By  Jeremy Harper (Whetstone Contributor)

With a starting salary of $63,200, chemical engineering is one of the highest paying fields in America.

Although it’s one of the highest-paid starting salaries, among all of Wesley College majors, only 13 students major in bio-chemistry, one of the college’s smallest majors.

Other small majors include medical technology, 15; mathematics, 19; English, 22; American studies 4, and environmental studies, 14.
Both music, five students, and philosophy and religion, with no students, are relatively new majors and have a small pool of students.

“Bio-chemistry is chemistry integrated into biology,” said Dr. Kathleen Curran, chair of the Biology department. “The requirements to even be accepted into bio-chemistry are higher than most other majors, and the classes are difficult.”
Bio-chemistry requires 24 credit hours in biology, along with the eight biology credits required for the core curriculum, 26 credit hours in chemistry and 8 credit hours in physics.
While the course-load can be overwhelming, some students enjoy the challenge.
“I enjoy the hands on experience and find the work interesting,” sophomore Victor Debarrows said.
Even though the failure rate is 50-60 percent during the freshmen year, Curran said, the graduation rate is 75-85 percent, and post-graduation employment sits at 92 percent.

Making an average of $106,630 a year, pharmacists are one of the most popular career choices for the field.
Similarly, mathematics has rewarding career fields but few Wesley students seem willing to venture into the field.
“Most people think only a school teacher is the career option,” said Dr. Agashi Nwogbaga, chair of the mathematics department.
But, he said, math has a vast post-graduation career field that includes engineering, robotics, and accounting. Jobs in these fields can net up to $92,400 a year, studies say.
Students who study mathematics at Wesley College can expect to take calculus, real analysis, finite math and abstract algebra.
While most students shy away from math because of the difficulty, Nwogbaga said, math also teaches critical and analytical thinking, and persistence, skills pertinent to any career choice within the workforce.
Despite mathematics’ difficulty stigma, it has a 100 percent graduation rate at Wesley College, Nwogbaga said.
Although it has many more students than bio-chemistry and math, English also holds a stigma of being difficult, according to both teachers and students in the program.

Most students are tepid about a lot of reading and writing.

“We don’t write any more or any less than any other major as far as I know,” said Sky West, a senior in the English department.

And, she said, the department offers interesting courses, including adolescent literature, creative writing, magical realism, and Gothic literature.

Conversely, the legal studies and nursing majors also have a difficulty stigma but hold a large number of students. Legal studies has 62 students and nursing has 122 students.
“Nursing has always been popular because of its ability to be employable,” said Dr. Robert Contino, chair of the Nursing department. “Registered nurses have a starting salary of $50,000 a year.”
Nursing majors are required to take the National League for Nursing pre-admission Exam (NLN PAX). In addition, they must take a drug screening and criminal background check.
Once they are declared a nursing major they must maintain a B average. Their curriculum is laced with science and mathematics courses, including anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and statistics.