Based on data from Carnevale et. al. study, “What’s It Worth?”

Making the optimal career choice is a very personal and complex process of identifying your passions and your strengths, but tempering this with the economic realities of income expectations.  Anthony Carnevale and colleagues at Georgetown University have published an extensive study of the economic value of college majors.

Key takeaways

• Your college major has a greater influence over your income than where you go to school.
• Majors with the highest earnings are concentrated in the engineering disciplines, computer science and pharmacy science.
• Majors with the least earnings include the arts, social services, and education.

The Georgetown study, What’s it Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors, is excellent food for thought if you or someone you know is actively contemplating college majors (download full report here).