Even Elite Schools Have Subprime Majors (Keil Dumsch and Dahn Shaulis)

Even elite US universities have academic majors that result in negative or low returns on investment (ROI).   The Higher Education Inquirer I looked at some of America's most elite schools and found the worst performing majors at each school.  You can find the information yourself by going to the US Department of Education's College Scorecard.  

While the College Scorecard has limitations, including incomplete and missing data, it can still be used as one tool for choosing a college and a major to study.  The College Scorecard has a section for every school called "Salary After Attending." 

If you click on "View More Details" you can see several sections, including a section titled "Salary after Completing."  If you take a look at the range and hover over the low you see the major that had the lowest performing major in terms of salaries.  

The salary ranges for some schools are enormous, and it's amazing what you will find for low salary majors at elite schools. Some may argue that the salaries are misleading if people go on to grad school or medical school, but many do not.  And of those who do continue their studies some still end up as post docs or in other less than optimum jobs while holding an even larger amount of debt.  CalTech is the only school that does not have a low-ROI major. 

Here's a sample. 

Brown, Human Biology, $27,669

Caltech, Mechanical Engineering, $83,177

Carnegie Mellon, Fine and Studio Arts, $20,140

Columbia University, Philosophy, $28,598

Cornell, Geologic and Earth Sciences/Geosciences $25,194

Dartmouth, Biology, $32,563

Duke, Area Studies, $20,262

Emory, Biology, $16,940

Georgetown, Biological and Physical Sciences, $27,476 

Harvard, Anthropology, $26,353

Johns Hopkins, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, $14,627

MIT, Biology, $35,772

New York University, Dance, $16,478

Notre Dame, Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics $20,140

Princeton, Research and Experimental Psychology, $33,993

Rice, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, $24,421

Stanford University, English, $23,649

Tufts, Fine and Studio Arts, $23,538

University of California - Berkeley, Philosophy, $20,824

University of California - Los Angeles, Music, $18,498

University of Chicago, Biology, $23,649

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Microbiological Sciences and Immunology, $16,169

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Philosophy, $18,154

University of Pennsylvania, Film, Video, and Photographic Arts, $24,035

University of Southern California, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, $10,925

University of Virginia, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, $18,771

Vanderbilt, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, $16,663

Wake Forest University, Health and Physical Education/Fitness, $26,353

Washington University in St Louis, Biology, $16,663

Yale, Ecology, $30,771