According to CNBC, graduates with a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering earned the highest average starting salary. Petroleum engineers earned $86,220 on average after finishing school--$20,000 more than the next highest-paying job. Petroleum engineers help oil companies extract petroleum from beneath the Earth's surface. Other top-paying professions include mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers. Companies pay engineering graduates high starting salaries because these employees can design and build solutions to their problems.
Although engineering degrees are the most useful for obtaining a high starting salary, accounting is the degree most in-demand, according to CNBC. Part of the reason why accountants are in such high demand is that almost every company requires an accountant to keep track of its expenses and revenue. Accountants can work for large Fortune 500 companies, or they can help individuals with their personal finances. With an average starting salary of around $48,000, accountants also earn a lot right out of college.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the top five universities in 2010 were Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Caltech, and MIT. Graduates with degrees from these schools have a proven track record of success in finding jobs. As a result, a degree from one of them is often more useful and versatile than the same degree from a less prestigious institution.
In 2009, U.S. News and World Report created a list of the 30 best careers. More than one-third required some type of health care degree---whether in nursing, physical therapy, psychology, or other health care fields. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals not only save and improve patient's lives, their jobs will remain in high demand because of an expanding health care system that must serve the large number of aging baby boomers.