Natural Resources Conservation and Research at Mount Holyoke College

The small sample size matters here, but these numbers tell a troubling story that's hard to ignore. Mount Holyoke graduates in this program earn $22,791 their first year out—that's $14,000 below Massachusetts's median for this field and $11,000 below the national average. This places the program in the 10th percentile statewide and 5th percentile nationally, meaning roughly 90-95% of comparable programs deliver better initial earnings.

For a selective liberal arts college with a 38% admission rate and average SAT of 1422, these outcomes raise serious questions. The debt burden of $21,500 nearly equals first-year earnings, creating immediate financial strain that's particularly concerning for a field where other Massachusetts programs (UMass-Lowell graduates earn $45,000, for instance) show substantially higher starting salaries. While Mount Holyoke's institutional prestige and network may lead to stronger earnings growth over time, the initial financial picture is rough—graduates face significant loan payments on an income barely above the poverty line.

This data represents fewer than 30 graduates, so individual circumstances heavily influence these figures. But even accounting for statistical noise, the gap between these outcomes and both state and national benchmarks is wide enough to warrant serious consideration of whether this particular program—versus Mount Holyoke's other offerings or conservation programs at Massachusetts public universities—makes financial sense for your family.