Not all master’s degrees are created equal. When it comes to future employability and earnings power, surely engineering will trump basket weaving. Still, it can be a tough call. Given a wide-open field and varied personal interests, which master’s degrees will prove the best investment?
Business Insider offers a starting point, with a formula that weighs the relative merits of different degrees. It’s simple: How much more would you make with a master’s degree than a bachelor’s degree? And what’s the unemployment situation in your field? Together, those two factors offer a thumbnail picture of which master’s degrees offer the best bang for the buck.
To be clear: These aren’t necessarily the highest paying career paths; rather, they’re the ones in which a master’s will pay the biggest dividends as a stepping stone on the path.
The degrees are:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Elementary education
- General science
- Special needs education
- International relations
- Area ethnic and civilization studies
- Engineering
- History
- Philosophy and religious studies
For those pondering their own best bet in the realm of higher ed., here’s some top-notch advice from career gurus, academicians and fellow veterans on finding the program with the greatest personal and professional value.
Value meets requirements
For Matt Hayes, the master’s degree in general science was a must-have.
A former petty officer first class, Hayes left the Navy in 2007 after six years’ service as a nuclear machinist’s mate. In the spring of 2014, he earned a general science degree with an emphasis in technical studies from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey.
He has since gone to work as a radiation protection manager at the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company — a job he could not have gotten without the degree.
“There are requirements and regulations in this industry that describe the academic level needed to hold certain positions in a nuclear power plant,” he said. “It’s not just preferred by HR: There are actual federal regulations that require the degrees you have to have.”
Value meets personal goals
The most valuable master’s degree is the one that will further your personal goals. “A useful degree is one that helps you get a job you want, one that you would not otherwise be able to get,” said Todd Connor, a co-founder of coaching firm Flank 5 Academy.
The former Navy lieutenant insists that the value of a master’s degree is often exaggerated, with skills outweighing diplomas in the job hunt in many career fields. “People dramatically overestimate the necessity of getting a master’s degree in terms of getting a job,” Connor said.
A valuable program doesn’t just convey a piece of paper; it helps you to fulfill a specific personal ambition, he added. “Don’t get a master’s degree unless you know exactly what you want to do.”
Value gives you street cred
There was no way Ian Nelk was going to be able to function in his present job without a master’s degree. Academicians share a common language, a way of thinking and speaking, that he had to acquire in order to succeed.
Nelk, who served as an Army National Guard infantry specialist from 2001 to 2007, earned a master’s degree in early modern European history from Eastern Illinois University in 2012. As a managing editor at Common Ground Publishing, he puts that degree to work every day in conversations with the academic writers who pen the bulk of his books.
“I work with 24 different academic communities ranging from the arts to the humanities to social science,” he said.
An undergraduate usually acquires just a bare-bones idea of what academia is. But with a master’s, “you just get this huge background in how this world works,” Nelk said. “Without this, I would have no idea what everybody is talking about.”
Value makes contacts
In seeking out master’s degree options, one thing to consider is the company you’ll keep. Some of the greatest value in the advanced degree lies in the people you will sit beside in the classroom, said JR (Jerome) Richardson, director of Bellevue University’s Military Veterans Service Center.
“You will be working with professionals,” Richardson said. “The student on the right and the student on the left are usually in leadership roles. They may come from two different industries with different practical skill sets that you can draw from.”
That personal contact with civilian leaders can help open professional doors. “This may seem like a simple thing, but military people do not tend to network. We don’t share information with people who don’t have a need to know. We are a little tight-lipped even in normal conversation,” Richardson said. “Now you are working with individuals who typically have some proven success, and that puts you in a position to start networking with business owners and with hiring managers. These are your classmates.”
Having real-world peers in the classroom can also help veterans overcome the perennial challenge of translating military work into civilian credentials. “By working on a master’s degree alongside experienced professionals, it enables a military person to take their military experience — their leadership as well as their hard skills — and to translate those skills into the civilian verbiage, the civilian terminology.”
The value proposition? Look for a program that gives you access to civilian leaders in the field.
Value gets it done
The ultimate value of a master’s degree lies in whether it will land you a job. The easiest way to assess this, Connor said, is to ask.
“I make each of my clients go and talk to an employer who could, in theory, hire them to do that particular job. If the employer says, ‘I would hire if only you have this advanced degree,’ then I tell them to go and get that degree,” he said.
To determine the career value of that degree, hit the pavement and see what employers think — not in a theoretical way but directly, Connor said. “Put it plainly: Do you think this is worth my while?”
In these careers, according to Business Insider, the answer likely is yes:
1. Biology
- Experienced college grad earnings: $57,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $90,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 5.1%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 1.7%
2. Chemistry
- Experienced college grad earnings: $65,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $99,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 5.6%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 2.4%
3. Elementary education
- Experienced college grad earnings: $41,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $55,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 3.7%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 1.4%
4. General science
- Experienced college grad earnings: $56,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $83,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 3.9%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 2.3%
5. Special needs education
- Experienced college grad earnings: $45,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $58,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 4.5%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 1.9%
6. International relations
- Experienced college grad earnings: $68,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $95,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 6.8%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 3.7%
7. Area ethnic and civilization studies
- Experienced college grad earnings: $55,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $73,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 7.2%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 3.9%
8. General engineering
- Experienced college grad earnings: $77,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $98,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 4.8%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 2.3%
9. History
- Experienced college grad earnings: $55,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $76,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 5.8%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 3.7%
10. Philosophy and religious studies
- Experienced college grad earnings: $48,000
- Graduate degree-holder earnings: $62,000
- Experienced college grad unemployment: 7.3%
- Graduate degree-holder unemployment: 4.0%
