The weight of newer students, as they progress through orientations and into their first classes, is a choice: What will they major in?
In an ideal world, students would have plenty of time to figure out their address. They would try a bunch of courses, find out what interests them, and just spend some time learning for learning’s sake. But we’ve never really lived up to that ideal, and the crises of the last decade and more — first the Great Recession, now the pandemic — have only intensified the pressure on college students to make the “right choice.”
My advice is this: It’s better to thrive in a major you love than to chase a bigger paycheck. You’ll be happier, but you’ll also make more money as a top graduate in any field than as a mediocre graduate of something you think might be more lucrative. And best of all, the data supports my advice.
I am the undergraduate advisor for history and minors students at the University of Minnesota. Recruiting and supporting students who want to study history is literally my job, and the news these days is not good for humanists like me. According to a new Federal Reserve survey, nearly half of all arts and humanities students are worried they’ve made the wrong choice. I am concerned about how this data will be used to accelerate a decades-long trend of defunding and abandonment of the humanities, as politicians and university presidents, as well as students and parents, misunderstand the message. The value of the humanities far outweighs the financial “return on investment,” which is the latest trend in how to evaluate a college education. But even if we focus on the money, which makes sense given the costs involved, we need to be much clearer about how we count those returns.There is a hierarchy of majors when it comes to evaluating the likely lifetime earnings of the strongest students. The data from the Federal Reserve is clear, for example, that engineers earn much more than the rest of us, although their survey also shows that a quarter of all engineers also have career regrets. (Perhaps it’s fair to assume that many people in their 20s have understandable difficulties planning for the rest of their lives?)
But here’s the problem I see over and over again: Too many college students choose a major they think will lead to a good job instead of one that really piques their interest. As a result, they fight. They get worse grades. They are not happy. And if we dig into the data from the Federal Reserve, we can even see that it is the wrong financial decision.
This is what I call the 75/25 problem. Let me explain.
It is much better, from a financial standpoint, to be in the 75th percentile of a major with “lower expected earnings” than in the 25th percentile of a higher one. For example, according to an analysis of the Fed survey by the Washington Post, which adjusted 2016 dollars for current inflation, the lifetime earnings of a top accountant average $3.98 million, and the Top 25% earn $4.9 million and bottom 25% less than $3.22 million. History, and this is typical of the humanities, averages less than $3.37 million, but its top 25% are expected to earn $4.22 million. Sure, an elite accounting student does better than an elite history student, but an elite history student does better than your average accountant.
There are some people who can do their best work even on topics and tasks that don’t excite them. But that’s not typical, as I’ve discovered in my decades as an educator, and it definitely wasn’t true for me. I was an “A” student in History, mostly. (I’m still bitter about that professor who gave me a B+ in European history; I showed it to him by becoming a historian of Europe.) I did well because I liked it. I did my readings, worked hard on my homework, and spent time outside of class thinking about what we were learning.
My math grades were, shall we say, a little lower, not only because math was hard but because I didn’t want to do it. I skipped or rushed homework, I was bored in class and I didn’t care. If I had tried to become an accountant, I would have been bad, stuck in that bottom 25th percentile.
I have long argued that making college free, or at least much cheaper, is the fastest way to enable college students to feel confident studying what they want to study. Debt relief is a good start, but it doesn’t help the students of tomorrow. A less expensive education could allow us to focus on all the benefits beyond job training. At its best, higher education prepares young people to become global citizens and lifelong learners ready to adapt to the challenges of a complex future. And, especially in the face of the massive mental health challenges facing students today (like many of us, they’re not doing well after the last few years), prioritizing happiness could make for a better college experience. But I am also a realist. Even if college were cheaper, jobs would still be important. Paychecks would still matter. People go to college to get ahead. And while the data may discourage people like me, because our enrollment and core numbers are falling, a large part of the reality is reassuring: Students who thrive in our programs are likely to do well professionally.
So if you chose a major for the job you thought you’d get right out of college, and you love your STEM or business courses, that’s great. But if you’re struggling, especially if it’s a path you chose because your parents wanted you to be practical, maybe take a look around. Try to remember the last time you really enjoyed a class, where you did the reading because you wanted to, not because someone told you it was required. Follow your interests, hit the 75th percentile, and hopefully the rest will follow.
Source: www.cnn.com