“What are you going to do with that?” Skeptical parents, know-it-all friends, doubting guidance counselors – these are the common culprits for swaying your decision when it comes to selecting a college major. But after all, it’s your education, your career, and your future. Some of this year’s most exciting college majors are tried-and-true fields of study like accounting or business. Still others are cutting-edge, fast-rising study tracks like sports management and criminal justice.

“Colleges are supposed to train future graduates for a changing world and changing environments,” explains Bill Sliwa, director of admissions at Utica College in Utica, NY. “Academic interests shift as students try to be part of the world as it grows.” The evolving technology, economics, and trends that affect society as a whole have a direct impact on patterns in education, he adds.

Find out which majors are at maximum capacity, which are irrelevant dinosaurs to the workforce, and what’s driving student decisions so you can make the right choice for your education.

A Buzz on Justice
Crime is nothing new–but the overwhelming interest in studying it is. The popularity of television shows like the “CSI” and “Law & Order” franchises have given birth to a new generation of criminology enthusiasts, who are not only fascinated with the pursuit of justice, but are equally enamored with the cutting-edge technology used in achieving it.

At Iowa State University, a new program in criminal justice has shown remarkable early interest. Immediately, 141 students declared it as their major, one-third of interdisciplinary students selected criminal justice as their emphasis, and two students who had even re-enrolled to take advantage of this program.

“The pace is somewhat unexpected, but great,” says Matt DeLisi, associate professor of sociology at the school. “Our intention is to continue to grow the program as much as student demand drives it. In five years, I think this could be among the largest programs on campus.” And the numbers support this growth: A survey conducted by the National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA) last year cited high school students ranking criminal justice 11th out of nearly 70 occupations.

Beyond pop culture’s influence on students, the increasing role of technology is making criminology appealing to tech-savvy individuals with an interest in the legal system–and in making a good living.

“With Enron and the Martha Stewart scandal, it became big business to fight that kind of crime,” explains Sliwa. “People don’t walk into a 7-11 to hold it up anymore. It’s much easier to hack into a bank account or steal an identity–and that’s where jobs are being created.”

The Study of Sports
Sports in the new millennium is a multi-billion dollar business that dominates every form of media we’re exposed to–and now it’s working its way into academia. The sports business industry is more than twice the size of the U.S. auto industry and seven times the size of the movie industry. In fact, according to Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Journal annual survey, sports is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States, estimated at $213 billion in 2002.

“Sports management, communication, and marketing majors are all rapidly gaining interest,” says Sliwa. “What the students are really learning is the finer points of running a business, but focusing on the particular business of sport. Our physical therapy program has also seen a huge increase in students looking to work specifically with athletes.”

With the NRCCUA reporting that high school students rank careers in health care and athletics fourth and sixth respectively, it’s no surprise that enrollment in these programs is making big gains. “It’s the ESPN generation, and students are realizing that they can be a part of something they love, help athletes, and make a good living doing it,” adds Sliwa.

This interest in health and physical activity is also spilling over from physical therapy majors into fields like occupational therapy–another major experience growth growing due to changing times.

“Because of pharmaceuticals, we’re living longer than ever before, and there is a job market for people who want to help others stay active using cutting edge technology and diagnostic tools,” Sliwa says. “Like every other popular major, it’s reflecting a need in society.”

Nursing Needs
In a related field, the widely publicized nursing shortage remains in full effect–with a less publicized twist. Not only is there a shortage of nurses, but nursing educators are scarce as well. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 15,944 qualified applicants in 2003. As a result, jobs are plentiful, but there is stiff competition when it comes to getting into the nursing program of your choice.

“We’ve received 1,165 inquiries about our nursing program online alone, not counting phone calls or college fairs,” says Joseph Diorio, director of public relations and marketing at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania’s Harcum College. “We started the programs in 2003 with 40 students and now we’ve expanded to include a daytime, evening, and accelerated nursing tracks and have 160 students.”

The flexibility of a nursing career ­is one of the main reasons it's included in the current "in" crowd of majors. “With a nursing degree, graduates can work in private practice, hospitals, clinics, and also very often dictate their own schedule,” he adds. “Our school’s assistant men’s basketball coach graduated the program in 2004 and works three days a week, and that flexibility applies to other health care fields as well like radiologic technology or physical therapy.”

A Crunch for Number Crunchers Some of the hottest majors aren’t spawned by technical trends or pop culture, but driven by the same factors that have always made them popular–a need in the workforce. Accounting is among these majors. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, accounting employment opportunities are expected to grow between 18 and 26 percent across the next decade.

“There are shortages of talent in the accounting world, and it’s our understanding that 20 percent of opportunities in the field go unfilled,” says Mary Ellen Caro, dean of the School of Business and Management at Thomas Edison State College. “We’re a school that's geared toward market needs and this was an area that emerged when we were doing our strategic planning. Accounting has always been one of our most popular majors, but we decided to expand it to [include] a fully online offering as well.”

The Breadth of Business
Some students beeline for the business major–they’ve long dreamed of boardrooms and corporate life. But the recent popularity of business majors has shown many students finding ways to shed stiff or corporate implications of a business degree by pairing the coursework with more liberal arts-minded goals.

“You used to direct students toward careers like consulting, banking, and marketing, and you’d see 30 percent of your classes go to those fields,” explains Elissa Ellis of the Forté Foundation, a non-profit consortium of business schools and corporations working to increase the number of women business leaders. “The business major will always be useful, because there is always a crunch for talent,” she explains. “But the landscape for the business major is changing.

"Whereas maybe years ago a nonprofit organization or a health care management firm might look to hire students from more of a liberal arts background, they are now finding that they are in desperate need of business skills,” Ellis explains. Students are re-defining the business major by taking the skills into careers that aren’t traditional business, she adds.

A Mark of the New Millennium
Trends in college majors are a sign of the times–they reflect the society that is doing the studying. But according to Sliwa, it’s the education that best suits you that is most important.

“We have helicopter parents getting involved in everything their child does, starting with 'Baby on Board' stickers on their cars all the way through filming every step of their high school career,” he says. “Ultimately, students need to prepare themselves to adapt, grow, and learn as their own adult. You’ve got to train to get a job, but you’ve also got to focus on furthering your education.”