The top 25 highest paying majors — KU has big enrollment growth in some of them
photo by: Nick Krug
Enrollment is up in quite a few engineering programs at the University of Kansas in recent years. Could this be why? (And is it too late for me to change my major?)
Engineering specialties make up 20 of today’s top 25 highest paying majors, according to a recently released list from the higher ed rankings and analysis company College Factual. Some of those specialties are pretty, well, specialized and probably not offered anywhere near KU (ie: mining and mineral engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering and ocean engineering). But many programs are found here.
In KU’s School of Engineering, aerospace, chemical, petroleum, computer, computer science and mechanical engineering majors all have seen notable — in some cases dramatic — jumps in enrollment from five years ago, according to figures from the school. Those are all on this list.
Here are the top 25 highest paying majors as reported by College Factual, with average early career salaries for each major. College Factual calculated the list based on salary estimates made with data from Payscale, and included only graduates with just bachelor’s degrees.
1.Petroleum engineering — $89,000
2.Mining and mineral engineering — $68,500
3.Nuclear engineering — $66,100
4.Naval architecture and marine engineering — $64,500
5.Chemical engineering — $64,200
6.Ocean engineering — $63,200
7.Systems engineering — $63,000
8.Aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering — $61,500
9.Electrical, electronics and communications engineering — $61,400
10.Metallurgical engineering — $60,500
11.Computer engineering — $60,300
12.Materials engineering — $59,800
13.Mechanical engineering — $57,800
14.Industrial engineering — $56,700
15.Biomedical/medical engineering — $56,200
16.Agricultural engineering — $56,100
17.Biochemical engineering — $55,400
18.Environmental/environmental health engineering — $53,900
19.Computer science — $53,800
20.Nursing — $53,300
21.Civil engineering — $52,700
22.Applied mathematics — $52,200
23.Architectural engineering — $51,600
24.Physics — $50,800
25.Mathematics and computer science — $50,800
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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.