How to Choose a Major for Your College Education?

When selecting a major before going to college, it is helpful to pay attention to which fields and disciplines are more popular. Looking at what is popular now will help you to find job opportunities and how predict how the job market will be in the future. For example, thanks to the technological developments in the 1980s, electric-electronic engineering was fairly popular, leading to some of the best students to choose the major. Nowadays, computer engineering has taken the flag in this area from electric-electronic engineering. Now the best students aim to enter computer engineering departments. Of course, these popular majors are not only limited to engineering, but many other majors are also becoming increasingly popular among students. For example, according to the Report of the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of bachelor’s degrees given in health professions and related programs has increased from 129,600 to 251,400 since 2009. When we consider the increasing health needs of the aging population in the US, we better understand the reason for this rise in popularity.

Career Opportunities

Another criterion that we can look at when choosing a major is career opportunities. For example, in Pharmacology, the expected growth of the sector in 2022 is 25 percent, and the average salary is $105,000. Similarly, information technology is also promising. From 2022 until 2026, the expected growth of the sector is 12%. This growth is adding faster jobs than in other sectors. The average salaries in this sector are around $80,000- $100,000. It is likely that the health science field offers future opportunities as well. By 2026, the field is expected to grow by 20%. As with most job markets, salary also increases as the education level increases in this major. One can expect to earn at least $90,000 with a master’s degree. Therefore, when choosing a major, you can see and assess the trends and make educated decisions based on your personal preferences.

Interests and Hobbies

Of course, career opportunities and salary amounts are not enough to choose a major. One’s interests and character in this area are very decisive criteria. If you are interested in technology and have a good relationship with mathematics, then computer science or engineering can be a good option for you so that you can enjoy both studying and working. Or, if you are an extrovert and like to communicate with people and help them, studying medicine or nursing may be a suitable career goal for you.

The profession is not only an education and a way to earn money but also a field in which you will spend a significant amount of time in life. For this, considering the personal interests and character of the person can offer better quality of life for the student. However, now the sectors have begun to be connected. They are not quite separate fields from each other as they used to be. Thus, it is possible to find a suitable specialization in each major that you can enjoy. Our advice is students should also consider their character and interests while choosing a major.

An Example: Computer Science

In this blog, I would like to provide detailed information about a popular major: Computer Science.

Why Computer Science

Computer Science has now become a field used in almost every other field. It has become a major that is needed and used in every sector, from health equipment to financial transactions. In the digital age, the need for qualified people who know coding has increased drastically and will continue to increase. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in computer science is expected to grow by 21 percent by 2028. In other words, we can say that the future of this major is quite bright. Well, we have made our decision and decided on a computer science major. But what is computer science, what are the concentrations, how much do they earn?

What is Computer Science?

Computer science focuses on computer and network design, algorithms and data structures, artificial intelligence, and information processes. Computer science’s basics come from mathematics and engineering. Thus, it contains techniques from different fields such as queueing theory, probability and statistics, and electronic circuit design.

If we leave these technical expressions aside, we can say that the techniques of mathematics and other engineering are used according to their own needs by computer scientists. There are many specializations that have emerged under the umbrella of computer science in which you can choose: Artificial Intelligence, Game Design, Networks, Computer Graphics, Cybersecurity, Conformation Security, Data Science, Machine Learning, Programming Languages, Software Engineering, Systems, among many others.

We can say that looking at it, computer science major has quite a variety of specializations. After you decide on the computer science major, you have a wide variety of options in the field you want to work in the future. For example, if you are interested in visual and artistic details and enjoy creating a product using your creativity and collaboration, computer graphics is an excellent specialization for you. Or, if you like using mathematics, analysis, and algorithms, then artificial intelligence may be a perfect specialization for you. It is easy to find a concentration in computer science that you will enjoy and that suits your interests. Moreover, the fact that it is a profession with a bright future makes the major very attractive. In addition, the salaries are pretty appealing thanks to the companies’ demand for qualified personnel:

Average Salary for Artificial Intelligence: $125,000

Average Salary for Game Design: $115,846

Average Salary for Computer Graphics: $116,192

Average Salary for Information Security: $124,506

Average Salaries for Data Science: Ranges from $123,419 (Data Scientist) to $145,549 (Machine Learning Engineer)

Average Salary for Software Engineering: $119,923

When choosing a university major, it is beneficial for the person to evaluate her character and her interests, as well as the opportunities that major offers. When deciding, getting help from professional and experienced people will help the student make this decision because it is not fair to expect a person aged 17-18 to understand both the world and herself and make a choice accordingly. For this reason, we think that getting help from an experienced team that has helped many students will make an extraordinary contribution to both education and professional life.

Sources:

https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/computer-science-specializations/

https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/10-most-in-demand-degrees-in-2021/

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37

By Furkan Kan

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