Haley Hoffman Smith attended the University of Colorado–Boulder for two years before she decided to transfer to Brown University as a humanities major to propel her career aspirations.
In May, the 22-year-old graduated from the Rhode Island Ivy League school with a concentration in gender studies and business. Thanks to one of her professors at Brown, she connected with several entrepreneurs and landed a full-time job as the director of community at Next Gen Summit, a New York-based startup focused on young entrepreneurs. Smith now connects entrepreneurs with resources for their ventures.
“I understand by going to Brown, it was easier for me to meet people and network. I’m not sure how it would have played at CU,” says the Colorado native. Smith says she didn’t have the same opportunities to network and develop entrepreneurial ventures at CU–Boulder.
The stereotype of liberal arts majors is that they find it more difficult to enter the workforce compared with their counterparts in other majors, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (known as the STEM fields), and that liberal arts graduates often don’t earn high salaries.
But this isn’t the reality for many Ivy League grads, like Smith, who hold a liberal arts or humanities degree, according to data from PayScale, which can be found on U.S. News profile pages for more than 1,500 schools.
At Brown University, for instance, the average starting salary among liberal arts majors who studied foreign languages and literatures, English language and literatures, philosophy, religious studies and history is around $63,400, according to the online salary database company. Among all U.S. News-ranked institutions, the average starting salary among these five disciplines is almost $45,000. PayScale defines starting salary as three years of work experience after college with only a bachelor’s degree.
[Read: What to Know About Employers That Pay Student Loans.]
As another example, the starting salary for a history major who graduated from an Ivy League institution is nearly $53,000, PayScale data show. That’s almost $10,000 more than the average salary for grads with that type of degree among all U.S. News-ranked institutions.
“The 10K bump (for Ivy League grads) has been there for a long time. It has been an advantage that has been there as long as I’ve been looking at the data,” says Jeff Strohl, research director at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Before working at Georgetown’s CEW, Strohl analyzed education outcomes at Westat Inc., a company that provides research services to federal and local governments as well as private businesses.
There are some Ivy League liberal arts disciplines that earn even higher entry-level pay. According to PayScale’s data, many philosophy majors from Brown and Princeton University can expect to make more than $70,000 when they enter the workforce. The average starting salary for philosophy majors among all ranked U.S. News schools, which includes these two Ivy League schools, is slightly more than $48,000.
“Philosophy majors, it’s kind of like one of these secret hidden gems — it’s a very strenuous major where you learn very strong communication skills because there’s importance placed on not only written communication but also oral communication because of their debates and arguments,” says Katie Bardaro, chief economist at PayScale.
“Sometimes what we see of philosophy majors coming out of these strong programs, is that they’re going into being top-tier banking analysts on Wall Street, or they’re becoming intelligence analysts for the government. They’re going into these upper-level positions where they can utilize those communication and critical thinking skills,” Bardaro says.
[See: 10 Fast-Food Jobs That Pay for College.]
Employers are more apt to recruit grads from selective schools because of their academically challenging environment, postsecondary outcome researchers say.
“Specifically in the Ivy Leagues for these humanities majors, they’re really setting up a strong graduate with thinking skills and strong business instincts because their program is really challenging. Although it might not be one of the classical, top-earning majors that you think of — STEM or some of the business majors — they still get that baseline of critical thinking skills that drives them to success in their careers regardless of their major,” Bardaro says.
Selective college and universities, like Ivy League institutions, are also able to focus on career outcomes more than other colleges and universities, says Cameron Smither, a postsecondary education researcher at the American Institutes for Research in the District of Columbia.
“A lot of schools are so hit by retention issues and always struggling to get enrollment and making sure that people pass their class and come back next term. So they don’t get the chance to work on those postgraduate-type supports in the same way that a selective college does,” he says.
During her time at her Ivy League alma mater, Smith says she received better career support services compared with her public flagship university. “I didn’t meet any career counselors at CU, nor did I notice any of their presence on campus,” she says. She also says large Fortune 500 companies, such as Google and McKinsey & Co., were on Brown’s campus every fall recruiting for full-time and intern positions.
[Read: Liberal Arts Colleges Cater to Employers’ Needs.]
A college’s name and reputation play into entry-level job recruitment efforts, postsecondary researchers say.
“The name brand of the school brings a higher recruiting effort onto those campuses,” Bardaro says.
But Smith doesn’t just credit her early career success with her school’s name and vast network system. The recent grad says she took advantage of her college’s resources to pursue side projects, such as writing a book, “Her Big Idea: The Next Genheration of Entrepreneurs,” during her junior year.
“I found that the most successful people — the people who do the best in their careers — are so obsessed with something and so passionate about it. It really makes them tick and makes things happen. Ultimately, if you are doing what you are passionate about, that’s when things fall into place. People recognize passion, and they hire you for it,” Smith says.
Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
More from U.S. News
10 Ways to Nab a Scholarship to Pay for College
10 Fast-Food Jobs That Pay for College
10 Strategic Ways to Pay Less for College
How Much Is a Liberal Arts Degree From the Ivy League Worth? originally appeared on usnews.com
