On this page we give some factors to consider when choosing a college major. For information on specific majors, check out our compilation of Quora answers about college majors

Factors to consider

Income

The average income of people who majored in a given subject varies greatly from subject to subject. The Wall Street Journal gives statistics on average mid-career salaries for common majors, and finds that they vary from $52k/year for education majors to $107k/year for chemical engineering majors.

One cause of the variance is that some majors attract more capable people who would have earned more independently of their choice of major. But some of the variance is due to choice of major. In Major Premium economist Bryan Caplan estimates the additional income that college graduates make relative to high school graduates by major, and finds that the percentage ranges from 24% (for male general education majors) to 72% (for female electrical engineering majors).

Broadly, the majors with highest average earnings are quantitative disciplines like science, math and economics.

Flexibility

It's easier to major in something technical and pursue a non-technical than the other way around.

Personal enjoyment

For many people, college is the main time in their lives that they have to pursue intellectual enrichment. In contrast with high school, you have more flexibility as to what you study, and in contrast with post-college years, you're not saddled with work and family obligations. There's a case for taking advantage of this time to study what you most enjoy.

If you're considering going into academia

It's also the case that you're more likely to earn high grades in a subject that you enjoy, which can be good for professional school admissions.

Workload

Grading is easier in some majors than in others. For example, at one college, average GPA ranged from 2.78 for chemistry majors to 3.36 for education majors. This difference probably does not reflect chemistry majors being weaker students than education majors. So earning a given GPA in some majors requires more work than earning a given GPA in other majors.

It's also the case that on average, some majors take longer than others. Survey results show that on average engineering majors study 19 hours per week while business majors only study 14 hours per week. This may substantially understate the difference in time commitment: science classes can involve time consuming labs.

Quality of peer group

Some majors attract stronger students than others. One indication of this comes from LSAT scores by major: criminal justice majors average 146 (29.5th percentile) whereas math/physics majors average 160 (80.4th percentile).

Majoring in a subject with stronger students can give you the opportunity to learn from and engage with higher quality thinkers.