Graduates of Celtic Studies have greater life satisfaction than any other university leavers, according to new research.
Students dreaming of a big salary should take degrees in medicine, economics or maths, it found, but graduates who opted to learn Gaelic or sports science, were most fulfilled by their lives, despite being in the bottom ten for earnings.
The University of Glasgow offers a degree in Celtic Studies, where students learn Gaelic, Irish and medieval Welsh, alongside courses on history, culture and onomastics - the study of place names. Graduates often go into teaching, heritage work or careers in museums.
Analysis by PwC of 35 undergraduate degrees, reported in The Times, found that the top five providing a wellbeing premium were Celtic studies, sports studies, medicine and dentistry, pharmacology and medical sciences.
The consultancy analysed data from an annual population survey between 2013 and last year, using findings from about 84,000 graduates on their wellbeing and about 62,000 on their earnings.
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Graduates were asked to rate their wellbeing on a scale of one to ten.
"Of the 35 undergraduate degrees evaluated, 28 degrees had a positive impact on self-reported life satisfaction relative to non-graduates.
"For the courses with the highest life satisfaction effects, this is equivalent to around a 5% boost to life satisfaction for the average person," the report said.
"This provides the same boost to life satisfaction as more than £5000 in additional earnings every year."
Dr Geraldine Parsons, Head of Celtic & Gaelic at the University of Glasgow said: "It’s wonderful to hear of the very high levels of life satisfaction enjoyed by graduates of Celtic Studies.
"Celtic Studies attracts passionate, engaged students with strong investment in their personal, community and other group identities.
"I think that this translates into careers and leisure activities that gives individuals a lot of happiness."
A number of 'high earning' courses had a low, or even negative impact on wellbeing including politics, law and computing.
Medicine and dentistry graduates earn more than twice as much as their non-graduate equivalents with an earning premium of 124%.
The consultancy said that all degrees had a positive impact on earnings and most brought additional satisfaction for graduates, compared with peers who had not gone to university.
Barret Kupelian, chief economist at PwC, said: "Rarely do students pick undergraduate degrees based solely on future earnings.
"Instead, they pursue subjects on a mix of what they are passionate about and what is meaningful to them based on their personal experiences.
"There is no one-size-fits-all all approach to happiness and career satisfaction, but the findings present an opportunity for businesses and employers to reflect on how they can improve their overall employee proposition."
The University of Glasgow has received the most prestigious award in higher education for its 'world-leading' work on Scotland's national poet.
The Queen's Anniversary Prize was awarded to the university for its projects on Robert Burns.
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