The Highest Paying Majors (and Schools)

Walla Walla Unilversity

Walla Walla Unilversity

HIGHEST-PAID GRADS HAPPY WITH THEIR ALMA MATERS

As with majors, alma maters have little to do with finding meaning at work. For example, bachelor’s degree holders from the Medical University of South Carolina were seemingly the happiest. Despite earning $67,900 – ranking 711th in mid-career income – 92% found meaning in their work. Similarly, 90% of graduates from Baton Rouge’s Southern University and A&M College considered their work meaningful, even though they made $81,100 by mid-career (320th). In fact, among those school graduates with the highest rates of meaning, just two – Walla Walla University and the University of Texas-Medical Branch – ranked in the top 200 for mid career median income for graduates who only held bachelor’s degrees (with Walla Walla grads earning the most at $91,200).

Although some of the lowest-paying majors yield the happiest grads, that trend doesn’t necessarily translate with alma maters. Among the schools with the 20 highest-paid graduates by mid-career, 16 had meaning rates at 50% or above. When it comes to mid-career pay, the top eight schools all yielded graduates who found meaning in their work by a 55% margin or higher. However, there are exceptions. At Massachusetts’ Babson College, long-known as an entrepreneurial Mecca where graduates earn $121,000 by mid-career, just 30% found meaning in their work.

This salary data is derived from PayScale’s global salary survey, which collects compensation, demographic and educational backgrounds from professionals who visit the company’s website. It features salary data for 319 majors over 1,034 colleges and universities.

To see the highest-paying business undergraduate programs, click here.

To see pay at other top undergraduate programs, go to the next page. 

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