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The College Majors Graduates Wish They'd Skipped

People pick a major because they're drawn to the subject. What ZipRecruiter's Job Seeker Confidence Survey found is that the feeling doesn't always survive cont

Akhyari Hananto

July 4, 2026 7:44 PM GMT+7

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Data Sources

ZipRecruiter, "The Most Regretted and Most Loved College Majors" (2022) CNBC, "The top 10 most-regretted college majors" (Nov 2022) CBS News, "College majors new grads regret the most" (2026) American Council of Trustees and Alumni, via USA Today (Aug 2024)

People pick a major because they're drawn to the subject. What ZipRecruiter's Job Seeker Confidence Survey found is that the feeling doesn't always survive contact with the job market. The company polled 1,500 job-seeking graduates and asked a simple question: if you could go back, would you choose the same field again?

Overall, 44% of college-degree holders currently looking for work said no, they'd pick something else. But regret wasn't spread evenly. It clustered hard around a small group of majors, and journalism sat at the very top.

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