Double Your Major, Double Your Return?

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 percent 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 to 50 percent 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 percent greater than the returns to having a single major in these fields.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 34

Keywords: college major, human capital, rate of return

JEL Classification: I21, J24, J31

Accepted Paper Series