When choosing a college major, undergraduates do not have to speculate as to which path will be the most lucrative several years into their career. The Department of Education College Scorecard generously furnishes that information in regard to every college in the United States, with helpful breakdowns according to median salary and median debt within various fields of study. A 2023 report from CNBC uses this very data to summarize the average earnings of alumni across the Ivy League. They rank Dartmouth College as the Ivy producing the third-highest earning graduates, just behind Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. 

In 2024, the median earnings of Dartmouth alumni has risen even higher. According to College Scoreboard, “the median annual earnings of individuals that received federal student aid and began college at [Dartmouth] 10 years ago” is $95,540, as opposed to a national median of $50,806. But how do Dartmouth graduates from each major fare ten years postgrad?

A Breakdown of Dartmouth Post Grad Salaries by Major

Major	Median Earnings	Median Total Debt	Debt as a Percentage of Annual Salary
Computer Science	$157,053	$18,490	11.8%
Mathematics	$124,017	$11,617	9.4%
Economics	$118,120	$18,132	15.4%
Engineering Science	$90,843	$17,083	18.8%
Political Science and Government	$84,898	$17,500	20.6%
History	$82,121	$19,000	23.1%
Sociology	$71,802	$19,250	26.8%
Area Studies	$71,072	$16,520	23.2%
English Language and Literature	$55,730	$17,000	30.5%

Dartmouth’s 2023 Fall Fact Sheet lists the top five undergraduate majors on campus as follows: Economics, with 319 enrollees; Government, with 271 enrollees; Computer Science, with 260 enrollees; Engineering Sciences, with 167 enrollees; and Psychological and Brain Sciences, with 156 enrollees. As the median earnings of Dartmouth graduates listed above indicate, there is a slight correlation between a major’s popularity and its financial viability postgrad. Computer Science, Economics, and Engineering graduates are among the most likely to wind up with lucrative jobs post graduation, so many students weigh this likelihood when deciding on one of these majors.

However, Mathematics would appear to be a practical choice for those seeking to maximize earnings and minimize their debt burden. On the other end of the spectrum, not only should English graduates expect to earn a median salary of $55,730 that pales in comparison to their counterparts from other majors, but they should also expect to graduate with the highest debt burden in proportion to salary. 

Dartmouth Computer Science Grad Salaries vs. the Rest of the Ivy League

School	Median Earnings	Median Total Debt	Debt as a Percentage of Annual Salary
Harvard University	$256,539	Data Not Available	N/A
University of Pennsylvania	$246,946	$15,000	6.074202457
Brown University	$218,525	$11,500	5.262555772
Yale University	$203,685	$15,000	7.364312541
Cornell University	$185,679	$14,750	7.943817018
Columbia University	$160,457	$19,594	12.21137127
Dartmouth College	$157,053	$18,490	11.77309571
Princeton University	Data Not Available	Data Not Available	N/A

Using that same College Scorecard Data, we’ve compared the median earnings of Computer Science graduates across the Ivy League. Computer Science is the most lucrative major at every Ivy League school (with the exception of Princeton, where Computer Engineers earn the most!). The data reveals a hard pill for Ivy Coach (“The Dartmouth Whisperer“) to swallow: Dartmouth alums with Computer Science degrees are the lowest earners in the Ivy League, and graduated with the second highest debt burden relative to salary. Of course, Princeton’s grads could be faring even worse, but that data is not yet available to the public.

Does this mean that prospective computer scientists should steer clear of Dartmouth (the home of the invention of BASIC)? Of course not! Salary data is very dynamic and subject to the whims of the marketplace. Dartmouth alums make far above the national average in every field. Dartmouth is a smart choice for any academically-ambitious high schooler, including budding computer scientists!