Choice of subject outweighs university prestige in graduate earnings

Analysis from Revelio Labs finds that what students study has a greater impact on earnings than where they study, challenging assumptions about the value of elite institutions.

The research links education and employment records for bachelor’s graduates from 2005 to 2025 across more than 1,600 universities. It shows that pay differences between subjects are larger, and more persistent, than those linked to institutional selectivity. The highest and lowest-paying subjects are shown below, with STEM fields dominating the top of the distribution.

Graduates in the highest-paying majors earn $30,000 to $50,000 more a year than those in the lowest-paying subjects at the same university. Differences between universities offering the same subject are smaller.

Five years after graduation, students in higher-paying fields at less selective institutions can out-earn peers from elite universities who studied lower-paying subjects. Graduates in maths, engineering or computer science from Virginia Tech earn more on average than graduates in subjects such as psychology or history from Harvard University.

In the first year after graduation, subject choice is associated with an earnings gap of about $33,000, compared with roughly $19,000 linked to university selectivity. The gap increases over time, with subject choice accounting for a larger share of earnings differences across careers.

Computer science remains the highest-paying major, although its first-year earnings premium has fallen to around $27,000 from peaks above $40,000. Graduate destinations are shifting. Software engineering remains the largest category, but its share has fallen from around one third of roles to about one quarter. Application developer roles have also declined, from roughly 4% to 2%. More graduates are moving into data scientist and analyst positions, while the ‘researcher’ category has grown to include roles across academia, technology and finance. There is also a small increase in graduates starting their own companies.

The analysis is based on observed outcomes rather than causal effects, as students choose their subjects and career paths. However, the pattern is consistent across two decades of data: subject choice has a stronger link to earnings than institutional prestige.

Key statistics

• $30,000 to $50,000: annual earnings gap between highest and lowest-paying majors at the same university
• $33,000: first-year earnings difference linked to subject choice
• $19,000: first-year earnings difference linked to university selectivity
• $27,000: current first-year earnings premium for computer science graduates
• $40,000+: previous first-year premium for computer science over the past decade
• 5 years after graduation: point at which subject-driven earnings gaps remain larger than institution-driven gaps