06/01/2026
When students choose a college major, they’re often told the decision will make or break their career. A new book by Florida State University sociologist Corey Moss-Pech, Ph.D., says the reality is far more complicated, and more encouraging for liberal arts students than the headlines suggest.
Major Trade-Offs: The Surprising Truths about College Majors and Entry-Level Jobs, published in May 2025 by the University of Chicago Press, draws on nearly 200 interviews with roughly 90 students across four majors, engineering, business, English and communications, at a large Midwestern university. Dr. Moss-Pech followed the students through their senior years and into the workforce, tracking their internship experiences, job searches and early career outcomes.
His findings upend a common assumption: that graduates from so-called “practical” majors like business and engineering are better prepared for the workforce than their peers in liberal arts fields. While practical majors did enter the labor market more quickly and at higher starting salaries, largely through structured internship pipelines, many landed in entry-level roles that were predominantly clerical in nature and didn’t require skills learned in college. Liberal arts graduates, by contrast, were more likely to report using their degree skills once they secured a job.
To read more, visit cosspp.fsu.edu/fsu-sociologist-challenges-myths-about-college-majors-and-the-job-market
