Starting salary: $63,100
Mid-career salary: $105,000
Annual online job postings: 3.1 million
Related job: Computer and Information Research Scientist
Projected 10-year job growth: 15.5%
Computer science majors focus on the fundamentals of today's technology in order to devise what tomorrow will bring. So they need to have equal parts imagination and mathematical logic. Programming courses, including computer languages C++ and Java, will be the core of your schedule. Other classes might include artificial intelligence, computer system organization and digital system design.
A computer science degree makes you a viable candidate for a torrent of tech jobs, including software developer, systems analyst and network administrator. Computer scientist may be your most lucrative option, earning a median salary of more than $106,980 a year. The job has you work to create new technology and figure out novel ways to use existing tech. You can choose to focus on hardware, robotics or software and find work with the federal government, computer systems design firms and scientific research companies.