Top Ranked Programs
Amherst College's program mix is anchored in Social Sciences, a concentration that shapes the institution's academic identity and career outcomes. Social Sciences account for 22% of graduates, with Economics as the dominant subfield — a pattern more closely aligned with selective liberal arts peers than with engineering-heavy research universities. Arts and other STEM fields round out the mix at 5% and 5% respectively, reflecting the breadth of a classic liberal arts curriculum. The strongest financial outcomes cluster in quantitative and analytically oriented fields. Azimuth ranks Computer Science #46 among nonprofit four-year institutions for median earnings four years after enrollment, with graduates earning $142,680. Azimuth ranks Economics #13 among nonprofit four-year institutions for median earnings four years after enrollment, with graduates earning $141,730, and Mathematics ranks #7 among nonprofit four-year institutions for the same measure with median earnings of $124,324. The most popular programs by graduate volume — Economics, Mathematics, and Research Psychology — reflect the institution's social-sciences-leaning identity. Several of these fields are grad-school-dependent pathways where four-year earnings undercount the longer-run trajectory, as a meaningful share of graduates continue to law school, graduate study, or professional programs before entering the workforce. The [supply and demand for college graduates](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/) provides context for how these program families align with national labor-market trends. Across 27 programs serving roughly 738 graduates annually, Amherst College's academic portfolio rewards students who pair a liberal arts foundation with analytically intensive coursework — particularly in economics, mathematics, and the quantitative social sciences.