the school, plans to major in nutritional sciences. Like Hogan, predicted earnings post-graduation were not a major consideration for Topchy. Instead, she focused more on picking a major that would prepare her for medical school.
“I originally was planning to major in biology or biochemistry,” said Topchy. “But I did more research on the majors at Cornell, and [nutritional sciences] had more interesting classes and was in the college I wanted to apply to within Cornell.”
Topchy also highlighted the importance of considering the career you want to end up in, rather than a projected salary, when deciding what to study.
“You should do a major that would set you up for your future career,” said Topchy. “I don’t think that the major really determines your future earnings; it’s more of what you do with that major in the future.”
Senior Chase Rosen took a different approach, explaining that he did look at projected salaries when picking a major.
“I have been pretty indecisive about what I am going to major in,” said Rosen. “My university’s top business program and post-graduate salary motivated me to choose [to major in business].”
He added that for students like himself who are more indecisive about what they want to study in college, predicted earnings can help a student reach a decision.
Ultimately, while projected post-graduate salaries can be valuable to consider when picking a college major, it is important to remember that there are many factors that make up the decision-making process. All three seniors are looking forward to their college experiences.
“It’s so cool that you can actually affect how the real world [works] and [get] to understand why things are built and why things are the way they are,” said Hogan.
