College Majors That Lead to “Underemployment”

“About half of America’s new college graduates are working in high school-level jobs like food service and retail,” according to a recent report in Business Insider.  That’s certainly not what students are envisioning as they eagerly check their emails at this time of year to find out if they’ve been accepted to the college of their dreams.

The bleak report was based on data regarding the careers of 60 million people in the U.S., including close to 11 million people with a bachelor’s degree. Statistics showed that people working college-level jobs earn 88% more than those with only a high school education. However, those who are “underemployed” (engaged in a job that doesn’t fully utilize their education) earn about 25% more than those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma.    

 

The key to avoid the likelihood of being underemployed is to choose a college major wisely.  “Fields requiring quantitative reasoning, such as engineering, finance and accounting, and computer science, had the lowest five-year underemployment rates,” according to Business Insider. Health-related majors, such as nursing, also had low underemployment rates.

College Advisor’s Plan for Effective College Tours

Students thinking ahead to their college experience should start visiting prospective schools early in their high school years.  Touring colleges, in person, serves two very important purposes.  First of all, students absorb the ambiance of the college community while gaining information to determine if their academic goals would be met.  Secondly, they show “demonstrated interest” – a key quality in increasing one’s chances of gaining admission.   

Colleges know that most students apply to a multitude of schools. In deciding who to accept, admission officers gauge demonstrated interest to try to determine which students would most likely enroll, if given the opportunity. 

 

Colleges are ranked, in part, on their “yield” – the percent of accepted students who enroll. So, students who visit the campus and write personalized essays proclaiming their interest in the college, often have a distinct advantage.

Yale, Brown & Dartmouth Join Growing List of Colleges Requiring SAT

Yale University, Brown University, and Dartmouth College all recently announced that, going forward, they will require standardized test scores of all applicants. These Ivy League institutions are joining a growing number of colleges that are turning away from the “test optional” policy adopted during Covid to keep their application numbers high.

 

Other colleges and universities, popular with New Jersey students, that require test scores include Georgetown University, Purdue University, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Florida, Florida State, MIT, and the U.S. Naval, Air Force, and Military academies.

 

Colleges that are currently “test optional” are heavily utilizing submitted SAT scores in the admissions process and the allotment of scholarship funds. Students without SAT scores are required, prior to the start of freshman year, to take placement tests at the college they will be attending. If they do not score high enough on any of these tests (typically required in English and Math), they are placed in “remedial” courses which require full tuition but award no college credits.

Getting Accepted To College Amidst Dropping Acceptance Rates

“You’re not imagining it – it feels damn near impossible to get into top colleges right now.”  That’s the headline of a recent article in Business Insider, highlighting the record high number of applications being received by elite schools, and the dropping acceptance rates. 

There’s no sign of this trend easing up. In fact, there’s a “surprisingly large increase in the number of students applying to college for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year,” according to Forbes, which reported a 41% increase in applicants utilizing The Common App since the 2019-20 school year – the last one not affected by Covid. 

 

Typically, as colleges receive a rising number of applications, their acceptance rate plummets. And this is not just at the Ivy League schools which host single digit acceptance rates. Harvard’s acceptance rate, for example, was less than 4% for the past two years. 

 

Popular universities, including New York University (NYU), Northeastern, and Babson, have “skyrocketed in popularity” in recent years, according to Business Insider.  NYU announced a record low acceptance rate of 8% for the Class of 2027. By comparison, NYU’s acceptance rate was 35% in 2014.

The Passion Project College Admissions Advantage

The cover page of a recent New York Times special supplement stated, “There are few challenges facing students more daunting than applying and paying for college.” Let’s focus on the “applying” aspect for now. 

More than 50 colleges and universities, some of them favorites with New Jersey students, have acceptance rates below 15%, according to U.S. News & World Report.  The eight Ivy League schools, as well as Duke, Northeastern, Swarthmore, Barnard, and more, have one digit acceptance rates starting as low as 3%.

 

Students know that an impressive GPA and SAT scores, and often a multitude of AP courses with a high score on year-end exams, is only the starting point for a chance of being accepted to many of these revered institutions. The next step is to stand out from the crowd, typically through an impressive “passion project.”

Top Summer of 2024 High School Students’ Activities

While it may be snowing, or at least cold these days, students with college in their future would do well to be making their summer plans.   Time off from the restraints of the school year give students the opportunity to stand out from their peers and create experiences that will prepare them for higher education and impress college admissions officers. 

One of the most important decisions that college-bound students need to make regards their choice of major.  This is the key criteria in identifying best fit colleges, and students can easily gain insight through their summer activities.  There are a multitude of pre-college summer programs offered at colleges throughout the country, including many close to home.  

 

High school students interested in business may want to consider attending The Rutgers Business School Summer which costs $2,200 for a one-week program, including housing, meals, and field trips.  Students are introduced to various business disciplines: Marketing, Management, Accounting, Finance, and Supply Chain Management. Registration has already opened for this program which typically sells out by late February.

The Top Ranked Colleges Based on Major

All eight Ivy League colleges and universities, as well as 20 other prestigious institutions, have a one-digit acceptance rate, according to U.S. News & World Report.  That’s enough to fill college bound students – and their parents – with trepidation.   

But the key to identifying one’s ideal college is not directly correlated with acceptance rate. The best strategy is to pinpoint one’s choice of major, and then research the colleges and universities with the strongest programs in that field.

 

Consider, for example, the popular field of business. Many of the top schools are extremely competitive: University of Pennsylvania, MIT, University of California-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Texas-Austin.  Other universities, also ranked among the Top 25 Business Programs in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report, have a much more encouraging acceptance rate.  Indiana University-Bloomington, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn State, and the University of Maryland, have acceptance rates, respectively, of 82%, 53%, 49%, 45%, 88%, 53%, 55%, and 44%.