Today the Wall Street Journal released “From College to Career". It’s a database where you can search the unemployment rate, earnings (median, 25th percentile and 75th percentile) and popularity by major. Its American data, but the Canadian figures may be similar.
But there are 3 important issues to bear in mind when you look at this database:
1. It’s interesting but this is not the best way to choose a major. Remember that most of these majors are not a direct path to a career in that field. Likewise many students do not work in an industry directly related to their field of study. Also, a major can lead to many different careers with varying income levels and unemployment rates.
2. You’ll also have to consider that there is a correlation between the reputation of the university and employability. It’s very likely that the average Harvard graduate in any of these majors have better career prospects than graduates from a university with a reputation that is not as high.
3. There is also the individual graduate’s skills, experience and network that will strongly influence who gets hired and their salary levels.
I know it’s tempting to find a major which has a low unemployment rate and high earnings. But would you seriously choose to study petroleum engineering simply because it has the highest median salary ($127,000)? With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, you can check out the Canadian petroleum engineering programs at University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Memorial University and University of Regina.
Like this? Like Canada University Admit on facebook.
