Majors That Pay

Very few high school students have a clear idea of what it means to “major” in a subject in college. They can toss around subject areas the most popular of which are psychology, international studies, communications, and business. But if you ask for a connection between major and what it is they want to do after graduation, the responses get a little foggier. And that’s really alright. The vast majority of undergraduates change majors at least once and many change frequently. I changed majors three times (that I can remember), finally settling on English, not because it would get me a job, but more because I had a fair number of credit hours already stacked up in the department and I seemed to like and do well in the classes.

Boy was that a mistake! According to a survey recently released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), I would have been much better off in life sticking with my original major—math. Evidently, the top 15 highest-earning degrees all have one thing in common: math skills. It’s no secret that tech fields are driving salaries, but the results of the NACE survey present quite a compelling picture. Engineering degrees account for 12 of the top-paying majors with petroleum engineering by far the most lucrative degree at an average starting salary of $83,121 (are we rethinking West Virginia University yet?), followed by chemical and mining engineering at $64,902 and $64,404 respectively. Here are the rest of the findings from the NACE survey:

Undergraduate Major	Starting Salary
1. Petroleum Engineering	$83,121
2. Chemical Engineering	$64,902
3. Mining Engineering	$64,404
4. Computer Engineering	$61,738
5. Computer Science	$61,407
6. Electrical Engineering	$60,125
7. Mechanical Engineering	$58,766
8. Industrial Engineering	$58,358
9. Systems Engineering	$57,438
10. Engineering Technology	$56,447
11. Actuarial Science	$56,320
12. Aeronautical Engineering	$56,311
13. Agricultural Engineering	$54,352
14. Biomedical Engineering	$54,158
15. Construction Management	$53,199

This data confirms findings released by PayScale, which conducted a less rigorous but equally math-dominated study of degrees that pay:

Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary	Starting Median Salary	Mid-Career Median
Aerospace Engineering	$59,600	$109,000
Chemical Engineering	$65,700	$107,000
Computer Engineering	$61,700	$105,000
Electrical Engineering	$60,200	$102,000
Economics	$50,200	$101,000
Physics	$51,100	$98,800
Mechanical Engineering	$58,900	$98,300
Computer Science	$56,400	$97,400
Industrial Engineering	$57,100	$95,000
Environmental Engineering	$53,400	$94,500
Statistics	$48,600	$94,500
Biochemistry	$41,700	$94,200
Mathematics	$47,000	$93,600
Civil Engineering	$55,100	$93,000
Construction Management	$53,400	$89,600
Finance	$48,500	$89,400
Management Information Systems	$51,900	$87,200
Computing and Information Systems	$50,900	$86,700
Geology	$45,100	$84,200
Chemistry	$42,900	$82,300

PayScale puts English at #47, after history and landscape architecture, with a starting salary about 40% that of chemical engineering. And sadly, both studies agree that social work comes in dirt last in the salary race.