Submission + - STEM vs Liberal Arts salaries, not what you think (nytimes.com)
jds91md writes: From a Sept. 20 article by David Deming in the NY Times, discussion of how STEM grads start ahead but English majors and such catch up. From the start of the article:
For students chasing lasting wealth, the best choice of a college major is less obvious than you might think.
The conventional wisdom is that computer science and engineering majors have better employment prospects and higher earnings than their peers who choose liberal arts.
This is true for the first job, but the long-term story is more complicated.
The advantage for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors fades steadily after their first jobs, and by age 40 the earnings of people who majored in fields like social science or history have caught up.
For students chasing lasting wealth, the best choice of a college major is less obvious than you might think.
The conventional wisdom is that computer science and engineering majors have better employment prospects and higher earnings than their peers who choose liberal arts.
This is true for the first job, but the long-term story is more complicated.
The advantage for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors fades steadily after their first jobs, and by age 40 the earnings of people who majored in fields like social science or history have caught up.
