The Audacious Epigone posted the following chart of IQ estimates of intended college major via SAT scores:
Intended major IQ Interdisciplinary studies 114.0 Physical sciences 111.2 Mathematics and statistics 110.7 English and literature 110.1 Foreign language 109.8 Philosophy and religious studies 109.6 Social sciences 109.3 Library science 108.7 Engineering 108.5 Biological and biomedical sciences 107.7 Liberal arts & sciences and humanities 107.5 Area, ethnic, cultural, gender studies 106.8 Theology and religious vocations 106.4 Undecided 106.2 History 106.0 Natural resources and conservation 104.6 Military sciences 104.1 Computer and information sciences 103.9 Communication and journalism 103.5 Architecture 103.2 Visual and performing arts 103.0 Legal professions 102.8 Psychology 101.3 Business 101.2 Health professions 100.8 Engineering technicians 99.9 Education 99.3 Agriculture 99.2 Transportation 98.7 Other 97.8 Family and consumer sciences 97.5 Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness 97.5 Public administration and social services 96.6 Culinary services 96.5 Security and protection 95.9 Precision production 95.2 Construction trades 94.3 Mechanic and repair technician 93.3
Now let’s compare it to Steve Sailer’s IQ estimates of actual college major via GRE scores.
Graduate Record Examination Scores
Mean
465
584
Standard Deviation
117
149
Verbal
Quant
Sum
IQ
Verbal SD
Quant SD
Avg. SD
Physics & astronomy
533
736
1269
133
0.58
1.02
0.80
Philosophy
590
638
1228
129
1.07
0.36
0.72
Mathematical Sciences
502
733
1235
130
0.32
1.00
0.66
Materials Engineering
494
727
1221
129
0.25
0.96
0.60
Economics
503
706
1209
128
0.32
0.82
0.57
Chemical Engineering
485
726
1211
128
0.17
0.95
0.56
Other Engineering
493
714
1207
128
0.24
0.87
0.56
Mechanical Engineering
469
724
1193
126
0.03
0.94
0.49
Other Humanities & Art
563
599
1162
124
0.84
0.10
0.47
Physical Sciences
486
697
1183
125
0.18
0.76
0.47
Engineering
468
719
1187
126
0.03
0.91
0.47
Electrical Eng
459
726
1185
126
(0.05)
0.95
0.45
Banking & finance
467
711
1178
125
0.02
0.85
0.43
Chemistry
486
680
1166
124
0.18
0.64
0.41
Computer & Infor Sci
466
701
1167
124
0.01
0.79
0.40
Civil Engineering
457
700
1157
124
(0.07)
0.78
0.36
Religion & Theory
541
589
1130
121
0.65
0.03
0.34
Industrial Engineering
440
707
1147
123
(0.21)
0.83
0.31
Earth, Atmos & Mar. Sci
495
636
1131
121
0.26
0.35
0.30
English language & lit
560
553
1113
120
0.81
(0.21)
0.30
Humanities & arts
545
566
1111
120
0.68
(0.12)
0.28
Arts-History, theory, crit
539
572
1111
120
0.63
(0.08)
0.28
Biological Sciences
491
631
1122
121
0.22
0.32
0.27
Political Science
524
588
1112
120
0.50
0.03
0.27
Foreign languages & lit
531
574
1105
119
0.56
(0.07)
0.25
Anthropology & Archeology
533
569
1102
119
0.58
(0.10)
0.24
History
542
557
1099
119
0.66
(0.18)
0.24
Library & Archival Sciences
536
542
1078
117
0.61
(0.28)
0.16
Architecture
475
610
1085
118
0.09
0.17
0.13
Natural Sciences -Other
474
598
1072
117
0.08
0.09
0.09
Secondary
485
578
1063
116
0.17
(0.04)
0.07
Social Sciences
487
565
1052
115
0.19
(0.13)
0.03
Agriculture
458
592
1050
115
(0.06)
0.05
0.00
Arts-Performance & studio
488
553
1041
114
0.20
(0.21)
-0.01
Life Sciences
462
581
1043
114
(0.03)
(0.02)
-0.02
Sociology
488
545
1033
114
0.20
(0.26)
-0.03
Other business
444
599
1043
114
(0.18)
0.10
-0.04
Business
442
592
1034
114
(0.20)
0.05
-0.07
Psychology
472
545
1017
113
0.06
(0.26)
-0.10
Higher
464
548
1012
112
(0.01)
(0.24)
-0.13
Communications
470
533
1003
111
0.04
(0.34)
-0.15
Curriculum & Instruction
459
546
1005
111
(0.05)
(0.26)
-0.15
Health & medical sciences
447
552
999
111
(0.15)
(0.21)
-0.18
Other social Science
465
527
992
110
0.00
(0.38)
-0.19
Business admin & mgmt.
438
561
999
111
(0.23)
(0.15)
-0.19
Education
449
534
983
110
(0.14)
(0.34)
-0.24
Accounting
408
585
993
110
(0.49)
0.01
-0.24
Evaluation & Research
450
530
980
109
(0.13)
(0.36)
-0.25
Public Administration
453
515
968
109
(0.10)
(0.46)
-0.28
Other Education
439
532
971
109
(0.22)
(0.35)
-0.29
Elementary
442
526
968
108
(0.20)
(0.39)
-0.29
Administration
426
522
948
107
(0.33)
(0.42)
-0.37
Home Economics
435
501
936
106
(0.26)
(0.56)
-0.41
Special
431
502
933
106
(0.29)
(0.55)
-0.42
Student Counseling
427
500
927
105
(0.32)
(0.56)
-0.44
Early Childhood
418
497
915
104
(0.40)
(0.58)
-0.49
Social Work
428
466
894
103
(0.32)
(0.79)
-0.55
Notice that the IQ scores do increase, which isn’t surprising since many low IQ students drop out of college. But look at which majors are “most improved.” Philosophy and Engineering make the most gains, while English, Foreign Languages, and some other humanities drop significantly. Why is that? I have my own ideas, but I first want to see what you think.
