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Yahoo...
What the Top 1%
of Earners Majored In
By Robert Gebeloff and Shaila Dewan, New York Times
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
We got an interesting question from an academic adviser at a Texas
university: could we tell what the top 1 percent of earners majored in?
The writer, sly dog, was probably trying to make a point, because he
wrote from a biology department, and it turns out that biology majors
make up nearly 7 percent of college graduates who live in households in
the top 1 percent.
According to the Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey, the
majors that give you the best chance of reaching the 1 percent are
pre-med, economics, biochemistry, zoology and, yes, biology, in that
order.
Below is a chart showing the majors most likely to get into the 1
percent (excluding majors held by fewer than 50,000 people in 2010
census data). The third column shows the percentage of degree holders
with that major who make it into the 1 percent. The fourth column shows
the percent of the 1 percent (among college grads) that hold that
major. In other words, more than one in 10 people with a pre-med degree
make it into the 1 percent, and about 1 in 100 of the 1 percenters with
degrees majored in pre-med.
Of course, choice of major is not the only way to increase your chances
of reaching the 1 percent, if that is your goal. There is also the
sector you choose.
A separate analysis of census data on occupations showed that one in
eight lawyers, for example, are in the 1 percent -- unless they work
for a Wall Street firm, when their chances increase to one in three.
Among chief executives, fewer than one in five rank among the 1
percent, but their chances increase if the company produces medical
supplies (one in four) or drugs (two in five). Hollywood writers? One
in nine are 1 percenters. Television or radio writers? One in 14.
Newspaper writers and editors? One in 62.
Undergraduate Degree
Total / % Who Are 1 Percenters /
Share of All 1 Percenters
Health and Medical Preparatory Programs
142,345 11.8% 0.9%
Economics
1,237,863
8.2% 5.4%
Biochemical
Sciences
193,769 7.2% 0.7%
Zoology
159,935 6.9% 0.6%
Biology
1,864,666
6.7% 6.6%
International Relations
146,781 6.7% 0.5%
Political Science and Government
1,427,224 6.2% 4.7%
Physiology
98,181 6.0% 0.3%
Art History and Criticism
137,357 5.9% 0.4%
Chemistry
780,783
5.7% 2.4%
Molecular Biology
64,951
5.6% 0.2%
Area, Ethnic and Civilization Studies
184,906 5.2% 0.5%
Finance
1,071,812 4.8% 2.7%
History
1,351,368 4.7% 3.3%
Business
Economics
108,146 4.6% 0.3%
Miscellaneous
Psychology
61,257 4.3% 0.1%
Philosophy and Religious
Studies
448,095 4.3% 1.0%
Microbiology
147,954 4.2% 0.3%
Chemical
Engineering
347,959 4.1% 0.8%
Physics
346,455 4.1% 0.7%
Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration
334,016 3.9% 0.7%
Accounting
2,296,601 3.9% 4.7%
Mathematics
840,137 3.9% 1.7%
English Language and
Literature
1,938,988 3.8% 3.8%
Miscellaneous
Biology
52,895 3.7% 0.1%
To see 5 Winning Careers for 2012, a link to Monster, and read this
story online, click here
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