Which 1993 College Graduate Majors Had The Highest Paying Jobs in 1994 (1 year after Graduation ) and 2003 (10 Years after Graduation)
College Major: Listed High to Low 2003 Income	Percent of Class	Average Full Time Salary in 1994/2003 using constant 2003 dollars (%increase)	Advanced Degrees
Engineering (Electrical, Civil, Chemical, etc.)	6%	38,900/74,900(92%)	almost 25% had Masters
Comp. Sci.,	2%	33,400/72,600(117%)
Business/management (Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Marketing, etc)	23%	33,800/65,900(95%)
Health Professions (Tech, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry, Allied Health	7%	40,500/65,000(60%)	19% M, 3% higher
Social & Behavioral Science (Psych. Anthro, Econ,  Geog, Soc, Pol Sci)	13%	26,500/62,300(135%)	22%M 9% D or 1st Professional
Biological Science (Botany, Zoology, Biochemistry)	4%	29,200/62,200(113%)	D or 1st P >31%
All Graduates	99%	30,800/60,600(97%)
Other-Career Related Majors (Ag Sci, Communication, Pre Law, Lib Sci, Law Enforce, etc)	14%	29,200/59,300(103%)	14%M, 4%higher
Math and Physical Science (Math, Statistics, Physical Science)	3%	27,100/58,200(115%)	almost 50%M, with <20% D of 1st P
Other Academic Majors ( Af/Am Studies, Women's Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, etc)	4%	26,200/53,200(103%)
Humanities (Hist. Philos. Rel. Lang. Design, Music, other performing and fine arts, etc)	10%	25,000/52,800(111%)	M 22%, 6% D or 1st P
Education	13%	26,600/43,800(65%)
1Data from The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation Elka Maria Torpey Nutshell   Snippet   PDF Chart titles and data arrangement are from www.businessbookmall.com. Data is based upon a nationally representative sample of 11,190 students graduating from 7/92 to 6/93. Editor's Note: (1) Data is the mean, not the median (2) within cohort  income variability has been increasing for many years

Earlier 1998 Study

Recent Earnings Data By Major

Table 2 of 3    In 1994, Fifty-Six Percent of 1993 College Graduates Had Jobs Related to Their Major2
College Major Listed High to Low	Percentage Working in this Profession
Health Professions	Health Professions-60%	Noncomputer technician-8%	Computer Science/ Programmer-8%	Admin/clerical support-7%
Education	Teaching-57%	Other Professional-13%	Admin/clerical support-13%	Bus./Mgmt.-9%
Public Affairs & Social Service	Other Professional 32%	Protective Services-22%	Bus./Mgmt.-16%	Admin/clerical support-15%
Business	Bus./Mgmt.-31%	Other Professional-26%	Admin/clerical support-24%	Sales-12%
Graduates with these majors often require additional education to pursue work in their career.
Engineering	Engineering-54%	Bus./Mgmt.-12%	Other Professional-10%	Comp.Sci/ Programmer-8%
Math, Comp. Sci. Physical Sci.	Comp.Sci/ Programmer-26%	Admin/clerical support-17%	Teaching-12%	Other Professional-12%
Biological Science	Other Professional-17%	Admin/clerical support-17%	Noncomputer Technician-16%	Bus./Mgmt.-9%
Social Science	Admin/clerical support-27%	Bus./Mgmt.-26%	Other Professional-21%	Sales-10%
History	Bus./Mgmt.-24%	Admin/clerical support-18%	Teaching-15%	Other Professional-15%
Humanities	Other Professional-30%	Admin/clerical support-21%	Bus./Mgmt.-17%	Teaching-11%
Psychology	Admin/clerical support-27%	Bus./Mgmt.-26%	Other Professional-21%	Sales-10%
2Data is from The Class of 1993: One Year After Graduation as published in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly of the U.S. Department of Labor, Summer, 1998 pp. 11-21. Chart titles and data arrangement are from www.businessbookmall.com.

  

Table 3 of 3     By 1997, Fifty-Five Percent of the Class of 1993 had a Job Related to Their Major,  Only Sixty-Two Percent Had a Job That Required a Bachelor's Degree,  and Only Fifty-Five Percent Felt Their Job had Career Potential
	Attributes of current job
	Bachelor's degree required		Related to major		(job has) Career potential
	1994	1997	1994	1997	1994	1997
All graduates	56	62	75	55	72	55
Professional Fields	64	68	83	65	76	55
Health professions	73	80	91	82	80	55
Engineering	79	79	87	60	82	64
Education	66	69	79	67	75	50
Business and management	51	57	85	57	77	60
Public affairs and social services	49	55	72	58	68	47
Arts and sciences	49	60	60	45	64	51
Mathematics, Computer and physical sciences	68	71	82	63	75	62
Psychology	45	64	57	48	53	48
Biological sciences	49	63	64	51	57	45
History	41	57	42	34	67	52
Social science	47	57	57	33	68	53
Humanities	45	50	58	40	66	50
1Chart is from Four years after graduation: The class of 1993 as published in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly of the U.S. Department of Labor, Winter of 2000-01, p 9. Data is based upon a nationally representative sample of 11,190 students graduating from 7/92 to 6/93.

	Choosing What to Study Advice from www.businessbookmall.com
	I.	Some college majors require a graduate degree (see Table 2) and are therefore for people with superior academic ability.
		A.	The investment in time, money, and lost income during education will be substantially greater for these degrees. Since economic return is often directly related to cognitive ability, see Who Gets the Good Jobs and How Much They Pay, located at www.businessbookmall.com, be sure you are a very good student before majoring in one of these areas.
		B.	If you are not in the top 20% of your high school class and these subjects interest you, look for practical majors that require this subject knowledge but not a degree. For example, people interested in psychology might look to major in early childhood education.
	II. Options for people not in the top 20% of their class.
	A.	Choosing a practical minor is important.
		1.	Upon graduation, few people end up working in an occupation related to their major.
		2.	Look at what you are likely to be doing and choose the appropriate minor.
	B.	Consider limiting your investment while you figure out what you want to do.
		1.	Begin by looking at Many Without A Bachelor's Degree Earn High Income located at www.businessbookmall.com.
		2.	Other considerations:
			a.	Talents of the student as they relate to both trade/vocational school and college
			b.	The desires and maturity of the student
			c.	Family income
			d.	Attending a local college part-time for a while
			e.	The military
	About the Author of  Not all Majors are Created Equal