5 Best College Majors If You Want a Job

When your eighth-grader asks, “When am I going to use the quadratic equation anyway?,” show her this list. Take math, kiddies, take math. If you want a paying job after college, that is.

Following are the top five areas of study from which employers will be hiring in 2008. And, despite the sagging economy, they are hiring—according to The National Association of Colleges and Employers, businesses plan to hire 8 percent more graduates from the class of 2008 than they did from last year’s class. So, go ahead and declare:

1. Accounting (average starting salary: $46,292)
2. Mechanical Engineering (average starting salary: $54,057)
3. Electrical Engineering (average starting salary: $55,333)
4. Computer Science (average starting salary: $53,051)
5. Business Administration/Management (avgerage starting salary: $47,407)

Sadly, the starting salaries for these jobs are shockingly near my ending salary in publishing. Shall we have a rousing chorus of Avenue Q’s “What do you do with a B.A. in English?” (or, for that matter, art history, music, American studies, should we go on?)

Source: The National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2008 (Salary information from 2007 graduating class data)