Given the abilities of the students selecting the major and the expected payoff for earning that degree, which students are making the wisest decisions? The most foolish?
I understand that there are non-monetary considerations--theology students wanting to be closer to God and El Ed majors wanting to be closer to their intellectual equals--but given the wealth of resources available at your local library, college is not worth bothering with unless a degree will get you cash money.
To answer this question, I used two sources of data: Steve Sailers estimation of IQ by GRE score and PayScale.com's list of median salaries by major. The IQ estimations ranged from 103 to 133 and the median salaries from $41,600 to $109,000. I simply subtracted the lowest score from both sets of numbers to give me a rouch estimation of dollars per IQ point. I compare this to an expected value of $2,246.67 per IQ point. This method works well because Social Work majors are both the dumbest and the lowest paid.
If you have a better methodology (and you probably do), don't tell me about it. Just run the numbers and post the results. I'll link you from here.
Unsuprisingly, Accountants are the wisest and Fine Arts the most foolish. Philosophy majors came off suprisingly well here.
Here's the raw numbers for you:
Major | Verbal | Quant | Sum | IQ | Median Salary | IQ Predicted Salary | Difference |
Accounting | 408 | 585 | 993 | 110 | $77,600 | 57326.66667 | $20,273 |
Business admin & mgmt. (Business Administration) | 438 | 561 | 999 | 111 | $73,000 | 59573.33333 | $13,427 |
Health & medical sciences (Health Sciences) | 447 | 552 | 999 | 111 | $69,600 | 59573.33333 | $10,027 |
Chemical Engineering | 485 | 726 | 1211 | 128 | $107,000 | 97766.66667 | $9,233 |
Communications | 470 | 533 | 1003 | 111 | $68,400 | 59573.33333 | $8,827 |
Electrical Eng | 459 | 726 | 1185 | 126 | $102,000 | 93273.33333 | $8,727 |
Computer & Infor Sci (Computer Science) | 466 | 701 | 1167 | 124 | $97,400 | 88780 | $8,620 |
Industrial Engineering | 440 | 707 | 1147 | 123 | $95,000 | 86533.33333 | $8,467 |
Business admin & mgmt. (Business Administration) | 442 | 592 | 1034 | 114 | $73,000 | 66313.33333 | $6,687 |
Public Administration (Health Care Administration) | 453 | 515 | 968 | 109 | $61,000 | 55080 | $5,920 |
Mechanical Engineering | 469 | 724 | 1193 | 126 | $98,300 | 93273.33333 | $5,027 |
Civil Engineering | 457 | 700 | 1157 | 124 | $93,000 | 88780 | $4,220 |
Economics | 503 | 706 | 1209 | 128 | $101,000 | 97766.66667 | $3,233 |
Architecture | 475 | 610 | 1085 | 118 | $78,300 | 75300 | $3,000 |
Earth, Atmos & Mar. Sci (Geology) | 495 | 636 | 1131 | 121 | $84,200 | 82040 | $2,160 |
Engineering (Environmental Engineering) | 468 | 719 | 1187 | 126 | $94,500 | 93273.33333 | $1,227 |
Other business (Hotel Business Management) | 444 | 599 | 1043 | 114 | $66,400 | 66313.33333 | $87 |
Social Work | 428 | 466 | 894 | 103 | $41,600 | 41600 | $0 |
Banking & finance | 467 | 711 | 1178 | 125 | $89,400 | 91026.66667 | ($1,627) |
Materials Engineering | 494 | 727 | 1221 | 129 | $98,300 | 100013.3333 | ($1,713) |
Agriculture | 458 | 592 | 1050 | 115 | $66,700 | 68560 | ($1,860) |
Life Sciences (Forestry) | 462 | 581 | 1043 | 114 | $64,200 | 66313.33333 | ($2,113) |
Political Science | 524 | 588 | 1112 | 120 | $77,300 | 79793.33333 | ($2,493) |
Psychology | 472 | 545 | 1017 | 113 | $61,000 | 64066.66667 | ($3,067) |
Education | 449 | 534 | 983 | 110 | $54,100 | 57326.66667 | ($3,227) |
Chemistry | 486 | 680 | 1166 | 124 | $82,300 | 88780 | ($6,480) |
History | 542 | 557 | 1099 | 119 | $70,000 | 77546.66667 | ($7,547) |
Sociology | 488 | 545 | 1033 | 114 | $57,900 | 66313.33333 | ($8,413) |
Mathematical Sciences (Mathematics) | 502 | 733 | 1235 | 130 | $93,600 | 102260 | ($8,660) |
Arts-Performance & studio (Drama) | 488 | 553 | 1041 | 114 | $56,600 | 66313.33333 | ($9,713) |
Physics & astronomy (Physics) | 533 | 736 | 1269 | 133 | 98800 | 109000 | ($10,200) |
Biological Sciences (Biology) | 491 | 631 | 1122 | 121 | $71,800 | 82040 | ($10,240) |
Elementary | 442 | 526 | 968 | 108 | $42,400 | 52833.33333 | ($10,433) |
English language & lit (English) | 560 | 553 | 1113 | 120 | $66,900 | 79793.33333 | ($12,893) |
Anthropology & Archeology (Anthropology) | 533 | 569 | 1102 | 119 | $63,200 | 77546.66667 | ($14,347) |
Arts-History, theory, crit | 539 | 572 | 1111 | 120 | $62,400 | 79793.33333 | ($17,393) |
Philosophy | 590 | 638 | 1228 | 129 | $76,700 | 100013.3333 | ($23,313) |
Religion & Theory (Religious Studies | 541 | 589 | 1130 | 121 | $57,500 | 82040 | ($24,540) |
Foreign languages & lit (Spanish) | 531 | 574 | 1105 | 119 | $52,600 | 77546.66667 | ($24,947) |
Other Humanities & Art (Fine Arts) | 563 | 599 | 1162 | 124 | $56,300 | 88780 | ($32,480) |
2 comments:
Do the parentheses indicate negative amounts of income?
Yes, the numbers in parentheses represent dollars lost by the poor choice of major.
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