"If you have your credentials and you've done the things you need to do, as a minority, you're not going to be out there [looking for a job] for too long," Jones adds.

"It's the same thing with gender," Gardner adds. "In fact, it has been a beneficial time for women of all races. They are the ones going to college in increasing numbers. And if it weren't for them, we'd really have some problems in the labor market."

The Right Choice

Most counselors also admit that the choice of a major is not necessarily a major life choice. Officials at the University of New Hampshire assert that 20 percent of all students switch majors between admission and the first day of classes and nearly 75 percent change majors at least twice before they graduate.

University of Minnesota officials concur with those figures, adding that recent studies suggest that it is typical for students to test out four or five majors before making a final decision.

And George Mason University officials advise that there can be several "right" majors for any individual student.

These officials suggest that a student choose a major that captures the student's interest, motivates them, makes them happy and allows them to use their strengths. They say that research indicates that people change careers several times throughout their life and in order to keep pace with the job market, students should be provided with a foundation of knowledge, skills and experiences that are useful in a variety of career settings.

Additionally, officials at the University of California at Berkeley warn that selecting a major and pursuing a career just because it's "hot" in the job market can be dangerous. With new career fields and new technology appearing on the horizon every few months, they warn that what you specialize in today may be outdated next week.

And that can be of particular concern to the professors who are being hired to teach these new technology-driven majors.

"Professors can get left by the wayside," says Dr. Bruce A. Kimball, a professor at the University of Rochester's Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development who has written several books on the history of academia. "If you start creating jobs for professors that are pitched to a particular vocation, those jobs could become short-term. The more you go in this direction, what is at stake is [an educational] superficiality. It has a very negative impact on the professorate because it tends to lead to viewing professors as technicians or people to fill specific job slots. The academic profession is more devoted to the advancement of knowledge [and this tends] to undermine the general mission of the professorate.

"As a result, people will invest much less in preparing to teach. You get a dumbing-down of the education enterprise and you could get a dumbing-down of the professorate," he continues before segueing into issues of financial security and tenure. "If you haven't got the security that this expertise is valued by the university, then people are going to stop becoming real experts in these major fields. Who's going to get a Ph.D. for a job that's going to last only a few years?"

But for students, the concern about their marketability goes right to the core of an age-old question for higher education.

"Why do you go to college?" posits Jones. "In certain disciplines, it's very clear -- you want to be a doctor, you want to be an engineer. But a lot of students have no idea what they want to do, or it comes to them so late, and then [the only importance of the major] is to get out [of school with a diploma]. Even when I was in school, I found out that I could go into banking with a communications degree or a psychology degree or a business degree. Students today are very astute. They are looking for something to enhance their skills."

And the current emphasis on enhancing skills seems to be relieving the anxiety surrounding the choice of a major.

"It's an exciting time for students. Not just for those looking at small businesses, but for those looking to work for large, Fortune 500 type organizations," marvels Jones. "They have the technical skills, the organizational skills, the communications skills to be successful at a lot of places.

"It goes beyond the job market," he adds. "Job titles change, majors may even change, but skills remain constant."

Projections of Fastest Growing Occupations

                     Employment        Numerical    Percentage
Occupation        1992(*)   2005(*)    Change(*)     Increase

Home Health
Aides               347       862         479          138

Human Services
Workers             189       445         256          135

Personal and
Home Care Aides     127       293         166          130

Computer
Engineers and
Scientists          211       447         236          111

System Analysts     455       956         501          110

Physical and         61       118          57           93
Corrective
Therapy Aides

Physical             90        69          79           88
Therapists

Paralegals           95       176          81           85

Special             358        62         267           74
Education
Teachers

Medical             181       309         128           71
Assistants

Correction          282       479         197           70
Officers

Private              59       100          41           69
Detectives

Child-care          684     1,134         450           66
Workers

Travel Agents       115       191          76           66

Radiologic          162       264         102           63
Technologists
and Technicians

Medical Records      76       123          47           62
Technicians

Nursery Workers      72       116          44           61

Operations           45        72          27           60
Research
Analysts

Occupational         40        64          24           60
Therapists

Legal               280       440         160           57
Secretaries

Preshool,           280       440         160           57
Kindergarten
Teachers

Manicurists          35        54          19           54

Producers,          129       198          69           53
Directors,
Actors and
Entertainers

Speech/Language      73       110          37           51
Pathologist and
Audiologist

Flight               93       140          47           51
Attendants

Guards              803     1,211          40          851

Insurance           147       219          72           49
Adjusters,
Examiners and
Investigators

Respiratory          74       110          36           49
Therapists

Paving,              72       107          35           49
Surfacing and
Tamping
Equipment Ops

Psychologists       143       212          69           48

(*) number in thousands

Source: CareerMart.com, 2000

The Worth of the Major

Major                   Average Salary After Graduation

Chemical                                        $47,136
Engineering

Computer Software                               $46,513
Development

Electrical                                      $45,121
Engineering

Computer                                        $44,345
Science

Management                                      $41,077
Information Systems

Information                                     $39,248
Sciences

Accounting                                      $38,696

Civil                                           $36,160
Engineering

Public                                          $35,308
Accounting

Business                                        $33,790
Administration

Marketing/Marketing                             $31,542
Management

Political Science/                              $29,299
Government

English                                         $27,017

Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers, 1999

COPYRIGHT 2000 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group