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These are the degrees you should have studied to become stinking rich

By Marc Chacksfield

15 June 2015

"Study something you enjoy", said the career adviser.

"University is much more than a degree," said the teacher.

What do you expect from a generation of professionals who didn't have to pay a penny in tuition fees? We can only imagine the shift in UCAS applications if students were given the research results data site Emolument.com before filling out their forms.

The money-minded study has sifted through Emolument.com's members to compile a list of degrees with the highest financial return within five years of graduating.

The results found that students looking for a quick, fat pay check should be looking towards an economic degree, with graduates earning as much as £45,000 within five years of graduating. No surprises in second, with law graduates handing over their social lives in return for an average figure of £42,000.

Things only change subtly after a 15-year-long career, with economics students pulling in around £125k. Which is a ridiculous amount of money.

Sure, enjoying a subject can be crucial if you're looking to win on the ol' happiness front - but nonetheless you might have preferred slogging through three years of numbers instead if you'd known your fine arts degree was going to give you a lower salary than the majority of jobs that don't even require a degree qualification...

Here's the top 14 courses that'll make you into a trillionaire. Unless you're feeling lucky and fancy just dropping out all together and forming the next Microsoft on your own terms...