It's back to college for millions of students, including my own whose classes start today. Wonder if he's up yet?

What would HR professionals advise college freshman to study given the possible future of the job market? No surprise here: computer science, engineering or health care. But it's good to consider the August survey results anyway from about 150 human resource executives by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

What career paths to avoid? Law, marketing/advertising (pay no attention to that Mad Men TV series) and -- aha! -- human resources. Here are the survey rankings:

BEST FIELDS OF STUDY FOR COLLEGE FRESHMEN
If you were advising a college freshman on a career path to
pursue, what would it be? (please select just one)
- Information technology/computer science 16.0%
- Engineering 15.2%
- Medicine 14.3%
- Other (Please indicate) 10.7%
- Accounting 8.9%
- Liberal arts 8.5%
- Pharmaceutical 8.0%
- General business 6.4%
- Marketing/Advertising/PR 4.2%
- Government/public service 4.1%
- Human resources 2.2%
- Law 1.4%
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., based on survey of
approximately 150 human resource executives.

(Photo: USF students at Marshall Student Center in Tampa. Ken Helle of the St. Petersburg Times.)

-- Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist