Many college students, in fact, change their majors during their college years; sometimes, students have to stay in college for 5 or 6 years because of the changes. Nowadays, many college including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University enter all of their students into a General Program during the first two years. However, some programs such as Engineering at North Carolina State University essentially force their students to start engineering when they take their first step on campus. So, it is still very important for a high school senior to evaluate his or her potential majors before applying to colleges and universities.

The most important factor in choosing a major is interest. It is a horrible idea to spend the next four years of your life studying something you despise then having to work 40 or more hours a week in a field that you find repulsive. However, most people generally do not prefer to study a field where there are extremely low salaries and high unemployment rate. Having a backup major is generally a good idea.

According to scholarships.com, the most profitable college majors are:

1. Chemical Engineering ($55,900 average starting salary)
2. Computer Engineering ($54,877 average starting salary)
3. Electrical/Electronics/Communications engineering, ($52,899 average starting salary)
4. Mechanical Engineering ($50,672 average starting salary)
5. Computer Science ($50,046 average starting salary)
6. Accounting ($45,723 average starting salary)
7. Economics/Finance/Banking ($45,191 average starting salary)
8. Civil Engineering ($44,999 average starting salary)
9. Business Administration/Management ($39,850 average starting salary)
10. Marketing/Marketing Management/Marketing Research ($36,260 average starting salary)

It appears that students that enjoy engineering have a lot of flexibility in choosing their major without much detriment. If they realize that you do not enjoy working with hardware, they can always work with software with a Computer Science major, or in analytics with a Mathematics or Statistics major. Students who enjoy working with finances also have flexibility choosing between Accounting, Economics, Finance, Banking, Business Administration, and Marketing. It may be difficult for a student to decide whether he wants to study Accounting or Economics while in high school. However, it may be a strategic decision to start leaning toward the finance field.

For most of the degrees above, a Bachelor’s degree is sufficient to get a job. A master’s degree such as the MBA is optional and can be obtained at a later stage. However, in other fields such as English, a Masters of PhD degree may be necessary to obtain the best employment opportunities. That should be taken into account. People who do not want to stay in school for a long period of time should avoid these majors and take advantage of the alternatives. Also, some colleges’ engineering programs can be essentially 5-year programs. Student shouldn’t assume that all Bachelor’s degrees can be completed in 4 years.

There is also an opportunity in many colleges to double major. It may be give the student more job flexibility. However, if the majors do not well overlap, it will also be more time consuming. Minors can also be pursued and only consist of several extra classes. In my opinion, minors should only be pursued out of pure interest since most of the time, they are not listed on a diploma and do not give the student enough expertise to be employed in a field.

So what do you learn with an IT online degree? Well you are taught basic computer science, which includes software and hardware, algorithms, databases, editing and programming, design, operating systems and much, much more. You will also study day to day maintenance, system integration and security issues.

Information Technology is in a state on continuing advancement designed to make both our personal and business lives easier. Due to the rapid rise in demand for this technology, this has of course, led to an increased desire for professionals within the industry.

In the United States alone, a recent survey has revealed that nearly three million jobs are held by information technology professionals, such as computer programmers, network administrators and computer system analysts. Of those who have an IT degree, they can expect annual salaries in excess of $45,000.

Studying for an IT Online Degree, almost seems like a natural way to learn the specialized skills you require before entering a career in this field. Your coursework will consist of virtual lectures, reading and written assignments, audio and video conferencing. You will also be able to communicate with your tutors via, e-mail, chat and instant messaging. An added advantage will include liaising with other IT online degree students via chatrooms. What a great way to check your understanding and discuss different aspects of your coursework.

So what areas of study are available to you with your IT online Degree? You may consider Computer Programming, Web Development, Network Architecture and Design, Software Engineering or even multimedia, animation and telecommunications.

Careers that you may choose to follow include a help desk analyst, application developer, project manager, wireless support analyst and Internet Developer. As a graduate you may wish to perform these types of job at banks, investment and consulting firms, retail stores..the list is endless. If you have a more advanced IT online Degree, you may consider positions such as a computer engineer, information architect or an industrial designer. These types of managerial IT positions can demand salaries ranging from $80,000 to $110,000 a year.

So it seems that an IT online degree can open the doors to a fascinating, new and lucrative career