Courtney Netzer knew throughout high school she wanted to go into young elementary education. She even planned to attend Ball State as an education major; however, one adverse effect of the career path kept her from pursuing it.
“I don’t want to be poor,” she said.
Netzer is one of many students who decided that more factors play into choosing a major above just what they would love doing. According to a study by National Center for Education Statistics, 80 percent of college students change their major at least once before they graduate.
Netzer said she began to have second thoughts about her chosen major, based on not only her possible salary but also on the prospect of gaining a job after graduation. It convinced her to work toward getting a degree from the Miller College of Business.
“On [high school] graduation day, I even had a teacher come up to me and tell me not to go into education,” she said.
Regardless of major, the goal for the vast majority of college students is to find a career in whatever their field of study is as soon as possible after graduation. But some students, especially with recent economic uncertainties, have to answer an incredibly important question: Do you want to love your job or love your salary?
Joseph Goodwin, assistant director of the Career Center, said he recently talked with a Ball State graduate, whom he could not name, that began her career with a degree in social work. She was unhappy with her salary and was considering going back to school to become a chemist.
Deciding money is more important than the job is fine, Goodwin told the client, but she needed to remember why she chose social work in the first place.
“For some students the money is more important than the job,” he said.
Rajib Sanyal, dean of the Miller College of Business, said the job market is competitive today and college students in general have lower levels of employment than before, which means students should be flexible in the positions they are willing to accept, but not to the extent to do something they won’t enjoy.
“A student should study a major for which [they] have a passion for,” he said. “It is always a good idea to ask — what will I do when I graduate?”
Sanyal said while a major shows an employer that a recent grad has knowledge in a particular discipline, what is really going to give an applicant the edge and help garner a higher paying position is soft skills.
“In fact, our business program requires students to take almost half their credits outside the business school, in liberal arts courses,” he said.
Liberal arts courses are where a student is going to develop skills like critical thinking and social savvy, he said.
Some students may think a degree in business or technology is the easiest way to guarantee a high paying job, but Sanyal said a business employs more than just accountants, human resource managers and sales people.
“They also employ people with training and education in every imaginable discipline, depending on the organization,” he said.
Trying to be happy with your career and your salary can lead to innovative solutions, as sophomore social studies education major Scott Faylor illustrated.
“Knowing what my future salary is likely to be has made me think about alternatives, not change my major, like coaching sports or maybe even pick up a second job,” he said.
“When you are in college paying those bills, [it] is always something to consider,” Faylor said. “But what’s more important, wages or doing something you love? Even if it takes sacrifice, I want to do something I love.”
