10 Highest Paying Graduate Degrees

10 Highest Paying Graduate Degrees

If you are considering pursuing your graduate degree, we feel safe in guessing that a lot of your focus is on selecting a program that you are passionate about. We think this is great. We love to work with graduate students who are passionate and fired-up about the research and work that they are doing now, and who are excited about their future careers. We would never advise a student to pursue a path that they would find dissatisfying or boring. On the other hand, when students make decisions about their futures, we want them to have all of the best available information. One piece of information that we feel is extremely important is the earnings potential students can expect to have if they pursue a particular degree. So, we did a bit of research and found the ten best paying graduate degrees that students are pursuing today. If you are interested in learning the graduate degrees that pay off, read on.

Biomedical Engineering – PhD

Biomedical engineers design and develop medical devices and products. This includes robotics for surgery, prosthetic limbs, artificial organs, monitoring devices, medication delivery devices, radiation technology, and much more. These individuals work directly with physicians, in research labs, or in product development and research. If you pursue this degree, you could make up to 130 thousand dollars annually.

Petroleum Engineer – Masters

Petroleum engineers are the people who are responsible for getting fossil fuels from under the ground or beneath the ocean floor. It is their job to design both equipment and methodologies that get this job done inexpensively, safely, and quickly. This is a demanding job, but if you decide to pursue a degree in this field, the median pay is 130 thousand dollars per year.

Nurse Anesthetist – Masters

A nurse anesthetist administers anesthesia and monitors the patient before during and after surgical procedures. This is extremely specialized and demanding work, but those who choose this field are well rewarded with salaries at around 100 thousand per year.

Computer Engineering – PhD

Computer engineers, design, improve, and test computer equipment and peripherals. Growth in this field is not extremely high, but many students will find the potential income of 100 thousand per year worth the extra job search effort.

Finance and Real Estate – MBA

Real estate investment has and continues to be an industry that is fast paced. Individuals with graduate degrees in finance who specialize in the world of real estate can realistically plan to enter the work force with a median salary of more than 90 thousand per year.

Chemical Engineering – Masters

Chemical engineers work in a wide variety of industries including food, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and manufacturing. Essentially, anywhere chemicals are involved in the creation of a product, a chemical engineer is involved. The median salary  of this degree is about 95 thousand.

Mechanical Engineering – Masters

Mechanical engineers design mechanical devices ranging from race car engines to industrial sized HVAC systems. If you get your masters in this field, you might earn around 80 thousand dollars per year.

Physicians Assistant Studies – Masters

A Physicians Assistant examines, diagnoses, and prescribes treatments for patients who are ill or injured. They are often used when a hospital or other medical facility believes that physicians are better used when dedicated to high profile or extremely complex cases. A PA can earn close to 100 thousand per year.

Biostatistics – PhD

An individual with a degree in biostatistics, collects medical data, analyzes it, and provides the results of their analysis to those who can use it. Biostatisticians work for universities, research facilities, and government agencies. It is not unheard of to earn a starting salary of around 75 thousand per year.

Law - JD

Lawyer's salaries vary widely depending on specialty and geographic location. Still, the median pay for a lawyer is over 100 thousand dollars per year. That's not too shabby a career.