According to the Princeton Review, the top college major is business related, with nursing and psychology following.
The freshmen entering college this year as the Class of 2017 had to endure the majority of the economic downturn during their high school years.
But as they start to forge their paths in life, picking a major and classes for the next four years, what will they choose?
But, while majoring in a business-related field has remained on top or close to the top of many lists at local colleges, students aren't ready to stop majoring in other fields, despite job outlooks.
Lafayette College in Easton has seen the same top majors -- mechanical engineering, biology and psychology -- in the past few years, says Frank Benginia, who works in the registrar office.
At DeSales University in Upper Saucon Township, Derrick Wetzel, director of admissions, says health care majors, such as nursing, have seen the biggest boom in the past five years there, followed by criminal justice and anything within the natural sciences.
“Students are gravitating toward the majors with job opportunities,” Wetzel says.
At Muhlenberg College, the top major for many graduates is business, says Chris Hooker-Haring, the dean of admissions and financial aid, even though the school has a heavy student interest in theater.
Having a Plan B
Hooker-Haring says about 30 percent of students will graduate with a double major, and another 30 percent with a major and a minor, allowing them to be versed in different subjects.
“That’s something that they find helpful,” he says. "It gives them more flexibility when they enter the job market and have more than one direction to move in."
Hooker-Haring explains that students can develop the “Plan B” which will allow them to have more opportunities available to them in case they aren’t Broadway stars within a year of graduation.
At Lehigh University, the same trend of students taking up another discipline, whether a major or minor, has been popping up, says spokesman Jordan Reese.
Students “want universities that have a strong mix of the humanities with programs in engineering or business,” Reese says.
Narrowing the focus
For the students who are still uncertain about what they want to do, Wetzel says DeSales helps them begin a track based on their interests.
Wetzel says there is constant communication of talking about the whole education, focusing on not just the core curriculum within a major, but the general education courses as well, giving the students a well-rounded curriculum.
That constant communication, whether done formally or informally, can give students their education experience, Hooker-Haring says. He says that may come in the form of a student taking different classes to find their interests or deciding to fully take on a minor or second major.
He says many students will bounce ideas off professors or friends to figure out their interests and work toward their post-college career, especially if they don’t know what options they have.
“Part of the goal is to help them think about the wider array of options,” Hooker-Haring says. “They may not know what options are out there and then they will begin to learn about those options … and then they ask, 'What can I do with that?'”
Getting outside the classroom
Experiences outside the classroom are becoming more popular for students, such as applying for internships, research opportunities and even study abroad options.
Reese says students are starting to take control of their careers at the undergraduate level with networking and research.
More students at Lehigh are also taking classes in small business or entrepreneurial studies, he says.
"They are more sophisticated in their networking, in their CV building and in their interest in a career that may have many lives, not just one," he says.
Those are the students who end up getting the jobs, Reese says.
Hooker-Haring says he's not sure if the recession prompted students to consider what more they could do to prepare the job market, but it did start a conversation on what the college can do to better help students get jobs.