One of the most stressful decisions when determining a college major is job security. However, due to the astronomical rise in tuition prices, financial security is more important than ever before. Luckily, Ensphere offers ways to pinpoint a major that fits your personality while also showing you the industry pay scale. We offer services such as Kolbe, Career Cruising, OpGig, and more. This will better determine which career path would be a good fit for you.
In addition to our services, we always want to keep you up to date on external information such as “Best Pay Lists”. I am fond of the U.S. News lists that they produce each year. This one titled “10 College Majors With the Lowest Starting Salaries”, is a great source! They used the data from PayScale to determine this list.
Here are the 10 college majors with the lowest median salaries for alumni with three years of postgraduate work experience whose highest degree is a bachelor’s. Also included for each major is the college where alumni make the highest median salary in that field. During the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing more pay related lists.
10 College Majors With The Lowest Median Salaries
10. Design and applied arts
Median starting salary: $42,727
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
U.S. News rank and category: 25 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Carnegie Mellon University graduates in this field: $75,700
9. Liberal arts and general studies
Median starting salary: $42,617
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Biola University (CA)
U.S. News rank and category: 185 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Biola University graduates in this field: $65,100
8. Human development and related services
Median starting salary: $42,252
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Cornell University (NY)
U.S. News rank and category: 17 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Cornell University graduates in this field: $56,400
7. Criminal justice
Median starting salary: $42,025
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: George Washington University (DC)
U.S. News rank and category: 70, National Universities (tie)
Median salary for George Washington University graduates in this field: $58,400
6. Psychology
Median starting salary: $41,890
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: University of Scranton (PA)
U.S. News rank and category: 6, Regional Universities (North)
Median salary for University of Scranton graduates in this field: $66,100
5. Criminology
Median starting salary: $41,722
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: University of Maryland—College Park
U.S. News rank and category: 64 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for University of Maryland graduates in this field: $50,900
4. Health and physical education/fitness
Median starting salary: $41,608
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Rice University (TX)
U.S. News rank and category: 17 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Rice University graduates in this field: $56,700
3. Animal science
Median starting salary: $39,905
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Colorado State University
U.S. News rank and category: 166 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Colorado State graduates in this field: $55,400
2. Education
Median starting salary: $39,082
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: Boston University
U.S. News rank and category: 40 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for Boston University graduates in this field: $53,100
1. Social work
Median starting salary: $37,035
School with alumni earning the highest salary for this major: University of South Dakota
U.S. News rank and category: 263 (tie), National Universities
Median salary for University of South Dakota graduates in this field: $49,800