During the first semester of my junior year, I was on the verge of a breakdown almost everyday. I was not overloading, but I had piled my plate so high with extracurricular activities that everything seemed precarious, as if I could just collapse at any moment, breaking down everything I had piled up. I was so scared of being left with only bits of sharp edges, unable to glue my life back together without everyone looking at the flaws I had created, the permanent cracks in my GPA.
When I came back home for Winter Break, I confided in my mother, ruminating over whether I had my the correct decision to be on the Sargent path towards a bachelor’s, then master’s, then supervised clinical hours, exams, and finally a job in Speech Language Pathology. I was taking a look at the friends around me, enviously: the ones in the College of Communications already set up in offices with solid internships, the ones in the School of Management with summer jobs that could lead to a bright future, and those in the School of Education, spending “class” hours working as teachers in the Boston school districts already.
We have probably all been there, placing doubts in our mind, wondering how taking 32 credits every year for four years will lead to anything but our brains being fried to a crisp and our butts hurting from those wobbly chairs in CAS. But hey, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us, and hopefully this article will give you some insight into where you might be, a few years from now.
According to the U.S. News World Report, Boston University’s most popular majors include Business, Management, Marketing, Social Sciences, Communication, Journalism, Health Professions, Biology and Biomedical Sciences. So let’s take a look at those starting salaries. Although they may vary based on location, I picked the salaries for the Northeast area, according to research done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE):
- Business Administration majors begin their salaries at $55,600 per year.
- Management information systems/business majors earned the highest average starting salary at $62,100
- Marketing salaries begin at $54,100.
- The average starting salaries for humanities and social sciences grads ranges from $37,000 to $41,000.
- For the graduation class of 2014, the starting salary averaged to $48,253 for communication majors, according to NACE.
- Journalism majors have a starting salary, on average of $40,900, as of 2012
- Health sciences, depending on the profession, can have a starting salary of $50,000 which is considered the biggest increase, 9.4%, over 2012.
- Biology majors can vary even more widely, as a biotechnology research scientist can make around $79,200 a year while a research technician makes $34,100, and a pharmaceutical sales representative can make $101,000 while a pharmacy technician can make $29,600.
No matter what major you choose, I cannot emphasize more strongly the importance of working hard, graduating on time, and putting your all into a future career. Although these may be the starting salaries, giving us all some hope for a wonderful life to come post-graduation, we must remind ourselves that the job market is competitive, and these jobs are given to those who work the hardest and are willing to go the extra mile. Good luck with all your future endeavors, and remember to not let your plate pile too high!