Audacious Epigone
27 March 2009
I ran the estimates for the 22 shared intended majors/actual majors and they correlate at .77 (p=0). So for the most part it looks like the pecking order stays pretty much the same.
The increase in philosophy scores surprises me, but the relative drops among the other three do not–the job prospects are dimmer for all three of them than they are for engineering students. Lots of engineering grads can go into industry, but many of the English and humanities majors don’t really have much choice in their respective ‘professions’ but to stay on in school.
Tangentially, how about the auto-generated related posts? Hehe, the top one is for faculty openings at an Islamic school in Medina! And is that a smiley face in the bottom left corner…?
Lover of Wisdom
27 March 2009
I have no idea how WordPress’s auto-generator works. I’ve seen plenty of mismatches, but many of them are amusing. I also didn’t see that smiley face until you pointed it out. I think many of the themes have them hidden somewhere on the page.
I think I have decent explanation for the philosophy rise. The fact is, the vast majority of high-school seniors know nothing about philosophy. At best, some have an introductory class in high-school. But that is nothing more than a caricature of what goes on in contemporary analytic philosophy. However, many do get exposed to religious studies and world cultures disciplines in high-school. Any many do find that interesting for further study in college, so I bet the majority of those that filled in for that philosophy/religion option actually were filling it in for the religion part. The vast majority of philosophy majors in college never initially intended to major in philosophy; they switch after their freshman or sophomore years. Many are actually pulled from the math, physics, and other sciences. It was true for me, and all of my friends now with me in graduate school.
Audacious Epigone
28 March 2009
Very interesting take. It certainly sounds plausible to me. I’m trying to rack my brain as to my philosophical awareness at graduation in high school. I think I knew of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and had probably heard of a few others like Kant and Descartes, but couldn’t place them. Yes, very interesting indeed.
Lover of Wisdom
28 March 2009
I would say that your recollection of your philosophical awareness in high-school is certainly indicative of most high-school students’ awareness: of ancient, and if possible, early modern philosophy. The problem with learning philosophy in high-school is that one isn’t shown “how philosophy is done”—in terms of analysis—but merely “what philosophers think,” which isn’t taught well to begin with.
Shnugi
1 April 2009
In my experience, of people that switch majors, those that started in math and engineering switch to business, and those in the sciences and business tend to switch to humanities.
Johnny Abacus
1 April 2009
It sounds like Shnugi has an excellent explanation.
Lots of people go to college wanting to graduate in a lucrative field, or one adjacent to it – the hard sciences, engineering, etc. A lot of people (on the low IQ side of the spectrum, presumably) end up switching majors to something with lower exit requirements somewhere along the way – to English, the social sciences or a foreign language (an easy degree for someone raised in a multi-lingual household).
The reverse is also probably true – few people go into college wanting to major in English except people in love with complex fiction – presumably high IQ types. By graduation time, they are diluted by the people fleeing engineering.
QualifiedOpinion
2 April 2009
In my experience, philosophy at top schools is a seriously “egghead” major. Many of them seem to have their entire academic careers planned from the outset – and gravitate to prestigious scholarship (Rhodes) and want future jobs as professors or federal judges or positions at non-hackish think tanks.
Lover of Wisdom
3 April 2009
Shnugi and Johnny:
I would say that your thoughts are generally right about the selection process for these majors. I think it’s important to realize that there are two selection processes occurring, which aren’t mutually exclusive: (1) there is selection within each major, and (2) there is selection between majors. Students that are capable—and enjoy the subject matter—will stay in those majors that require higher IQs, e.g., physics. Students that aren’t capable, regardless of enjoyment, won’t stay in those high IQ majors. Further, the majors are selected from each other by potential career options. The hard sciences and engineering generally have greater utility today than the humanities, so the hard sciences generally offer more lucrative opportunities. Therefore, the hard sciences continually receive greater funding than the humanities.
Douglas J. Bender
28 May 2009
The “Intended Major” and “Actual College Major” charts are unfair. “Statistics” should have its own sub-heading in both – theoretically, and probably, this would raise “Mathematics/Mathematical Sciences” to where it rightfully belongs, above “Physics”. I demand justice, or at least a little sympathy.
Cornelius Troost
3 June 2010
The original estimates seem slightly low. The general pattern you display is well-accepted, ie. physical sciences, mathematics, biological sciences, social sciences, with theoretical physics at the top and sociology at the bottom. Anne Roe wrote The Making of a Scientist around 1951 and she designed an extraordinary IQ test to differentiate among very sharp scientists all of whom had doctotates. Most of the participants were National Academy of Sciences members. She showed definitively that theoretical physicists and mathematicians exceeded all others in IQ, with means that were “highly gifted.” While mere college majors should lie much lower, physical science majors ought to be around 125.
Vivian
24 April 2011
Philosophy should not have been lumped together with Religious “Studies”. I’m willing to bet that if the categories were separated, Philosophy would rank higher on the scale.
Dantes
17 September 2012
Whatever. IQ is what you make of it.