ZipRecruiter report finds one in five recent grads regret their major

One in five recent graduates now regret the major they chose, and the pain is concentrated in fields where the labor market looks weakest. In ZipRecruiter’s 2026 annual grad report, political science, international relations and public policy had the highest regret rate at 46.3%, while communications, media studies and public relations followed at 39.2%. About one-third of physical sciences majors also said they had doubts.

The numbers point to a tightening first job market that is forcing students to measure college more like an investment. ZipRecruiter said 77.2% of recent graduates still landed a role within three months of graduating, but that success is coming in a harder environment: entry-level postings have shrunk as a share of available jobs and drawn more competition. CBS News reported that entry-level roles made up 38.6% of ZipRecruiter postings as of March 1, down from 43.4% two years earlier.

The mismatch between study and payoff is showing up before graduation, not just after. ZipRecruiter found that 9.8% of rising graduates changed their major because of economic conditions, compared with 4.8% of recent grads, a sign that salary anxiety is intensifying in real time. In the same survey, only one in four graduates said they were on their dream career path, underscoring how many are settling for work that does not match the expectations attached to their degree.

The report’s labor-market logic is clearest in the majors that pay and place well. Nursing led in pay and job placement, while lower-paying or less marketable degrees were more likely to produce regret. CBS News also reported that some majors, including public health and health administration, saw starting pay 43.8% below expectations, a gap that matters in health care fields where students often take on substantial debt for a public service career.

The broader policy question is whether college is still delivering the value students were promised. The Federal Reserve has found that younger adults are less positive about the value of higher education than older adults, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated the return to college for the median graduate at 12.5% in 2024. ZipRecruiter’s survey, conducted with PureSpectrum between January 30 and March 16, 2026, included 1,500 recent graduates from the class of 2025 and 1,500 rising graduates expected to finish within 6 to 12 months. The message is blunt: majors with weak job-market alignment are carrying more of the burden as graduates confront a tougher entry-level economy.