With college setting students back an average of $38,270 per year, young people today are banking on their college degree opening doors to more than house parties and sororities—specifically, to top-paying jobs. But whether they succeed at this depends greatly on what they choose to study. Tha t’s because one major study from the New York Federal Reserve shows that those wishing to earn the big bucks after college may want to consider studying some form of engineering. Even though it typically costs the same to study psychology as it does computer science, the research revealed 80% of the top 10 college majors with the highest incomes five years after graduation are engineering degrees, highlighting the trend toward technology industries in recent years. The New York Fed studied the labor market outcomes of college graduates depending on their major—and computer engineering grads came out on top with an annual median salary of $80,000 within five years of tossing their graduation cap in the air.  Those who studied liberal arts or humanities are earning half of what engineering grads take home Even within the field of engineering, not all degrees are equal. Those with more specialist engineering qualifications, like aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, and industrial engineering, end up earning slightly more than generalists.  Meanwhile, the only non-engineering degrees to make the list are the engineering-adjacent computer science—which ranked third with a median early career wage of $80,000—and finance. Although the latter just about made the list at number 10, 22 to 27-year-old finance grads can still expect to take home an impressive $70,000 per annum. By contrast, those majoring in the liberal arts or humanities can expect to earn around half of those studying engineering. Within five years of graduating from college, theology and religion, performing arts and liberal arts grads—which tied for the top spot of the major which pays the worst after college—earn $38,000 a year on average.  What’s more, although previous research has shown that a degree in the medical field is generally the golden ticket to the big bucks, miscellaneous biological science, treatment therapy, and nutrition sciences are included on the list of low-paying majors—all three pay early career starters up to $50,000. For context, the U.S. personal median income (which includes 15-year-olds and those without a degree at all) is $45,180.  Degrees that pay the most in the five years after college Computer engineering—$90,000Chemical engineering—$85,000Computer science—$87,000Aerospace engineering—$85,000Electrical engineering—$82,000Industrial engineering—$83,000Mechanical engineering—$80,000General engineering—$75,000Miscellaneous engineering—$75,000Finance—$70,000 Degrees that pay the least in the five years after college Fine arts—$45,000Elementary education—$45,000Early childhood education—$45,000Biology—$45,000Art history—$45,000Anthropology—$45,000Performing arts—$44,000Social services—$43,000Theology and religion—$41,600Pharmacy—$40,000 Even if you’re studying engineering, don’t set your standards too high Think an engineering degree at an Ivy League college will automatically make you successful? Think again.  Although certain degrees may increase your odds of landing a high-paying job, don’t bank on it; Nvidia cofounder Jensen Huang thinks setting your expectations too high at college actually makes it harder to succeed in the real world.  “People with very high expectations have very low resilience—and unfortunately, resilience matters in success,” Huang said during an interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations.” “I don’t know how to do it [but] for all of you Stanford students, I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering,” Huang said. “Greatness comes from character and character isn’t formed out of smart people—it’s formed out of people who suffered.” A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 25, 2024. Read more on careers from Fortune’s Orianna Rosa Royle: Despite degrees being slammed as ‘useless’ by Gen Z, data shows graduates have had the lowest unemployment rate of anyone for the last 20 years Ex-Facebook exec Sheryl Sandberg says the 10-year career plan is dead thanks to AI:  ‘Don’t script your career when the future is uncertain,’ she warns Gen Z $7.2 billion AI CEO gets thousands of job applications a day but still can’t find candidates with a strong work ethic Samsung’s UK exec admits work-life balance is a myth: ‘Anyone who tells you otherwise is either very lucky or not being entirely truthful’ Arianna Huffington says, ‘If you can finish everything before you go to sleep, you don’t have an interesting enough job’ This story was originally featured on Fortune.com ...read more read less