By CAMERON FULLER
Although some BYU women may choose their fields of study according to an expected salary, most seem to choose the subject matter for reasons other than pay.
Perhaps the most compelling reason women choose the majors they do is because of the role they plan to play in the home and in society.
“There is still a lot of the traditional thought and the church doctrine that males are the supporters and women are not expected to be the primary breadwinner. So it gives you more leeway to go into fields that you really love that wouldn’t pay as highly.” said Kristen McFarland, a senior from New Canaan, Conn., majoring in speech pathology.
McFarland started out studying pre-med but changed her mind and found she loved speech pathology because it combined her interest in anatomy and physiology with a desire to work one on one with children. She estimated that only five men majoring in speech pathology were in her graduating class — probably because there is not a lot of money to be made in that field.
Her assumption about women’s motivations for choosing a major may be correct, considering that among the ten most popular majors for BYU women, none of them are usually considered to lead to lucrative careers.
According to information from Institutional Studies, the following majors are the ten most popular: elementary education, family science, English, psychology, communications, history, educational psychology, nursing, physical education and visual arts.
Terry Lee, undergraduate director for the management programs in the Marriott School of Management said he thinks that because of the good economy, both men and women graduates will find strong opportunities for employment.
When students counsel with him, Lee said he doesn’t talk about salaries that much. He prefers to let them work that issue out for themselves and likes to help them meet the vision of what they want to do for satisfying their career interest. Most important is to help them get in the right emphasis.
Nicky Dabling, a sophomore from Mesa, Az., majoring in nursing, is another female student who decided on her major based on reasons other than money. She gained a love for nursing while watching her mother use nursing skills to help others. She said she primarily wants to use for her skills to help her family, community and in church callings whenever she can. A full-time career is given second consideration.
