Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities at Wellesley College

When peer programs in Massachusetts place liberal arts graduates around $39,000 in their first year—not far from the national median—the question becomes whether Wellesley's considerable selectivity translates to better outcomes than these estimates suggest. With an admission rate of 14% and average SAT scores over 1500, this is an entirely different caliber of institution than the typical liberal arts program used to generate these state-level estimates.

The estimated debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.68 looks manageable on paper, tracking closely with both state and national medians for the field. But context matters: MIT's liberal arts graduates in Massachusetts earn $103,000 their first year out, and even less selective schools like Regis and Endicott are placing graduates well above $45,000. Wellesley's highly competitive student body likely produces outcomes closer to these higher performers than to the state median figure derived from a mix of institutions.

The core challenge here is that you're evaluating a highly selective women's college using earnings data drawn from the broader Massachusetts market—a market that includes community colleges and regional state universities. Wellesley's actual graduate outcomes are suppressed because too few students complete this particular major, not because the school fails to track them. Given the institution's strong reputation and selective student body, actual earnings likely exceed these peer-program estimates, but without hard data, you're making an educated guess about how much of a premium Wellesley's network and credentials command.