The Top 10 Best Paying Undergraduate College Majors of 2011-2012

From Huffington Post

You've worked hard in your major, now how will your major pay you back? According to salary data site PayScale, engineers of many different stripes are poised to earn the most money over the course of their careers. At mid-career, the average petroleum engineer earns a whopping $155,000 per year (perhaps more if he or she went to Princeton). Below, check out which other majors pay off over time.


1. Petroleum Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $97,900
Mid-Career Median Pay: $155,000


2. Chemical Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $64,500
Mid-Career Median Pay: $109,000


3. Electrical Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $61,300
Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000


4. Materials Science & Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $60,400
Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000


5. Aerospace Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $60,700
Mid-Career Median Pay: $102,000


6. Computer Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $61,800
Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000


7: Physics 
Starting Median Pay: $49,800
Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000


8. Applied Mathematics
Starting Median Pay: $52,600
Mid-Career Median Pay: $98,600


9. Computer Science
Starting Median Pay: $56,000
Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,900


10. Nuclear Engineering
Starting Median Pay: $65,100
Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,800




MY OPINION: If you noticed, most of these jobs are either in science, math or tech, or as they say STEM. Unfortunately, I have a problem with this list. It doesn't say how in demand they are. Unbeknownst to some, there are people with these majors that are unemployed. As a matter of fact, the FAA is about to shutdown 4k jobs and threaten 90k jobs because the republicans in Congress blocked its funding. Those jobs include community planners, administrative assistants, engineers, scientists, research analysts, computer specialists, program managers, and environmental protection specialist.  


The jobs above may be high paying, but are they in demand? That's one thing a  future college student has to look in to before jumping into a major for the money.  


Here is PayScale's full list. 

About Me

I cannot start a blog without giving a bit of information about me. My name is Antoinette and I am a 22 year old college graduate. I will be officially completing my BA in English in August. Because of high unemployment, I am having trouble finding a job in ANY field. I cannot get a simple job as a cashier at Wal-Mart. Sad isn't it?

The purpose of this blog is to educate those going to college and  hope my struggles finding employment in America would inspire those to make the right decision pertaining to their college major.

I chose English because I loved to write, but I wish those at my college's Career Center would have told me that I would be facing rejection after rejection of  even the lowest paying jobs. Sometimes it is best to choose a major that you hate because it's recession proof.