Area Studies at University of California-Davis

UC Davis's Area Studies program shows wildly different outcomes depending on when you measure—and that volatility should concern you. Fresh graduates earn just $21,527 (bottom 5th percentile nationally), well below even California's state median of $27,692. By year four, earnings jump to $44,722, but the small sample size (under 30 graduates) makes it hard to know if this pattern is reliable or reflects a handful of outliers who found their footing.

The debt picture offers some reassurance: at $14,167, it's below both state and national medians, giving graduates room to recover from that difficult first year. That 0.66 debt-to-earnings ratio isn't alarming in isolation, but becomes more troubling given how far this program lags behind UC Berkeley ($50,728 first-year earnings) and even most Cal State campuses. You're paying UC tuition and prestige for outcomes that start worse than nearly every comparable program in California.

The dramatic 108% earnings growth suggests graduates eventually find careers that value their interdisciplinary training. But that first year matters—it's when student loan payments begin. Given the tiny sample and bottom-tier starting salaries, this program carries real risk. If your child needs reliable early earnings to manage debt or living costs, other Area Studies programs in California offer safer bets, even if the four-year numbers eventually catch up.