Abstract
We use the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates to provide the first estimates of the effect on earnings of having a double major. Overall, double majoring increases earnings by 2.3% relative to having a single major among college graduates without graduate degrees. Most of the gains from having a double major come from choosing fields across two different major categories. Graduates who combine an arts, humanities or social science major with a major in business, engineering, science or math have returns 7–50% higher than graduates with a single major in arts, humanities or social science. But such double major combinations have returns no higher than single majors in business, engineering, science or math. Majors combining business and science or math have returns more than 50% greater than the returns to having a single major in these fields.
Double your major, double your return?
Alison F. Del Rossia, Joni Herschb
Economics of Education Review 27 (2008) 375–386
This is exactly the premise I've been acting on.
C.'s talents & inclinations lie in the humanities-slash-social sciences -- more the social sciences, I would say.
I've been assuming that having him be as good at math as he possibly can is going to be an advantage in terms of careers down the line. (I also assume that the field of history may take another crack at using statistical analysis in the future. Statistical history had a vogue in the 1960s or 1970s -- don't know when, exactly -- & didn't pan out, but I'm guessing that the development of Bayesian statistics combined with the fact that countries are now keeping so much data will convince young historians to try it again.)
A few years ago, Carolyn told me that one of the main reasons she was able to get a job in private industry, coming out of a math professorship, was that she told the interviewer that she liked to write. The guy perked up when he heard that.
This "value-added" notion is also the reason why I regret not having made sure C. learned a second language to fluency.
My dad used to lecture us girls. "Learn to type," he would say, standing in the kitchen door. "In case anything happens to your husband."
I did learn to type; I'm an extremely good typist. Neighborhood of 110 wpm sort of typist.
My dad was right. I didn't end up needing to support myself by typing, but I did end up being much more productive as a writer because I type so rapidly.
I still think typing is a good thing, and I've added "math" and "foreign language" to the category of good things to know in case something happens to your spouse.
Or in case something doesn't, of course.
When my dad was in high school in the 1930s, his mother insisted that he take courses in typing and shorthand. And so it was, soon after he had enlisted in the navy during WWII that he found himself as one of the few (and maybe the only) men on the ship that had those skills.
ReplyDeleteAs my dad told the story, that's how he ended up serving as a secretary, rather than at a battle station. If I recall, he ended up serving on the staff of Admiral Halsey in that capacity, and was aboard the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrender ceremony took place.
I have a colleague whose son is planning to attend Yale and double major in Engineering and Political Science. His passion, apparently, is politics, but the engineering degree would give him something tangible to fall back on.
Did the authors of this study indicate whether they controlled for the possibility that it's smarter students that choose to do double majors. Because doing a double major is usually more work, I suspect that borderline students would usually stick with their single major.
ReplyDeleteMy father said, "Now I'm going to teach you how to change a tire." Then my mother said, "And I'm going to teach you how to unclog a toilet and shut off the water to the house."
ReplyDeleteBoth lessons have come in extremely handy over the years. :)
Hi Rosie ---
ReplyDeleteI'll take a look.
If you'd like me to email you a copy of the study, let me know (anyone else, too).
cijohn @ verizon.net
I've just discovered this journal - had never seen it before. Lots of fascinating things.
This is the journal that published Brian Jacob's study of boys & "non-cognitive factors."
Am reading it now.
Off the top of my head, I would say that intelligence isn't the factor in this study.
ReplyDeleteApparently there are tons of students doing double majors today.
Change a tire & shutting off the water --- yup.
ReplyDeleteGood things to know.
Hi Karen -- I'll email you a copy of the study (I've been "off email" for a week or so).
ReplyDeleteYour colleague will love it.
That's exactly the kind of double major that's standing people in good stead.
One thing, though: assuming I read correctly, there was no return to double majors for students who went on to professional schools. I believe the article said that was because the professional training essentially "trumped" both of the majors.
I think I'm remembering correctly, too, that a double major was better than two bachelor's degrees in two different subjects (which might imply that intelligence is a factor...?)
As my dad told the story, that's how he ended up serving as a secretary, rather than at a battle station.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh!
My dad has a story along those lines!
Got to get upstairs - will tell it tomorrow!
Oh boy, this is going to be forwarded to my teenager.
ReplyDeleteAll he knows about what college major to select is a vague notion about wanting to become independently wealthy by age 40.
And something about wanting to establish his own airline company and traveling around the world.
I was thinking finance and physics? Finance and math? History and physics? Engineering and history would be a biggie, but I don’t think he could survive engineering.
Lots to think about.
My father taught himself to type after university, in the early 1980s. Apparently he realised the coming importance of the PC, brought himself a book on how to touch type, and followed the programme and learnt to touch type.
ReplyDeleteI learnt to type because my primary school had computers but no games on them. The touch-typing program was the most interesting program on them.
At one stage I worked out that out of all the things I'd learned at school, the typing had made me the most money. Of course that changed rapidly once I started professional jobs.
My senior year in high school, my mother made me choose typing as an elective. My mother almost never got involved with my choice of classes, but when it came to typing she was relentless. I did as I was told and grumbled all summer about it because it would cause me to stay at school later than most of my friends.
ReplyDeleteFast forward many years later and I am so thankful I took typing. Not only did it come in handy for part-time summer jobs, but it's still a skill I use everyday. My work as a translator would take twice as long if I couldn't touch type and I'd struggle through emails and blogs and such as well.
Thanks Mom!
As my dad told the story, that's how he ended up serving as a secretary, rather than at a battle station.
ReplyDeleteHey! My dad's Vietnam story goes something like that. His story has to do with his penmanship, however.
Yeah, double majors are a lot more common than they used to be. Surprisingly, it usually isn't the best students who want to double major, but the weaker ones who see it as a way to distinguish themselves from the pack (anecdotal, I know, but after five years on the probation committee at my college, I've seen a lot of people who shouldn't be double majoring but who can't be convinced of it!)
ReplyDeleteTo me, the most interesting aspect is that the typical double major in two related fields isn't very valuable (especially, I suspect, if you barely graduate in both!), and that the gains really come from combining different fields (although you could get to the same place, mostly, with a science/math/business major and other minor). I'll be using this in advising next month!
From personal experience, I highly recommend the dual-program model (or something close).
ReplyDeleteI have a history degree, and was a couple electives short of a computer science degree. I came to college CS late, and really wanted to write the history thesis. Hence, I lack the formal double-major. I did have an IT/programming job in college, which helped with the resume.
I've been employed as a software developer since graduation 12 years ago. History comes up when I research how code has evolved, my occasional writing tasks, and my voracious reading habit.
-m, not mark
ConcernedCTParent,
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. My dad forced me to take typing my junior year. I'm not as speedy as Catherine, but I'm so thankful for at least being able to type without looking. I can't imagine getting through college or grad school without it, and yet some do somehow.
SusanS
Tex -- I'll get the WSJ article posted.
ReplyDeleteOverall, returns to BAs of any kind (I believe) are down.
When you look at incomes in the aggregate the people whose incomes are rising have attended grad school.