Highly recommend looking at New College Scorecard

[Anonymous]

The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

If you are just interested in salary, major is probably much more important than school, particularly initially.

[Anonymous]

The data is garbage.....worthless site. Typical government work product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

I really don't like using median salary out of school for anything because some majors are straight to grad school so stipend only and there are systematic differences in the trajectory of different majors. Engineering starts high but tops out quick unless you combine with business skills in management. Humanities often lead to law so is low initially and then high and may have big increase if make partner etc. I think it's good for people to think about the intersection of their interests combined with the lifelong trajectory of likely careers when picking a major but you need to look at the appropriate suite of data points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

I really don't like using median salary out of school for anything because some majors are straight to grad school so stipend only and there are systematic differences in the trajectory of different majors. Engineering starts high but tops out quick unless you combine with business skills in management. Humanities often lead to law so is low initially and then high and may have big increase if make partner etc. I think it's good for people to think about the intersection of their interests combined with the lifelong trajectory of likely careers when picking a major but you need to look at the appropriate suite of data points.

Median salary for a college is pretty meaningless. If you are interested in salary, you should look at salaries in the same major when comparing schools. The mix of majors has a huge impact on overall median salary. If you had two schools with only two majors, Major A and Major B, with Major A having 2X the starting salary of Major B, the school with a higher percentage of Major A grads will have higher salaries even if the salaries of students at the two schools in the two majors is the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

I really don't like using median salary out of school for anything because some majors are straight to grad school so stipend only and there are systematic differences in the trajectory of different majors. Engineering starts high but tops out quick unless you combine with business skills in management. Humanities often lead to law so is low initially and then high and may have big increase if make partner etc. I think it's good for people to think about the intersection of their interests combined with the lifelong trajectory of likely careers when picking a major but you need to look at the appropriate suite of data points.

Median salary for a college is pretty meaningless. If you are interested in salary, you should look at salaries in the same major when comparing schools. The mix of majors has a huge impact on overall median salary. If you had two schools with only two majors, Major A and Major B, with Major A having 2X the starting salary of Major B, the school with a higher percentage of Major A grads will have higher salaries even if the salaries of students at the two schools in the two majors is the same.

Agreed. That is why this is useful— brken down by major by school. Also agree with the pp that this shouldon’t be sole determinant of major, but is useful in comparing schools by major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The data is garbage.....worthless site. Typical government work product.

What specifically is garbage about the data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

This is silly. Engineering and CS start out high, regardless of school. UNC doesn’t have an engineering school at all. Bio starting salaries are usually going to be low, because those kids are often pre-med or PhD tracked. So their first salaries are TA stipends or intern salaries. Romance languages is not going to pay well 90% of the time. You can teach and . . . teach. You need to be looking at mid career salaries and comparing engineering with engineering and Bio with Bio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new College Scorecard data is very interesting, especially the median salary info based on majors right out of school. The info for small schools is sparse, though for big state schools it’s super helpful. For instance the highest paid major at UVA is Computer & Information Science (median salary = 85,600) and the lowest provided is Biology (27,400). Highest at Michigan is also Computer & Information Science (86,900) and lowest is Ecology (19,200). UNC’s top paying major is Business Administration (71,800) and lowest is Romance Languages (19,800). Some majors aren’t provided because there are not enough students who took out federal loans who studied them.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov

This is silly. Engineering and CS start out high, regardless of school. UNC doesn’t have an engineering school at all. Bio starting salaries are usually going to be low, because those kids are often pre-med or PhD tracked. So their first salaries are TA stipends or intern salaries. Romance languages is not going to pay well 90% of the time. You can teach and . . . teach. You need to be looking at mid career salaries and comparing engineering with engineering and Bio with Bio.

UNC also now graduates about 60% women. For whatever reasons, female college graduates make only 74% of what male college graduates make. So University B could have identical earnings for males and females to UNC but had a 60% male, 40% female mix, University B graduates on average would make 6% more than UNC graduates.

[Anonymous]

I find the salary information pretty useless.

I do find the top majors by school useful - it is a quick way to see what departments are at least highly subscribed.