3 ms·

Interesting data. Seems to me like there's a top tier of 3 highly technical majors (EE, CS, ME), and then a big cluster of 9 pretty decent majors (10 of the 12

Interesting data. Seems to me like there's a top tier of 3 highly technical majors (EE, CS, ME), and then a big cluster of 9 pretty decent majors (10 of the 12 at this stage might reasonably be called "STEM"). Communications is in the decent tier for women but not men. And then there are a bunch of weaker majors. The only thing that's even remotely surprising to me is that Chemistry isn't a little higher.

redthrow 10y ago
Yeah, I wonder why so many people keep repeating "study STEM" instead of "study Engineering or Finance or Medicine", considering the fact that "S" (Biology/Chemistry) and "M" (Math) seem to be pretty weak.
- hrehhf 10y ago
  Are you sure you looked at the table? Chemistry and Mathematics are in the upper half of the table, i.e. higher earnings.
  - redthrow 10y ago
    Right, Math being "pretty weak" was a bit of an overstatement. I meant that for a major that's generally considered to be hard and lead to a lucrative career (it's part of "STEM" after all), it's not that different from Pol Sci or Business (and it does worse than Accounting or Economics, both of which are non-STEM), which most people probably wouldn't expect.
    - lotharbot 10y ago
      I find it shocking that accounting and economics aren't considered STEM. (Though at least some subsets of economics are on the official DHS list.) I would expect (but do not have data to support) that those who do accounting/econ who take a more math-oriented approach do better than those who take a less math-oriented approach.
      - dagw 10y ago
        Anecdotally, all my friends who sprinkled a few economics and finance courses onto their math degree, are doing much better than all my friends who sprinkled a few math courses onto the economics degree.
- lotharbot 10y ago
  I would consider medicine to be a subset of Science, and finance to be at least related to Math (with some disciplines being very heavy math.) STEM as a whole is basically the entire top half of that chart. Even math, which you call "pretty weak", is (taking the average) as close to CS as it is to communications, and much closer to the top cluster than it is to the bottom cluster. So I think "study STEM" is perfectly good advice, particularly given that there will be shifts in the value of various degrees based on subtle economic changes.
douche 10y ago
Basically: don't major in fluff, learn the hard shit. Unfortunately, that doesn't really help out the 50% or so of the population that really doesn't have the abilities to hack that kind of material.

redthrow 10y ago

Yeah, I wonder why so many people keep repeating "study STEM" instead of "study Engineering or Finance or Medicine", considering the fact that "S" (Biology/Chemistry) and "M" (Math) seem to be pretty weak.

hrehhf 10y ago
Are you sure you looked at the table? Chemistry and Mathematics are in the upper half of the table, i.e. higher earnings.
- redthrow 10y ago
  Right, Math being "pretty weak" was a bit of an overstatement. I meant that for a major that's generally considered to be hard and lead to a lucrative career (it's part of "STEM" after all), it's not that different from Pol Sci or Business (and it does worse than Accounting or Economics, both of which are non-STEM), which most people probably wouldn't expect.
  - lotharbot 10y ago
    I find it shocking that accounting and economics aren't considered STEM. (Though at least some subsets of economics are on the official DHS list.) I would expect (but do not have data to support) that those who do accounting/econ who take a more math-oriented approach do better than those who take a less math-oriented approach.
    - dagw 10y ago
      Anecdotally, all my friends who sprinkled a few economics and finance courses onto their math degree, are doing much better than all my friends who sprinkled a few math courses onto the economics degree.
lotharbot 10y ago
I would consider medicine to be a subset of Science, and finance to be at least related to Math (with some disciplines being very heavy math.) STEM as a whole is basically the entire top half of that chart. Even math, which you call "pretty weak", is (taking the average) as close to CS as it is to communications, and much closer to the top cluster than it is to the bottom cluster. So I think "study STEM" is perfectly good advice, particularly given that there will be shifts in the value of various degrees based on subtle economic changes.

douche 10y ago

Basically: don't major in fluff, learn the hard shit. Unfortunately, that doesn't really help out the 50% or so of the population that really doesn't have the abilities to hack that kind of material.