In 1957, Ted Turner was 18 and studying at Brown University. He was so inspired by a professor there that he decided to major in Classics.
His father was furious about his choice for a college major; he felt the retrospective nature of the subject was better suited for recreational reading rather than university-level study. He also felt that a more practical and mainstream major would grant Ted access to a larger professional network and bring him in contact with career-oriented doers. In contrast, the academic and intellectual pursuit of Classics, he believed, would slot him in an isolated group of dreamers, with relatively commercially-unviable interests in Greek, such as the works of Aristotle and Plato.
It is 2017, and parents are more worried than ever about their children majoring in an ‘impractical’ subject that does not lend itself to a well-treaded career path with guaranteed returns.
In the current job market, a candidate with at least a bachelor’s degree is more likely to be hired than a candidate without a college education. However, college education is increasingly becoming a more expensive proposition with each passing year, making a college degree- a ‘necessary luxury’.
Student loan debt in the US is well over $1.35 trillion and rising by the second. The cost of a college education increasingly fuels the perception that a college major is the means to an end; students need to pay tuition fee dues by landing a well-paying job in an employment market that is still recuperating from the financial crisis of 2008.
Unless a college education is visibly contributing to these goals, many parents are unwilling to offer financial support. For example, a worried father wrote to The New York Times column for advice, Social Q’s, appalled at the possibility that his freshman son may use his $60,000 a year Ivy League education to major in agricultural sciences and become a farmer.
Many parents share the view that such a big investment warrants a career which pays for itself many times over. After all, such a prestigious undergraduate degree opens doors to many lucrative fields and firms, such as investment banking at Goldman Sachs. The common perception governing career choices is that the opportunity cost of a degree undertaken solely for the sake of an education is too high.
Few students at the threshold of adulthood know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. The education system is built to accommodate this naiveté in career direction, wherein students are exposed and offered a variety of subjects and minors over the course of four years of college.
However, in response to these pressures, today’s college students are choosing majors based on employment prospects, and college is slowly losing relevance as a platform to fully explore and maximize interests and aptitudes.
How effective is this formulaic choice of major?
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported labor market outcomes for college graduates in 2017 showing chemical engineering students start at a median salary of $70,000, compared to the median salary of $38,000 for recent graduates. The 10 majors yielding the highest early career wages are in the field of engineering. Even in 2015, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce reported that the 25 highest paying majors are in STEM, health and business.
A closer look at this data provides more major-neutral insight. The highest paid quarter of liberal arts and humanities earn more than the lowest earning quarter of engineering students. There is too much variation in salaries for specific majors, and students should be wary of placing singular importance on remuneration as a deciding factor in choosing a major.
What candidate attributes are more major than the college major?
School ranking
The New York Times reported a study which showed that graduates from top-tier schools demand higher starting salaries than graduates from moderately selective schools. However, this gap emerges due to the rigorous selection criteria of top-tier schools. Students admitted to top universities have backgrounds and profiles rich with experience; each candidate is known to demonstrate sustained commitment to their interests and passions. They are worthy of admission to elite colleges because their background is one of excellence and all-round development, and they earn more because of the same competitive advantage.
Grade Point Average
The same study also shows that the GPA is a better predictor of earning potential than the college major. A survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012 found that employers attribute higher weightage to the GPA than college major in their hiring process. Demonstrated excellence, distinction and leadership are striking filters to select some candidates over others, beyond subject-specific knowledge.
Also, most students will achieve a higher GPA if they are engaged with the subject, so it is better for students to pursue a course they are genuinely interested in and passionate about.
Skill Development
Recruiters seek candidates who are career-ready, and have effective problem-solving and reasoning skills. A study from Brookings Institution examining LinkedIn profiles found skill development is a stronger predictor of earning potential than a college major.
- Career-ready skills: In considering college majors for skills development, the assumption would be that majors heavy on real-world experience and application, such as Business, would be the best in skill development. The Wall Street Journal reported the surprising findings of a Council for Aid to Education study- a liberal arts major is better than business and service fields for learning complex skills such as critical thinking, writing and communication skills. Majors such as business teach the language and specific skills of an industry, but these can be acquired through work experience on the side as well. There are many paths to skill-development, and a major perceived to be “career-oriented” may not always be the only recourse to landing a desirable job.
- Industry-ready skills: Even in fields that appear to be more major-specific, such as computer science, demonstration of interests, commitment and competencies is more important than the college major. Such fields have very high demand for skilled and experienced programmers. Even with a major irrelevant to the field, skills and certifications in front-end and back-end coding languages can open doors to employment.
Development of underlying skills and knowledge should be accorded weight equal to the college major for career management, and not be an afterthought. Potential success is more dependent on the ability to learn skills, tools and competencies rather than just subject expertise. Recruiters may require a specific college major for a job profile, but here the demonstration of skills, irrespective of college major, can make substantial difference. A quick, 10 second resume check on VMock.com, a SMART career platform provides detailed feedback against 100+ parameters. It optimizes expression of key competencies such as teamwork, communication, leadership, initiative and analytical skills that attract and sustain recruiter attention.
The Verdict: Interests and Passion are Key
Achievement, ability and effort are better predictors of earning potential than college majors. If there is a recipe for successful career outcomes, it has more to do with learning, talent and drive. A college degree with a major in anthropology, religious studies or medieval history is far from a setback to a motivated, adaptable, curious and hard-working student.
A major is representative of academic interests at one point of time in life. It appears to become a tad less major when stacked against other credentials such as internships, extra-curricular activities, community service, college GPA, postgraduate degrees and certifications.
If passion and sustained interest drive goals, the application of skills are limited only by imagination, not by career options. Ted Turner went on to become the billionaire founder of CNN, and stories of his college time only serve to highlight his passion for intellectual stimulation. Few remember that he never even graduated.
