Over the past decade, there has been a 16.2% decrease in the social sciences at Dartmouth, and a staggering 25.8% increase in STEM fields. The Dartmouth reviewed a decade of data from the College on the composition of each graduating class, from the Class of 2014 to the Class of 2024.
Most notably, there has been a slight decline in economics majors — a traditionally popular major at Dartmouth — and the number of computer science majors has nearly tripled. This is correlated with computer science majors’ starting salaries surpassing that of economics majors. Further, history dropped from one of the top five most popular majors in 2015 to eighth place in 2024.
While there are no significant changes in two traditionally popular majors in the social sciences, economics and government, the popularity of the psychology major varies considerably over time — which may contribute to the decline in the social sciences. There is a steady increase in the popularity of computer science as a major.
How Have Student Major Types Changed?
In 2014, roughly 15.86% of degrees earned were in the arts and humanities, a figure that saw an overall decrease to 13.87% by 2024. Social Science degrees also saw an overall decline during this period, dropping from 49.59% in 2014 to 41.54% in 2024.
STEM fields, however, experienced a 25.79% change in growth, increasing from 25.21% of graduates in 2014 to 31.71% in 2024.
Similarly, interdisciplinary program degrees awarded rose by roughly 37.77% from 9.35% in 2014 to 12.88% in 2024.
How Have the Most Popular Majors Changed?
Graduation data from the past decade highlights changes in the top five Bachelor’s Degrees awarded by major. Computer science showed dramatic growth, jumping from tenth place to the fifth most common major earned by 75 students in 2016, and maintaining steady growth towards 145 students in 2024.
Other popular majors, such as economics, maintained steady popularity, with between 167 to 224 students, or approximately 13 to 17% of the class, earning this degree each year. Similarly, government and engineering sciences degrees maintained consistent levels of popularity over the last decade, with about 150 and 90 degrees being earned in these fields each year respectively.
How Has Enrollment in Off-Campus Programs Changed?
Enrollment in off-campus programs experienced a gradual decline between 2014 and 2020. In 2021, the pandemic led to the suspension of both foreign study and language study abroad programs. After 2021, enrollment in these programs is nearly returning to normal levels.
Starting Salary for Bachelor’s Degree Graduates After Graduation
From data in the Postgrad Plans Survey from 2013 to 2022, computer science graduates had the highest starting salary. 70% of graduates started with a salary of $90,000+, 12% started with a salary in between $80,000-90,000, and 19% started with a salary of $80,000 or less.
For economics majors, roughly 21% started with a salary of $90,000+, 31% with a salary between $80,000-90,000, 22% with a salary between $70,000-80,000, 14% with a salary between $60,000-70,000, and 14% with a salary of $60,000 or below.
For engineering sciences majors, 25% started with a salary of $90,000+, 19% with a salary between $80,000-90,000, 23% with a salary between $70,000-80,000, 14% with a salary between $60,000-70,000, and 18% with a salary of $60,000 or below.
For government majors, 14% started with a salary of $90,000+, 15% with a salary between $80,000-90,000, 15% with a salary between $70,000-80,000, 17% with a salary between $60,000-70,000, 13% with a salary of $50,000-60,000, 12% with a salary of $40,000-50,000, and 14% with a salary of $40,000 or below.
Median Earnings from Bachelor’s Degree Graduates 5 Years After Graduation
Methodology Notes:
The Dartmouth fielded an investigation using data from the Office of Institutional Research and College Scoreboard. The Dartmouth Data Visualization team manually inputted and analyzed the information gathered in these reports.
