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The Daily Tar Heel

Does your major matter?

For this installment of The Question series, we’re asking “does it matter what your major is?” We asked students about their majors and their dream jobs in 30 years.

The major is fundamental to a college student’s life.

It determines the words on the diploma and the courses on the transcript. It’s the first thing a student says after his name in introductions and the first awkward question traded at parties.

And it is followed by a more difficult question: What are you going to do with that?

But for all the attention the major gets, does it really matter to your future, your career or your education?

The simple but unsatisfying answer is that it depends on what the particular student wants and expects from college. 

Those wants and expectations often fall under one of four goals: a liberal education, admission to graduate schools, immediate employment and vocational skills.

The background

There are two types of students: Those who view the University as a place of liberal learning and intellectual growth, and those who see it as a place for practical training with concrete value for students’ careers.

The practical vision seems to be winning.

During the past 30 years, data from the National Center for Education Statistics show consistent increases in bachelor’s degrees awarded in vocational fields such as business and health education, and decreases in liberal arts fields such as English and philosophy.

A liberal education

Historically, universities were a place for intellectual polishing for future elites, with heavy emphasis on humanities and the broad study of culture and philosophy. Since college attendance began to increase dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century, its economic and social purpose has changed. 

But English professor George Lensing maintains that this liberal education is just as or even more important than it used to be.

“There’s a tradition of justifying the liberal arts by saying they are an end unto themselves: They shouldn’t have to have a directly practical, professional application,” Lensing said.

“I worry a little bit that some of this seems less important to students today. And yet to lead a rich, happy, fulfilled life, that’s going to be more than just being an efficient money-maker, this seems to me more urgent than ever.”

For many students, the double major or minor is a way to study both the practical and the intellectual. Senior Jesse Ricciuti studies business and geography, the first for his planned career in dentistry and the second for himself.

“I chose geography because I just wanted something fun,” he said.

Lensing said the University has a responsibility to communicate the value of the liberal arts to students and help them decide how to include it with vocational study.

“We have to justify to our students why these are important things to study, and persuade them that they are,” he said. “In my case, I hope I do it through the courses I teach.”

Getting a job

“There is an old saying in career counseling: Your major may help you get a job in the first place, but it is your education that helps you get promoted,” writes Donald Asher in his book, “How to Get Any Job.”

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The data seem to support this idea. The National Center for Education Statistics has found that graduates from the class of 2008 who majored in high-demand fields, such as business and health, were most likely to be employed a few years after graduation.

At UNC, University Career Services’ “First Destination Survey” of recent graduates found similar results. In the 2009 graduating class, majors with the highest rates of employment included information science (85.7 percent), clinical laboratory science (83.3 percent), computer science (80 percent) and education (70.6 percent). These majors match the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of professional fields expected to grow in coming years.

Many students said they are aware of these trends.

“It’s one of the fastest-growing fields out there,” said junior Stephen Bisher of his environmental sciences major. “I wasn’t particularly interested in it when I came to UNC, but I chose it because it has the most opportunities.”

The major might influence starting salaries, too. A 2010 national survey of recent graduates found that those who majored in health and business fields had starting salaries $10,000 to $15,000 higher than graduates in arts and science fields.

Over time, though, several studies have found that these differences disappear, particularly because arts and science majors are more likely to attend graduate school shortly after college.

Getting to graduate school

For many, the college major is a step toward graduate school in a particular academic of professional field. At UNC, the most popular programs for recent graduates are consistently law and medicine.

Unsurprisingly, students pursuing master’s degrees and doctorates in specific arts and sciences fields tend to have majored in related fields in college.

At professional schools such as law, medicine and business, however, the situation is more complicated. Officials from UNC’s schools are quick to note that there is no specific path to admission.

“Carolina Law does not require that its students have a specific major in college. In fact, our fall 2010 entering class represented more than 60 different college majors,” the school says on its online admissions FAQs.

The UNC School of Medicine makes a similar note on its admissions site: “There is no preferred major for admission, nor is an effort made to select either science or non- science majors over the other.”

The school does, however, require biology, chemistry and physics classes with labs and a strong score on the Medical College Admission Test.

Nonetheless, the vast majority of students nationwide in professional graduate programs have majored in related fields.

Ricciuti said he is applying to dentistry schools despite not majoring in science. He says he has taken all the required pre-dental biology and chemistry courses on his own.

“I do worry a little bit; some schools ask that you take extra courses,” he said. “But I think I should be fine.”

Skills for the job

Many professional schools emphasize the value of learning practical skills that prepare students for the workplace, particularly in high-demand fields. Graduates of education schools, for example, have lower-than-average starting salaries but are among the most likely to be employed after graduation. UNC’s School of Education is consistently listed among the programs with highest post-graduation employment for students.

“There is always high demand for math, science, special education and ESL (English as a Second Language). People with those interests, we would say this is a great time to become a teacher,” said George Noblit, professor of sociology of education.

Though there are many options for entering teaching “laterally,” including popular programs such as Teach for America, Noblit stresses the value of the education major.

“One of the things we’re able to give you that coursework can’t is a lot of guided experience,” he said. “Our programs are keyed to preparing teachers to operate in the current environment and to hit the ground running when shifts take place.”

Senior Ellen Haver agrees that her education major has prepared her for the classroom.

“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind teaching that many people don’t know,” she said. “Making good lesson plans, making sure you’re giving a multicultural education, reaching out to your kids, working with ESL students. Things like that you wouldn’t know if you did lateral entry.”

Finding a place

The most important consideration in picking a major might be more obvious — but less concrete. Several research studies have found that students who select majors and academic departments that fit their personalities and personal interests are most likely to graduate and report satisfaction with work and study.

“The choice first and foremost ought to be about what the student truly loves. A lot of students sacrifice that for what they regard as more practical choices,”  Lensing said. “The major is really one part of a larger picture of what you’ve done with those eight semesters. You’re hardly an expert in what you have majored in.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.

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