Political Science and Government at California Institute of Technology

Caltech is renowned for STEM, not social sciences, and the sparse data here tells its own story. With fewer than 10 political science graduates per cohort—too few for the Department of Education to publish program-specific outcomes—you're looking at a degree that essentially doesn't exist at scale at this institution. The estimated figures, drawn from California's median for political science programs, suggest first-year earnings around $35,300 against roughly $23,300 in debt, a manageable 0.66 ratio. But these numbers reflect what typical California political science graduates earn, not what happens when you take one of the nation's most selective institutions (3% admission rate) and apply it to a non-core field.

The comparison with actual reported outcomes is jarring. Stanford's political science graduates start at $59,300, and even UC Berkeley clears $45,400—both substantially above the state median used for Caltech's estimate. Whether Caltech's tiny cohort performs more like peer elite institutions or struggles without the policy networks and placement infrastructure that larger programs provide is simply unknowable from available data. You're essentially betting on the Caltech brand translating to a field where the institution has minimal presence.

If your child is set on political science, dozens of California schools offer robust programs with proven outcomes. Choosing Caltech for this major means paying elite tuition for a program that barely exists, with no transparency about whether that prestige premium delivers anything beyond what you'd get at a state university—and considerable risk that it doesn't.