Money is considered by many to be “the root of all evil.” To some, money is not the major factor when it comes to choosing a career. But to others, it’s the first aspect to be considered. It is also the reason most students choose to spend four or more years in college.
Due to a yearly increase in the cost of living and the world’s common interest for certain things to change on a daily basis, job salaries vary each year, causing the list of highest paying college majors to be changed as well.
All students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering are virtually guaranteed to land a job that promises a high starting salary.
According to survey data gathered by PayScale, petroleum engineering is the highest paying major which has a 100 percent job placement with a yearly salary starting at $89,000 and a mid-career, after 15 years, salary of $159,900.
“Though we do not offer the major at U of M, the best school to go to for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas at Austin,” civil engineering PhD. graduate student Maniat Mohsen said. “It requires a lot of knowledge and (the United States), specifically Texas, has the best resources for petroleum.”
The University of Memphis does offer civil engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering and engineering technology which all have a starting salary of $53,000 or more.
“Calculus is the language of engineering,” Deborah Hochstein, associate dean for academic affairs, said. “It is a very demanding and difficult degree to get. There is a lot of time the students have to spend doing work outside the class. If you want to party-hardy, you probably won’t make it in this field because [our students] hit the books hard.”
Mathematics and computer science ranks second as the highest paying major with an average starting salary of $53,800.
“I can understand why having an educational understanding of computers would make people a lot of money, I mean look at the way technology is rapidly advancing,” computer science professor Adiba Ghuson said. “I’m pretty sure the job placement for this major will be at 100% in the next few years.”
Nursing ranks third on the list with an average starting salary of $53,300. Because of the shortage of nurses in the United States, there is a high demand for registered nurses and employment will grow nineteen percent through the year 2022, according to allnursingschools.com.
Applied mathematics ranks fourth with an estimated starting salary of $52,200 and a mid-year salary of $101,850. Because math is a universal language and a subject the world will always need, the job outlook is rapidly increasing.
NASA, the Department of Defense and small science firms are great careers to lead into for students majoring in physics, which ranks fifth on the list. The average starting salary is $50,800 with a mid-year salary of $90,500.
“I’m from the Middle East and engineering jobs over there are the top. I thought here in the U.S., business and management degrees were the highest paid,” Mohsen said.
Though it is common to believe students pursuing a career in business or management will top the list of the highest paying major, management information systems (MIS) is ranked at number six with an average salary of $49,600.
“Students in this major will learn how to set-up, run and manage information systems, network and storage for businesses and other large companies or organizations,” according to USA Today.
Construction management ranks seventh with an average starting salary of $49,200 and a mid-career salary of $83,300.
Computer information system (CIS) ranks eighth on the list with an average starting salary of $49,000 and a mid-career salary of $85,900.
Mathematics and statistics ranks ninth with an average starting salary of $48,900 and a mid-career salary of $99,800.
Computer programming ranks tenth with an average starting salary of $48,000 and a mid-career salary of $89,600.
