Choosing a College Degree Can Impact Career Opportunities

The statistics are in and it's clear that the trend toward engineering degrees will continue in the next few years for those who want to bring in the big bucks. Engineering degrees, including chemical, mechanical, computer and civil engineering, all ranked near the top of the charts for earning potential in recent rankings of what college graduates could expect. That's good news for engineering students who want to graduate and enter the work force with expectations of starting out with a comfortable standard of living.

Engineers are also increasingly entering the upper levels of management after a few years in the trenches. Many companies are paying the tuitions of experienced engineers to enter MBA programs to produce managers and executives with valuable experience. The same goes for law school. More and more firms are interested in that unique combination of practical knowledge and legal skill that can protect their firm's assets and goals.

What was rather surprising, however, was that pharmaceutical degrees were ranked even higher for both salary expectations and need. So if you have a pharmaceutical degree, you're going to be in demand and paid accordingly, at least in the short term. This was something that was part of a general shift toward a greater demand in non-engineering sciences such as biology and nursing, which are seeing a rise in salaries, although they have far to go (with the obvious exception of pharmaceutical degrees) before they'll catch up with engineering. This is good news for college students who consider success in life to be a blend of making an honest living and having a satisfying work life. If you're altruistic enough that you don't need a top-drawer salary, nursing, psychology and research are coming on strong and will continue to do so as the general population ages in the coming years.

The only area where there isn't any real growth in salaries is in the Humanities or Social Sciences. Those students who graduate from college with an English or History degree need to focus on specializing somehow if they want a salary that's comfortable in today's economy. Otherwise, these rather general degrees will bring them salaries that are generally below the norm. That's not to say that these degrees aren't a good idea. How can college students turn their love of English or History into a thriving career option? Instead of getting a BA in their discipline alone, combine it with a teaching certificate. High school teachers who specialize in a particular discipline are in high demand. If they go on to get their Master's Degree they are even more desirable.

Interestingly, more and more Medical and Law schools are also looking at college graduates with degrees in the humanities. They see these students as more well rounded, articulate and "human" than some students who are entirely wrapped up in the sciences. If you have a degree in English or History and have toyed with the idea of law or medical school, don't assume those with scientific or criminal degrees have an edge. Today's schools are looking for the well-rounded student who is an independent thinker and who can write.

Keep in mind that everything goes in cycles. What may be the hot degree this year could be out of fashion in four year's time. In the end, your best bet is to find something you love doing and talk to a career counselor about how you can go about making a living with a college degree that lets you do just that.

Shallow Foundation Earthworks

Choosing Lights For Your Driveway

Driveway lights add a major degree of quality to a home in one go. If you are drawing up plans for a new house then with a little aforethought, fitting great-looking new streetlights need not represent a huge increase to the budget. Even if your house has already been built, it is still possible to add some driveway lights without breaking the bank - it all depends on how you go about it.

The primary advantages of having driveway lights are as follows:

Improved security - burglars are less likely to approach a well-lit property

Better usage of garden - suddenly areas of your garden which were previously unusable become an asset after dusk

A classy effect which elevates your home above others of a similar design or status

Until recently the idea of installing driveway lights was only something the very well-heeled could entertain. Each column was normally constructed from cast iron which, apart from making it extremely heavy, also meant that it was very expensive. The only alternatives were reinforced concrete which is used for street lighting on Public Highways or plastic. The former, apart from being ugly, also tended to be too high (5 metres or above) when typical domestic streetlights would only be 3 to 4 metres high. Until recently plastic looked exactly like itself but with recent improvements and the incorporation of resins and reinforcing fibres in the plastic, such extrusions are both extremely strong and well-made. As a result, it is perfectly possible to buy Victorian or contemporary driveway lights for a reasonable price.

The first thing to consider when choosing the column is how high you want them to be above ground not forgetting, of course, that if your driveway is in a cutting, the driveway lights are going to sit on top of the bank and can, therefore, be considerably shorter. A typical column height is around or just over 3 metres. If your lights are going to be alongside a footpath then the column height need only be about 2 metres.

The next decision you need to make is how many lights or lanterns per column - you can usually choose from 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 lanterns per column. Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes good taste but remember that the more lanterns you use, the more electricity you will need to supply them with. The simplest arrangement is to have a double-headed arrangement (ie two lanterns) with one pointing up the drive and one pointing down the drive when erected.

Finally, you need to decide on what type of bulb you are going to use. Before reaching this decision, it might be best to consider how you will be using the lights. If it is just going to be either on an occasional basis or every evening for an hour or two after dusk then normal bulbs are going to be the most cost-effective. If you are planning to leave the streetlights on all night then you should consider purchasing low-energy or energy-efficient bulbs although be aware that these tend to produce a lot less illumination - something which may be critical if your lights are considerably above the level of the drive.

We hope you found the foregoing article about streetlighting helpful and that you will now want to read our guide to installing driveway lights.

Earthworks