5 Highest paying Bachelor Degrees

5 Highest Paying Bachelor Degrees of 2012

1) Petroleum Engineering: Since there will always be demand for petroleum and its related products in the market, the demand for professionals in this field will also be high. The average starting salary of petroleum engineers is $93,000 and a median mid-career salary of $157,000 per annum.

2) Chemical Engineering: Chemical engineering largely involves the design, improvement and maintenance of processes involving chemical or biological transformations for large-scale manufacture. It is for this reason role of chemical engineers is specialised and ensure the processes are operated safely and economically. Their starting salary is 64,800 and a median mid-career salary of $108,000.

3) Nuclear Engineering: Another highly specialised field, nuclear engineering is concerned with the application of the breakdown (fission) as well as the fusion of atomic nuclei and/or the application of other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics. The starting salary in this field is $63,900 and rises to $104,000 in mid of your career.

4) Computer Engineering/ Information Technology: Since computers support all other operations, this field is expanding like never before with top recruiters like Google, Microsoft hiring professionals at a very high salary. A computer science graduate gets an average starting salary of $61,200 and a median mid-career salary of $99,500.

5) Electrical Engineering: Electrical engineering graduates can pursue careers in a number of different fields, all dealing with advanced work with electrical power, power systems, electrical equipment and power systems manufacturing, and more. The career scope is immense and starting salary for graduates in this field are $60,800 and a median mid-career salary of $104,000.

As expected, engineering based degrees particularly Commodities Related Engineering are again dominating the best part of the Top 5 list for 2011 as they did in 2010. It is not surprising to see Petroleum, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering graduates bagging the three highest starting salaries as the growth in emerging markets and the demand for energy and materials continue to keep graduates in these fields in very strong demand.