In recent years, students have grown more focused on higher education as a means to landing a good job and earning a high salary.
Several publications have responded to this shift in public opinion with a flurry of rankings attempting to quantify the return on education (understood a variety of different ways) for certain schools, majors, and degrees.
The latest entry comes from job search website CareerCast, who recently ranked the college majors with the best career prospects. To create the ranking, CareerCast analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Georgetown University Center of Education and the Workforce, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Here are the majors with the best career prospects, according to their analysis:
- Accounting
- Business Management
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Finance
- Information Systems
- Marketing and Market Research
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Nursing
Today’s job market is especially competitive; a growing number of highly educated jobseekers are entering a job market with a shrinking number of openings. In fact, NACE estimates that employers will hire 1.3% fewer graduates from the Class of 2018 than they did from the Class of 2017.
But the majors that made the list give students a better chance at landing a job after graduation, CareerCast reports. For example, accounting majors can expect employment rates of more than 90%, and the demand for nurses translates to one of the highest employment rates for entry-level graduates.
Other majors on the list, like chemistry and information systems, can open opportunities for students in fields with some of the highest-paying careers—if they seek additional schooling. And opportunities for business management and finance majors have growth outlooks of roughly 20% and 15%, respectively (CareerCast report, accessed 8/27; Nova, CNBC, 8/23).
