One thing that changes with public schools is the range of majors. A large state university usually has hundreds of degree options and an undeclared entry, which matters because most students change direction at least once. Our guide to the best online universities for IT degrees covers the same flexibility from the online side.
Which major has the best job outcomes?
Depends on whether you are looking at salary or at certainty, and the two point in different directions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists software developers at a median of $135,980 a year as of May 2025, which is the highest number on most people's list. A nursing or accounting degree with a licence is often the more reliable path, because demand is structural and the qualification is legally required rather than merely preferred. The same holds for teaching, where the certificate is required and the supply of graduates has not kept pace with retirements.
The practical rule is to look for a major with several exits. A business degree with an analytics track can become a data analyst, an operations manager, or a consultant. A computer science degree with a security focus can become a security engineer, a general developer, or a detection engineer. Our guide to whether a software engineering degree is worth it covers the return on the highest paying path in detail.
Should you pick a popular major?
Only if it matches what you are good at and what you want to spend four years on, because every popular field is crowded at the top and thin in the middle. The popular college majors at public universities are crowded in exactly the same way the popular majors at private schools are crowded, because the labor market does not care which kind of school you attended. There is nothing wrong with being in a crowded field, but you need something that distinguishes you inside it, and that is usually a skill, a project, or a combination of majors and minors.
Two trends worth noticing. The first is that employers increasingly want hybrid profiles, so a computer science major with a business minor, or a business major with a data skill, opens more doors than either half. The second is that the fastest growing part of computer science is infrastructure and security work rather than front end development. Our guide to getting a cloud computing degree covers that path in full.
What if you change your mind?
Plan for it rather than against it. Most students switch at least once, which is why the national data on initial and final majors shows a large gap between what students enter with and what they graduate with. The published lists are reported by the initial major, so they describe what students chose, not what they finished. The popular college majors at public universities change shape every year for that reason, because each new entering class brings a different set of intentions. Choosing a school with a wide catalogue and simple credit transfer between departments is the practical hedge, and choosing one with an undeclared entry is better if you are genuinely undecided.
Our guide to college application deadlines for the class of 2031 covers the calendar, and our guide to getting a scholarship for computer science covers the money side, which usually decides how much risk you can take on an undecided major.
Fazlur Rahman
