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title: These Are the Bachelor's Degrees With the Highest Starting Salaries
description: Looking to make big bucks right out of your ivory tower? You'll want to consider a career in engineering.
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![student working at computer](https://img.money.com/2015/10/151019_coll_bachelorhighestsalary.jpg)

Interested in a career that will pay for your college degree as quickly as possible? Then (sorry, psychology majors) you might want to consider engineering or computer science.

Those are the rather unsurprising results of [Michigan State University’s Recruiting Trends](http://www.ceri.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Recruiting-Trends-Brief-3-Starting-Salaries-10-10-15.pdf) report, the largest annual survey of employers on that topic. The report collected data from more than 4,730 businesses hiring graduates nationwide on their recruiting and new hire practices (other data points include the bachelor's degrees with the lowest starting salaries and the most [hirable career fields for new grads](https://money.com/industries-hiring-college-graduates/)).

Also of interest from the findings, 61% of employers reported that starting salaries will remain the same as last year despite increased competition for top talent. Of the 39% of employers saying they will increase starting salaries, the average bump will be 4.7% (the median is 3%, while the most common increase will be 2%). Fifteen percent of employers plan to increase starting salaries by more than 10%.

The salaries reflect base salaries only and do not include signing bonuses, commissions, housing and moving allowances, or other hiring incentives.

***Read next: 10 Great Colleges for Business Majors***

**15 Bachelor's Degrees With the Highest Average Starting Salaries:**

1.  Chemical engineering — $63,389
2.  Computer engineering — $63,313
3.  Electrical engineering — $61,173
4.  Software design — $60,104
5.  Mechanical engineering — $59,681
6.  Computer programming — $58,995
7.  Computer science — $56,974
8.  Civil engineering — $55,879
9.  All technical (IT, engineering, computer science) — $55,465
10.  Management information systems — $51,690
11.  Construction — $49,672
12.  Finance — $48,785
13.  Accounting — $47,834
14.  All business — $47,459
15.  Supply chain — $47,147

*If you're looking for a great college, check out the new [Money College Planner](https://money.com/best-colleges/) website and our [Find Your Fit](https://money.com/best-colleges/) tool, which lets you search for schools by major and other criteria that are important to you.*

**Read Next:** [Bachelor's Degrees with the Lowest Starting Salaries](https://money.com/bachelors-degrees-lowest-starting-salary-2015/)

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