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STEM Compass

STEM major path for beginners — Manhattan, KS

Find your STEM major path — for beginners

Home › STEM Compass › STEM major path for beginners › Manhattan, KS

Take the STEM Compass assessmentSee the STEM Farm tracks

What the assessment measures

280 items in five modules — what you love to do, how you work, fifteen STEM working traits, thirty real situations, and where you want your work to land — matched against forty careers in eight families. Then a sixth module drafts your mission, vision and values in your own words. Progress saves as you go; it is free and complete today.

STEM major path for beginners. A path has a start, a direction and a destination. The assessment gives the direction, the career pages the destination, and the STEM Farm track the start at zero. A STEM major is a four-year bet on a career you have not met yet. Find the career family that fits your profile first; the major follows from the education path on each career page. A beginner needs a direction before a curriculum. The assessment is the direction; the track is the curriculum.

Careers the Manhattan, KS economy leans on

6 counties across Kansas; 3 metro. Economies: 2 government. Flags: 3 housing stress, 2 population loss and 1 low employment.

Data Scientist+34%Information Security Analyst+29%Actuary+22%Operations Research Analyst+21%Computer & Information Research Scientist+20%Software Developer+15%Computer Network Architect+12%Computer Systems Analyst+9%Statistician+8%Mathematician+8%Web Developer+7%Mathematics Professor+7%Biochemist & Biophysicist+7%Chemist & Materials Scientist+6%Database Administrator+4%Database Architect+4%Physicist+4%Astronomer+4%Computer Programmer-6%Physician Assistant+20%Epidemiologist+16%Industrial Engineer+11%Mechanical Engineer+9%Medical Scientist+9%Electrical Engineer+7%Aerospace Engineer+6%Marine Engineer & Naval Architect+6%Biomedical Engineer+6%Civil Engineer+5%Registered Nurse+5%Microbiologist+5%Environmental Engineer+4%Physician & Surgeon+4%Clinical Laboratory Technologist+4%Chemical Engineer+3%Agricultural & Food Scientist+6%Geoscientist+5%Environmental Scientist+4%Zoologist & Wildlife Biologist+2%Atmospheric Scientist & Meteorologist+1%

Counties in this labor market

Clay County, KSDickinson County, KSGeary County, KSMorris County, KSPottawatomie County, KSRiley County, KS

Metros around Manhattan, KS

Kansas City, MO–KS14 countiesWichita, KS6 countiesTopeka, KS6 countiesJoplin, MO6 countiesSt. Joseph, MO–KS8 countiesBartlesville, OK6 countiesGarden City, KS6 countiesHays, KS6 countiesDodge City, KS5 countiesHutchinson, KS5 countiesBeloit, KS4 countiesColby, KS4 counties

All forty careers in Manhattan, KS → · STEM major path for beginners everywhere →

Questions people ask

How is a "stem major path for beginners" different from a personality type test?

A type test gives you a label. STEM Compass gives you a profile on fifteen working traits and eight kinds of impact, then a directional match against each career — a number you can explain, not a letter code.

Does it cost anything?

No. The full assessment is open at tienesesto.org/stem-assessment, and every result links to a STEM Farm track that starts from zero.

Sources. Career traits, education paths and value lines are the STEM Compass assessment library. Employment growth is U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2024–2034. County economic types are USDA Economic Research Service County Typology Codes (2025); labor markets are Census commuting zones (2020). Salary is not shown anywhere in this campaign on purpose: the assessment measures fit and what the work is worth to the world.