Computer science degrees were supposed to be the safe bet. For a decade, every career counsellor, every worried parent, every breathless LinkedIn post said the same thing: learn to code and you'll always have a job.
Last year, students stopped believing it.
A Goldman Sachs analysis published this week found enrolment in computer science and computer programming majors each fell by more than 10% in the 2025–26 academic year. Healthcare and engineering surged roughly 3% on average over the same period. What makes this more than a blip in university admissions data is the timing: prior to 2024–25, no such pattern existed. The shift is statistically significant, and it is new. Goldman's analysis didn't stop at enrolment figures. It mapped where graduates from more than 180 majors actually end up working, then weighted each occupation's exposure to AI automation. The results form a hierarchy of risk — and students, it turns out, have been reading it.
