Amazing Careers for College Graduates to Earn Big Money

Let’s get it straight. Doctors, engineers, and scientists make the most money – along with professionals in executive roles who are generally MBAs or have Business or Finance qualifications. When it comes to raking in more money, certain majors simply fetch you better career options than others.

Consider this:

Doctors Make the Most Money

Surprisingly, the Top 10 of the Best-Paying Jobs, according to the U.S. News Best Jobs of 2018 rankings, are all related to the medical profession.

Doctors and surgeons have the best median salaries and the least unemployment rate. Top 5 of these are Anesthesiologists, Surgeons, Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and Orthodontists - all of whom earn have a median salary of $208,000 and an unemployment rate of just 0.4-0.5%.

Physicians have a median salary of $196,380; Psychiatrists make $194,740; Pediatricians make $168,990; Dentists make $153,900; and Prosthodontists make $126,050. The unemployment rates of these jobs too is within the half-the-percent limit, except for psychiatrists - out of whom about 1.8% were found to be jobless at the time of the survey.

STEM Jobs are Lucrative too

The good news is that there are several other career options which offer big moolah to college graduates from non-medical streams. There is one catch though. The PayScale's College Salary Report 2017-18 states that the STEM (Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering) majors are the ones who fetch the highest salaries with just a Bachelor's degree in hand:

1. Petroleum Engineers earn the highest – with an annual salary of $94,600 with 0-5 years of work experience and about $175,000 with about a decade of professional experience.
2. Actuarial Mathematics can fetch you $56,400 annually early on and $131,700 in the middle of your career.
3. Actuarial Science can open careers that offer you $61,200 on an average in the beginning but by the time you gain 10 years of experience, you will be making about $130,800 – a bit less than Actuarial Math.
4. Nuclear Engineering offers you an early pay package of $69,000 but the growth is slow and you those who are in the middle of their careers today are making just about $127,500.
5. Chemical Engineering is a good major for those who want to get a higher salary package right in the beginning. As a fresher, you can make about $70,300 as a Chemical Engineer but the mid-career Engineers reported that they are making just about $124,500 per annum.
6. Marine Engineering offers you an attractive package of $73,900 initially but in the middle of the career, you earn almost as much as a Chemical Engineer at $123,200.
7. Economics and Mathematics major lead to careers that offer $60,000 initially which doubles in about ten years – when you make around $122,900.
8. Geophysics related careers offer you just $54,100 initially but you start making $122,200 in about a decade’s time.
9. Cognitive Science, like Geophysics, leads to careers that offer you $54,000 per annum initially but you do start making about $121,900 with ten years of experience to show.
10. Electrical Power Engineering offers a better salary initially at $68,600 but the income growth in the middle of the career is just about $119,100.

Many college graduates from STEM streams accepted that they often make good money as an online tutor or an assignment writing service provider – while they were still doing their programs, in-between jobs, and earning some extra money while they were already doing a primary job related to their fields.

Other Professions with Hefty Salary Packages

The CNNMoney and PayScale.com's list of Best Jobs in America 2017 mentions following careers as the top contenders:

• Auditing Director, who assesses risk for a company and bring about the required changes based on his or her findings,
• IT Security Director, who is responsible for a company's IT policies, designing and managing its network and data, and making the related hiring and purchasing decisions,
• Marketing and Sales Director, who contributes directly to the success and growth of a business,
• Pharmacy Director, who makes and directs plans, policies, and goals of the pharmacy services of a healthcare facility or a hospital, and
• Portfolio Manager, who works with wealthy clients to help them with their investment strategies and personal financial goals.

Professions with Highest Percentage of College Majors

For a Communications major, the Management Consultant, Chief of Staff, and Data Scientist are the highest-paid jobs in the field while the professions related to the field with the highest percentage of majors were Journalism, New Anchoring, and Public Relations Coordination.

Similarly, for a Social Science major, the Executive Producer, Social Media Director, and Director of Public Relations (PR) are the highest-paid jobs in the field while the professions related to the field with the highest percentage of majors were Economists, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analysts, and GIS Specialists.

An Education major may get the highest salary as an Instructional Designer, Corporate Trainer or a Special Education Teacher at a secondary school but the jobs in which they are highest in demand are the Kindergarten teacher, Mathematics teacher, and Physical Education teacher.

Humanities majors make the most money as Proposal Manager, Content Strategist, or Communications Director but many of them end up working as Sign Language Interpreters, Reporters, and Managing Editors.

In Arts, Graphic Designers command the best salaries as Interaction Designers and Creative Directors - closely followed by Interior Designers who work at the positions of Design Director. Industrial Designing and Fashion designing majors are quite in demand too.