Recent data from salary benchmarking website Emolument crowdsourced data from 55,000 individuals and found that graduates of medicine and economics degrees are more likely to go on and earn a high salary. However graduates in creative arts and mass communications might find that their three years at uni and the cost of tuition isn’t worth the hefty price tag.
The top five degrees where you’re most likely to earn the highest salary within five years of graduating include:
- Economics = £45,000
- Law = £42,000
- Maths = £39,000
- Chemistry = £38,000
- Business and finance = £37,000
In comparison, graduates of fine art and design should expect to earn £25,000 up to five years after leaving university.
You can also find out a lot about a degree by looking at what some of the world’s wealthiest people studied at university.
A study of the world’s billionaires found that students who take engineering have the best chance of becoming super rich. Approved Index, the business-to-business buying platform, analysed the educational background of billionaires by examining Forbes’ list of the richest 100 people in the world.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google, both studied computer engineering before making their millions, as did Michael Bloomberg. More than a fifth of people (22 per cent) studied engineering at university, accounting for almost twice as many billionaires’ degrees as the next most popular choice – business, which accounted for 12 per cent.
While maths and science accounted for just 4 per cent, the strong turnout for engineering graduates supports those campaigning for a better emphasis in schools on STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.
However you might be better off foregoing university altogether, as almost a third of the world’s wealthiest people don’t actually have a degree.
People such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, some of the richest people in the world, famously dropped out of university.
Ecard Shack outlines these top billionaire making universities below.
