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Job Cards by Major or Minor

Career opportunities and in-demand skills by program

Linguistics

Major · the science of language
442postings in scan
$84,959median salary
$51,322–$104,114middle-half range

The broadest set of doors — research, analysis, and language roles across tech, government, and academia.

Roles you'll see

  • Linguist
  • Language analyst
  • Researcher
  • Research scientist
  • Analyst
  • Consultant
  • Corpus analyst
  • Localization specialist
  • Language specialist
  • Professor (with PhD)

What to build

  • Phonetics & phonology
  • Corpus methods
  • A second language, named on your résumé
  • Research & analytical writing
Opens the most doors of any program; pair it with a skill specialization for pay.
Job postings found September 23, 2026.

Editing & Publishing

Major · from manuscript to print
274postings in scan
$63,736median salary
$50,863–$85,904middle-half range

A steady, well-defined profession with a clear path from Bachelor's to career.

Roles you'll see

  • Editor
  • Copyeditor
  • Content editor
  • Technical editor
  • Managing editor
  • Editorial assistant
  • Proofreader
  • Technical writer
  • Content writer
  • Publications specialist

What to build

  • A major style guide (Chicago, AP)
  • Grammar & usage mastery
  • Proofreading & markup
  • Publishing tools (InDesign, CMS)
A Bachelor's plus style-guide fluency is the common entry point.
Job postings found September 23, 2026.

Applied English Linguistics

Major · language, put to work
158postings in scan
$71,902median salary
$52,000–$98,800middle-half range

The bridge between teaching, assessment, and language technology.

Roles you'll see

  • Language specialist
  • Language analyst
  • Assessment specialist
  • Testing specialist
  • Curriculum developer
  • Instructional designer
  • ESL / language instructor
  • Educational consultant
  • Content developer
  • Research associate

What to build

  • Language assessment & testing
  • Second-language acquisition
  • Some computing or data skills
  • Cross-cultural communication
Its strength is range — you can move between classroom, content, and code.
Job postings found September 23, 2026.

TESOL

Minor · teaching English, worldwide
227postings in scan
$69,350median salary
$52,000–$100,368middle-half range

Reliable, geographically broad demand — a profession you can count on.

Roles you'll see

  • ESL / EFL instructor
  • ESL teacher
  • English instructor
  • Curriculum developer
  • Curriculum specialist
  • Teacher trainer
  • Language-program coordinator
  • Academic advisor
  • Language assessor
  • Intensive-English teacher

What to build

  • TESOL certification
  • Curriculum & materials design
  • Assessment & rubrics
  • A Master's for stronger roles
A Master's is often the expectation for the better-paid positions.
Job postings found September 23, 2026.

Computational Linguistics

Minor · where language meets machines
205postings in scan
$97,546median salary
$60,066–$135,230middle-half range

The highest-paying path in the data. If you want language work that pays like tech, this is it.

Roles you'll see

  • Computational linguist
  • NLP engineer
  • Language engineer
  • AI trainer
  • Annotation specialist
  • NLP / data annotator
  • Conversational-AI designer
  • Localization engineer
  • Speech-recognition specialist
  • Machine-learning engineer

What to build

  • Python & basic scripting
  • NLP and machine-learning fundamentals
  • Annotation & data workflows
  • Localization tooling (i18n / l10n)
The one area with genuinely remote roles. Even a few computing courses move you here.
Job postings found September 23, 2026.