Interior Design
Dan Mazzarini lucked out with a job as a director of store design for Ralph Lauren.
Median starting pay: $34,400
Median mid-career pay: $56,600
Pursuing a career in interior design is not always glamorous. Decorating living rooms, designing stage sets or putting together store displays requires working long hours, often for little pay.
"Going into the major, it was made very clear to me that the potential for what you could make was $30,000 to $35,000 to start. When my parents heard that, their eyes definitely bugged out, " said Dan Mazzarini, who graduated from Miami University in 2003 and was the only student in his program with a job lined up.
But Mazzarini stuck it out. Now a director of store design for Ralph Lauren's wholesale department, he said he has tripled his salary in the last three years.
"If you put in that extra leg work and you're in the right place at the right time, it can work out for you."
NEXT: Religious Studies
Last updated January 14 2011: 2:40 PM ET
Source: PayScale.com
How PayScale.com determined salary: Survey includes national median starting and mid-career salary for 120 popular bachelor degree majors. Salaries are for graduates who received bachelor's degrees from schools in the United States who work full time in the United States.
How PayScale.com determined salary: Survey includes national median starting and mid-career salary for 120 popular bachelor degree majors. Salaries are for graduates who received bachelor's degrees from schools in the United States who work full time in the United States.
