Technical degrees dominated the highest-paid majors lists for class of 2015 bachelor’s and master’s degree graduates, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Mechatronics engineering ranked as the highest-paid college major for this year’s bachelor’s degree grads.
Overall, the top salaries were loftier for class of 2015 bachelor’s degree graduates than they were for the previous college class. Seven class of 2015 majors had an average starting salary that topped $70,000, while the class of 2014 had just one.
The top salaries for Class of 2015 bachelor’s degree majors:
- Mechatronics engineering: $80,859
- Computer science: $75,191
- Petroleum engineering: $74,996
- Operations research: $73,339
- Environmental control technology: $71,443
- Applied mathematics: $70,868
- Homeland security: $70,278
- Computer engineering: $68,820
- Aerospace engineering: $67,658
- Electrical engineering: $67,593
Among Class of 2015 master’s degree graduates, medical informatics and illustration majors were the top earners. The top salaries for Class of 2015 master’s degree majors:
- Medical informatics and illustration: $125,769
- Bioethics: $117,199
- Applied mathematics: $113,001
- Computational science: $112,905
- Biomathematics: $109,060
- Computer systems networking and telecommunications: $106,088
- Systems engineering: $102,840
- Telecommunications management: $97,700
- Health administration: $93,333
- Materials engineering: $91,863
A total of 279 colleges and universities nationwide, representing nearly half a million graduates, provided data for class of 2015 associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree graduates. Overall, data were reported for nearly 244,000 bachelor’s degree graduates in 34 broad disciplines and 185 majors.
