There are many reasons why people decide to attend graduate schools, including earning more money, have an improved career, and learning further, to mention just some few of these.
For many students, getting an advanced degree can be a major debt – an enormous burden, especially if they’ve got an outstanding student loan from their college years.
In addition, earning an advanced degree may not always provide a lucrative payback. Sure, it’s certain that you increase your chances of obtaining an excellent job, but it’s not worth your time and effort when you’re going to use the bulk of your income to pay back thousands of dollars in the loan you took out.
Additionally, you must be aware that your area of expertise may not be important for a while. These are the areas with the highest return on investment.
Note that both masters and doctoral degrees are taken into consideration for the purposes of this article. Moreover, while the doctoral degree in these fields has higher payoffs, but their masters counterparts are also significant.
Engineering
We are consistently looking for ways to improve our standard of living constantly makes engineers highly sought-after and the chances of securing the perfect job are high.
According to the data provided by Payscale, various areas of engineering comprise the top 9 spots of the highest paying jobs available to those who have just an engineering bachelor’s degree. In master’s degree program, five different engineering fields make the top spot in the top 10.
The possession of a masters degree or doctorate in engineering will increase your worth by between $10k and $20k. In addition to the huge payoff, having a doctorate can also significantly increase the chances of obtaining management positions for the projects you undertake.
Electrical, computer, petroleum and biomedical, chemical and petroleum are among the top areas of engineering that pay the highest mid-career and early pay for those with graduate degrees.
Business and Marketing
Marketing and business strategies are two of the main components of every business, therefore those with an extensive knowledge of these fields always stand out from the crowd.
Related fields such as Marketing, Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Management Economics, Computer science and Finance create some of the highest-paying jobs, with the median mid-career income around 125-145K.
It is interesting to observe that the data indicates significantly lower salaries for early career workers – ranging from (60-90K) These are significant gains that are derived from experience in the workplace.
This is an excellent illustration of a subject where an advanced degree can make an enormous difference to your worth; median wages for various fields of marketing and business for people with an undergraduate degree are between 38-60k (both for those in the early and mid-career stages).
There are a variety of jobs available in these fields, therefore it’s safe and lucrative.
Sciences
The graduate degree is essential if you want to plan to lead the way for the research conducted in your discipline. The only drawback is that you need to complete a doctoral degree (not only those who have a master’s degree) in the field of science to earn the highest amount of reward.
However, because you’ll become an authority in your particular area, the odds of landing a top job will be very higher. Another advantage of working in this field is that it offers some of the most lucrative beginning-career wages compared to other fields. Average is approximately (80-90K).
Different areas of computer science, physics, and chemical are particularly well-suited to the realm of science.
Various
Mathematicians who have an advanced degree are among the people who are the least unemployed in the country, since nearly every science and technology-related firms require their knowledge.
The combination of a bachelor’s degree in math as well as getting a master’s degree in a specific field in the field of engineering or sciences can greatly increase the value of your education.
Accounting
The primary reason for having an accounting degree from a graduate school is to help you be noticed by the massive competition, and to earn more money from it.
There is a severe deficit of accountants in universities, and a lot of colleges with decent programs will offer well over $120,000 per year for professors who are just starting out.
Nurse Anesthesia
This is the highest-paid degree at second in the Payscale list, and is the top early-career salary ($140K). A skilled Nurse Anesthetic could earn anywhere from 150-200K.
The greatest benefit of this type of program is that many institutions offer tuition at a competitive rate, and many have created incredible programs that allow you to take on the job as a student in exchange for tuition-free too.
Juris Doctorate (+MBA)
Achieving a standard Law degree to higher level significantly increases the chances of earning huge dollars. Combining your law degree along with a different degree will make you be more flexible and reduces the burden of pursuing the two separately. Most programs are packaged to last for 3 years.
This is, however, an extremely difficult task to undertake and should only be pursued by those who are willing to devote their entire life to this goal.
There is no reason to feel disappointed when your preferred area isn’t mentioned in this article. These are the most prestigious of them all, as well as there is a greater demand for people who are educated in the sciences and technology fields.
We suggest you look through the complete list of Graduate Degrees based on Salary potential as measured by Payscale to find out the places your choices fall, and perhaps you can discover a better choice.