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The Mass Media

The Mass Media

What you’ll earn once you graduate

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Mel Berilo
Stack of money being counted. Photo by Mel Berilo / Mass Media Staff

A follow up article to “What Are Some of the Most Popular Undergraduate Majors at UMass Boston?” discussing what are the estimated starting salaries and job opportunities for each major.

Two weeks ago, I discussed what were some of the most popular undergraduate majors at UMass Boston for the Fall 2020 semester. While doing my research, I found that—according to the data provided by the Office of Institutional Research at UMass Boston—out of the six colleges provided by UMass Boston, the top three colleges with the most undergraduate students were: the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science and Mathematics, and the College of Management. The College of Liberal Arts consisted of 3,994 undergraduate students with the top three majors being psychology, criminal justice and economics. The College of Science and Mathematics consisted of 3,184 undergraduate students with the top three majors being biology, computer science and information technology. Lastly, the College of Management consisted of 1,985 students with the top three majors being accounting, finance and marketing. The top three most popular overall undergraduate majors were biology, psychology and exercise and health sciences. The data given by Niche on the most popular majors at UMass Boston was fairly similar to the top three majors being business, psychology and biology.

With that being said, I thought it would be interesting to dig deeper into the most popular majors at UMass Boston and talk about some of the job opportunities, as well as the average or starting salaries, for each undergraduate major with a bachelor’s degree.

In this article, I will focus on the top three overall undergraduate majors at the UMass Boston during the Fall 2020 semester. These majors were biology at 1,339 undergraduate students, psychology at 1,096 undergraduate students, and exercise and health sciences at 681 undergraduate students. According to “collegefactual.com,” the estimated average salary for a biology major with a bachelor’s degree is $38,120 per year. Graduating with a major in biology can lead you to get a job as a veterinary technician with a starting salary of $35,320 per year. You can work as a medical laboratory technician with a starting salary of $42,140 per year or work as an agricultural and food science technician with a starting salary of $41,230 per year.

According to “ZipRecruiter,” the starting salary for someone with a bachelor’s degree in psychology is $64,020 per year. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, you can work as a social services assistant with an average salary of $44,603 a year or as a psychiatric technician with an average salary of $23.69 per hour. You can also work as a mental health technician, which is better known as a therapist, for an average salary of $35.47 per hour.

Lastly, with a bachelor’s degree in exercise and health sciences, the average salary is $40,510 per year with an average of $15.48 an hour, according to “besthealthdegrees.com.” With a bachelor’s degree in exercise and health sciences, graduates can get a job as a fitness trainer or instructor with an average salary of $40,390 per year as of 2019, or work as a recreational therapist with an average salary of $48,220 per year as of 2019. You can also work as a scout or coach with an average salary of $34,840 per year as of 2019.

All of these possible job listings provided for the three most popular undergraduate majors at UMass Boston are some pretty good-paying jobs for someone with a bachelor’s degree. Looking at this data, I can see why these majors are so popular amongst undergraduate students at UMass Boston. Not only are they interesting subjects to major in, but they also provide good-paying job opportunities for students who major in these fields.

Sources:

https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/oirp/TABLE31-Undergraduate_Majors.pdfhttps://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/associates-degree-psychology-jobshttps://www.bestcolleges.com/careers/science-and-engineering/biology/
https://www.calu.edu/academics/graduate/masters/exercise-science/exercise-science-careers-jobs-salaries.aspx

About the Contributor
Mel Berilo, Photographer