Most Popular College Majors that Received Most Job Offers in 2010

Whether you're currently in college or preparing to enter a university within the next year, you will need to choose a college major. But how do you choose the right college major for you?

Do you pick the one that fits best with your career goals? Do you choose a college major because you like the subject matter? Maybe you choose your college major based on the classes. You know...the college courses that are easiest to pass.

Well, however you decide to go about selecting your college major, you might be interested in knowing which were the most popular with employers and, therefore, received the most job offers in 2010.

National Association of Colleges and Employers 2010 Student Survey

According to the 2010 Student Survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) your college major is the biggest factor in determining if you (or your friend) will get a job offer before you graduate.

What the survey found was that there are five college majors that have the best post-college job outlook. In fact, more than 40 percent of the college seniors in each of these college majors who participated in the NACE survey received job offers prior to graduation.

What were the top five college majors? Here's a breakdown of the 16 college majors included in the NACE survey listed based on the percent of students in that major who received job offers.

• Accounting -- 46.9%
• Business -- 45.4%
• Computer/IS -- 44.1%
• Engineering -- 41.0%
• Social Sciences -- 40.5%
• Mathematics -- 39.7%
• Visual & Performing Arts -- 39.7%
• Health Sciences -- 38.7%
• Liberal Arts/Humanities -- 37.1%
• Communications/Journalism -- 35.2%
• Psychology -- 35.1%
• History/Political Science -- 33.5%
• Physical Science -- 30.3%
• English -- 29.6%
• Foreign Language -- 28.3%
• Education -- 23.7%

What is interesting is that these results are consistent with those of earlier NACE studies. This suggests that, in general, the state of the economy and job market do not play a significant role in determining which majors are most attractive to employers. However, they may affect which majors are at the bottom in terms of demand.

Other College Survey Information Students Should Know

Choosing the right college major isn't the only news on the wire college students need to be aware of. A recent Wall Street Journal survey indicated that having a college degree from a fancy university isn't always on the top of the list for hiring companies. In fact many firms look for students from large state universities such as Texas A&M University, University of Illinois, Purdue University and Arizona State University.

Or what about the other NACE survey that indicated that 83 percent of employers staff their full-time hiring program from internships, while nearly 80 percent identified this as the primary focus of their co-op program.

Now this doesn't mean that you should let your college decisions be guided solely by a group of surveys. However, if your goal after college is to land the right career opportunity it is important to be aware of what potential future employers are thinking.