Top 7 Easiest College Majors in 2022 (with High Salaries)
Interested in going to college but want to ensure a smooth ride? Read on to learn about the easiest college majors in 2022.
Completing a college degree is no walk in the park. You’ll give up countless hours and evenings to studying for finals, working on group projects, and figuring out your surest path towards graduation. But before you embark on your college career, you might contemplate which degree programs and majors will make your path easier or harder.
The ultimate goal? The easiest bachelor’s degree that will still get you a decent job upon graduation. But easy depends on your strengths and weaknesses. Computer science might be easy for some, while humanities like history or English are easier for others.
What is the easiest major, generally speaking? Don’t worry. Today we’ll run through the easiest degrees to get from a general perspective, and describe what contributes to easy majors — GPA averages, personal interests, and workloads compared to practicality in job availability and lucrativeness after graduation.
Let’s get started with personal attributes to consider before diving into the easiest college majors.
Things that Influence the Easiest Major for Students
Nothing is easy for everybody. Here are some characteristics to consider when assessing which are the easiest degrees to get.
Interest: What do you like? Pick something that makes you feel engaged and motivated, as that will feel easier than something you feel forced to study.
Study Time: How many hours per week are you looking at when it comes to workload and study time? We include that consideration in our majors below, but think about how important free time is to you when considering a major.
Job Availability: Is your major related to an industry that’s booming or declining? Job availability is important, so you want to choose a major that offers some options upon graduation.
Earning Potential: Your major might be easy, but are salary prospects attractive? You should try to find a major that promises an average salary after graduation.
What’s the Easiest Major? 7 of the Easiest College Majors
Generally, humanities majors are easier than science degrees. STEM degrees tend to have lower average GPAs and require more average time for studying each week.
Here are our top 7 easy degrees to consider before applying to college!
Psychology
Average GPA: 3.3
Average Workload: 13.5 hours per week
Interested in finding out why we think and behave the way we do? A psychology major will help you understand the inner workings of the human mind, and offers many opportunities to specialize later: child psychology, addiction psychology, you name it.
Psychology at the undergraduate level is more introductory than at the graduate or doctorate levels, which contributes to it being one of the easiest college degrees, according to clinical psychologist Brenton Crowhurst.
Business Administration
Average GPA: 3.2
Average Workload: 13.5 hours per week
Business administration studies include courses about management, economics, research, and human resources. The discipline prepares you for management roles in corporations, or on how to manage your own business. Students find business administration easy because analysis requirements are basic, and much of the logic is common sense.
Additionally, business administration involves a lot of following processes and structures, which may be tedious; however, it’s not difficult.
Criminal Justice
Average GPA: 3.1
Average Workload: 12 hours per week
A criminal justice bachelor’s degree isn’t enough to land you in law school or to become a police officer; however, it gives you a great foundation about the courts, ethics, civil liberties, prison systems, and more. This major is still largely introductory, as students must specialize in grad school for most criminal justice careers. While study hours are fewer than some of the other easy majors on our list, students should have a high level of emotional resilience. Study materials might be unsettling.
Public Relations and Marketing
Average GPA: 3.0
Average Workload: 12 hours per week
A public relations major is easy for people that find it natural to be social, extraverted, and persuasive. If you’re good with people and notice that you can change people’s minds or encourage them to do things, you might enjoy a public relations or marketing education.
Upon completion of your degree, you’ll find work quickly with an agency, as there’s no shortage of companies looking for support marketing their business. The only downside is your first job out of school won’t have an impressive salary. The key with marketing is to move up the ladder.
Economics
Average GPA: 3.0
Average Workload: 12 hours per week
Economic majors tend to have average GPAs similar to other majors in this article. The main difference? A much higher starting salary upon graduation. You’ll learn how to effectively employ quantitative reasoning in analyzing financial issues within an organization or society as a whole. Courses you’ll take with this major include governance, financial principles and topics, economic theory, history of economics, and more.
Upon graduation, you can choose from various high-paid jobs, like financial analyst, accountant, investment analyst, economist, data analyst, and more.
Health Administration
Average GPA: 3.0
Average Workload: 12 hours per week
Health administration is much easier than biology, chemistry, or other physical science degrees that still teaches you what you need to make a difference in the medical field. Instead of learning how to do lab work, analysis, and diagnosis, health administration teaches you about the theory behind hospital management and health.
A great introduction to the healthcare field, a bachelor’s in health administration leads you to many opportunities to specialize, if you wish. And, the field is booming with expected growth due to the last couple of years’ pandemic.
Education
Average GPA: 3.6
Average Workload: 14 hours per week
With an average 3.6 GPA, education is one of our easiest majors when it comes to grades. Educational topics and theory tend to be easier than STEM topics, for example. That’s why education students tend to have an easier time with this major. The degree leads to a relatively stable job as a teacher, with summers off.
And, you have many opportunities to specialize: elementary education, special needs, high school, ESL - you name it!
Conclusion
The easiest college majors always depend on the student’s strengths and weaknesses. While we put our list together based on general sentiments, average GPAs, and workloads, you should consider these in tandem with your personal interests and capabilities.
Still having trouble deciding on a major? Check out our article about what to major in!
