Which of those graduate-level degrees are worth the hefty pricetag? As part of their 2015 – 2016 College Salary Report, Payscale.com combed data for more than 200 graduate-level degrees and ranked them according to the mid-career salaries of college graduates holding those degrees.
Though the lists of the best-paying bachelor’s and associate’s degrees were packed with degrees in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math, the list of the best-paying master’s degrees is even more so, and is described by the accompanying report as “a parade of other STEM subjects.”
At the top of this ranking is Petroleum Engineering, which also took first place among the Bachelor’s Degrees with the Highest Earning Potential. Careers associated with this degree, described by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as belonging to those who “design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the earth’s surface,” pay early career wages of $96,500 and mid-career wages of $173,000.
Of note, those who hold bachelor’s degrees in Petroleum Engineering actually earn slightly higher wages in the early career–just over $100,000–than those with a master’s degree. By mid-career that discrepancy is reversed, but only to the slight advantage of those with master’s degrees, who outearn those with a bachelor’s by $5,000.
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Further down the list a wealth of engineering-focused degrees–including Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Engineering Management– as well as degrees in Applied Mathematics, Finance, and Human Computer Interaction all make the cut with mid-career wages between $115,000 and $125,000.
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