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The actual data [1] doesn't seem to agree with the article. There's also usually a huge range of ROI for the same subject from different universities, and it d
by mkl 2y ago
The actual data [1] doesn't seem to agree with the article. There's also usually a huge range of ROI for the same subject from different universities, and it doesn't give numbers of students, so (1) I suspect small sample sizes are skewing the data, and (2) it's impossible to find the percentage of students in negative-ROI fields of study or institutions.
> For bachelor's degrees, fine arts, education, and biology programs had the lowest median ROI, while engineering, computer science, and nursing degrees gave students the highest long-term rewards.
That doesn't seem to match the data. Based on average (over institutions, not students) ROI from the completed-on-time column, the worst are: Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft,
Library and Archives Assisting,
Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical Systems,
Theological and Ministerial Studies,
Movement and Mind-Body Therapies and Education,
Dance,
Personal and Culinary Services, Other,
Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries,
Mason/Masonry,
Zoology/Animal Biology. Not too surprising except maybe the last one.
The top ROI are Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology,
Operations Research,
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences,
Mathematics and Computer Science,
Systems Engineering,
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering,
Computer Engineering,
Nuclear Engineering Technologies/Technicians,
Marine Transportation,
Petroleum Engineering. Again not too surprising.
Only 45/338 = 13% of fields of study have a negative average ROI graduated-on-time (17% including not-graduated-on-time).
[1] https://freopp.wpengine.com/roi-undergraduate/ https://freopp.wpengine.com/roi-undergraduate/
- GartzenDeHaes 2y agoYou're comparing medians to means. The means are much lower due to the average being skewed upwards by the wealthy. Edit: the averages are much higher than the median of course
- mkl 2y agoFair point. Excel's pivot tables can't easily do medians. Edit: Actually, it's pretty similar with medians (via Python now). The bottom 10 are: Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Library and Archives Assisting, Movement and Mind-Body Therapies and Education, Dance, Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical Systems, Theological and Ministerial Studies, Film/Video and Photographic Arts, Personal and Culinary Services, Other, Music, Mason/Masonry The top 10 are: Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Nuclear Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Operations Research, Personal Awareness and Self-Improvement, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Marine Transportation, Systems Engineering, Mining and Mineral Engineering, Computer Engineering.
- RGamma 2y agoOne can enable the Power Pivot addin, add the data into a semantic model and define a DAX measure for the median on it.
- maxerickson 2y agoDo you think that graduate dentistry is a bachelor's?
- mkl 2y agoThe people who collected the data categorised it that way for some reason.
- maxerickson 2y agoDo you think they included that category in the analysis of bachelor's ROI, which is what you are doing, comparing it to their results for bachelor's. Like sure, a professional degree in dentistry probably does have a better average return than a 4 year degree in engineering, but that isn't the comparison they made.
- tootie 2y agoLook at the source. It's a Republican activist group supported by Avik Roy with multiple members of the Bush family listed as fellows.
- Sakos 2y agoI'd also like to know what the ROI is for countries other than the US, particularly ones in Europe, where getting a bachelor degree is significantly cheaper and cost of living (in many places) hasn't risen as much as it has in the US.