How to help your students pick the right major

Why did you decide to become a School Counselor? My guess is you wanted a fulfilling job where you felt you could help kids get on the right path to a successful future. In most cases I’m guessing it wasn’t because of the high salary:) This weekend I came across an article in USA Today that discusses picking the right major. The author had some good statistics and points. Among those were that someone that earns a college degree will earn $1 million more during their lifetime than someone with just a college diploma. He also said that the difference between the highest paying college majors and lowest paying could earn the highest paying more than $3.4 million over their lifetimes.

The top paying majors unsurprisingly include STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), plus health and business. The majors with the lowest median earnings are in education, arts and social work. In fact, early childhood education majors earn just $39,000 annually mid-career, the lowest among college graduates.

He also makes the point that doing something you love may be more important than earning the highest salary possible. I tend to agree with his assessment. I’ve met many people that are financially well off but miserable due to the hate of their career. Getting up dreading each day doesn’t work for me. I’d rather have my cake and eat it too. I would encourage your students to find something they are interested in but continue to get their education and pursue it. Here is a link to the article – How to pick the right major