Colleges and Majors Leading to the Highest Paid Careers
July 24th, 2009If your criteria for choosing a school or major is based on how much you will earn, a recent New York Times article will walk you through the best schools and the highest paying options by major.
In creating the summary, the Times used the data from PayScale, a site that collects data on salaries for different professions, for people whose highest degree was a bachelor’s. That said, the results feature pure earnings, not a comparison of earnings to college costs.
Ivy League Leads
While it is chic to knock the Ivy League schools and their academic peers like MIT and Stanford, the fact is these schools do deliver the goods. In addition to their strong academic programs, these schools produce graduates who go on to earn significant bucks.
However, while Harvard, Princeton and Yale are generally considered the Ivy elite, number one on the list for highest median salary at mid-career was Dartmouth College. MIT came in at number two, topping third ranked Harvard. Somewhat lesser known, but still on the elite list, Harvey Mudd held down the fourth slot while Princeton came in at number five. Demonstrating that the Ivy League is indeed a power, Yale ( number nine) and the University of Pennsylvania (number ten) gave the Ivies five of the top ten slots. Stanford, Colgate and Notre Dame round out the top ten holding down slots six through eight respectively.
However, when only highest median starting salaries are looked at (defined as salaries within five years of graduation), readers would likely be surprised to learn that Loma Linda University came in at number one. That position is a function of the career options at this lesser-known school (excellent programs in nursing, dental and allied health).
Highest and Lowest Paid Majors
When it comes to earning big bucks, there is also a clear indication that the choice of major matters. Engineering, science, mathematics and economics generally held the top slots in both highest starting median salaries and highest mid-career median salaries.
Aerospace, chemical, computer and electrical engineering took home the top four spots respectively. Economics came in at number five followed by Physics. Three additional engineering majors also ranked in the top ten, mechanical, industrial and environmental.
At the bottom we find careers in social work, education, theology, horticulture, hospitality and tourism, and the fine arts.
What Really Matters
While the school and the career certainly do matter to some extent, the Times does a great job of analyzing the data, taking it a bit deeper. We will leave it to the reader to head on over to read the details as to why ultimately Harvey Mudd might just be the overall top performer.
At the same time, the Times quotes some experts who insist the most compelling aspect to consider for the majority of cases is the student. According to the Times:
Hard-working, ambitious students will do well wherever they go. The opposite applies to mediocre or lazy students.
The one exception was lower-income students. For them, the college mattered more.
For the raw data, head on over to the PayScale site directly.
