Majoring in whatever you love to do will almost always gain you the highest return of interest emotionally. Fiscally, however, it may be a different story. OnlineDegrees.org compiled data using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and a disinterested survey panel to come up with a list of college majors with the highest return of interest, organized by educational degrees held by employed individuals.
Generally, according to this information, the more expensive an education is the less of a return of investment it shows. However, this study uses data which contains, but does not account for many individual variables such as length of time a given degree might have taken to get and extra expenses incurred, reported wages, economy, position availability and geography, all of which may affect these results. For the purpose of this study they calculated the approximate cost for an Associate's Degree to be $5,000, a Bachelor's Degree $110,000, a Master's Degree $160,000 and a Doctorate Degree $250,000. Of course, these prices will vary widely according to which school a student chooses to attend, when they attend or had attended, and how much financial aid was available to them.
Associate’s Degrees:
The major with the highest return of interest for someone holding an associate’s degree was Nuclear Engineering with a median salary of $75,649.60 and ROI of 31,797%. The second highest was Medicine with a median salary of $67,639.94 and ROI of 26,073%, followed by Information Technology with a median salary of $51,083.46 and ROI of 19,547%, Electrical Engineering with a median salary of $53,472.30 and ROI of 19,213%; and lastly Mechanical Engineering with a median salary of $46,766.16 and a ROI of 18,284%.
Bachelor’s Degrees
For people holding a bachelor’s degree the major with the highest return of interest was Aerospace Engineering with a median pay of $103,181.12 and ROI of 1,869%, followed by Aviation with a median pay of $123,228.48 and ROI of 1,845%; Computer Engineering with a median pay of $101,710.99 and ROI of 1,778%; Nuclear Engineering with a median pay of $87,380.80 and ROI of 1,725%; and Business Administration with a median pay of $102,455.84 and ROI of 1,604%.
Master’s Degrees
For those holding a masters degree the major with the highest return of interest was Geology with a median pay of $74,785.88 and ROI of 871%, followed by Nursing with a median pay of $70,491.21 and ROI of 800%; Public Health with a median pay of $60,046.64 and ROI of 680%; Business Administration and a median pay of $64,925.28 and ROI of 679%; and Biology with a median pay of $59,237.40 and ROI of 612%.
Doctorate Degrees
For those with a doctorate degree the major with the highest return of investment was Dentistry with a median pay of $94,397.60 and ROI of 877%, followed by Optometry and a median pay of $92,270.60 and ROI of 654%; Law with a median pay of $101,400.00 and ROI of 577%; Veterinary Medicine with a median pay of $71,049.34 and ROI of 548%; and Medicine with a median pay of $98,399.47 and ROI of 466%.
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