While most college students hoping to earn big bucks after graduating college are choosing to major in STEM disciplines, choice of major may not be everything, according to a new study of college graduates’ careers.
According to the study led by Great Lakes Colleges Associations president Richard Detweiler, students who took more than half of their coursework outside of their major fields of study were 29 percent more likely to earn an annual salary over $100,000. The study surveyed 1,000 college graduates from across the nation, according to Forbes. Graduates’ career paths were compared to their academic careers and practices while enrolled in college.
Among the youngest participants in the survey, who were only a few years out of college, those who majored STEM majors were 24 percent more likely to have higher annual salaries than those in other majors. Earning the highest average salaries in this category were engineering graduates, who earned $63,765 per year, and graduates in mathematics and statistics who earned $58,544.
Results reaffirmed that the gap in income among recent graduates declined as time went on. While the youngest graduates were 13 percent less likely to reach a six-figure salary after taking a large number of classes unrelated to their majors, the oldest group of graduates who had focused on non-major courses showed a 72 percent increase in the chances of maintaining a salary over $100,000.
One possible reason for these findings, Detweiler suggests, is that these graduates who take a wide variety of classes have a greater “ability to adapt to changing circumstances.”
So far Detweiler has ruled out the idea that students taking classes in a variety of subjects are primarily from higher socio-economic status, therefore leading to higher incomes after graduation.
In the complexities of today’s economy and job market, it could be that students well-versed in a number of disciplines and fields are more equipped to adapt to these complexities.