<p>I had this in another section of the forum, but after it didn't get any good responses I decided to try here (since my other thread has gotten such awesome responses :) ). </p>
<p>I've been looking at a lot of job openings in the area recently, just to get an idea of what kind of degrees employers are looking for and what kind of salaries are out there. A good majority of what I'm finding requires a bachelors degree, and these jobs are paying less than what I make now. I realize that these are starting salaries, but do they take larger increases as seniority adds up? I'm topped out and make about $36,000 a year with really good benefits, for those interested.</p>
<p>The best "value-for-dollar" these days, in my opinion, is in nursing. A two-year degree from a community college and, in most places, you'll start at a minimum of $45-50k. Depending on the area, with a bit of experience, it can go significantly higher than that. In our community, we've had folks who were laid off from the logging industry and a large brewery that closed get retrained as nurses, and they are all well-employed. </p>
<p>Four-year degreed accountants (not CPAs) seem to start around here at $50-55k.</p>
<p>Good point, mini. The U I work at has a program that awards a masters degree in nursing after 16 months, designed for students entering with bachelor's degrees in other, unrelated subjects. Specifically designed in response to the nursing shortage! Living in an area with a lot of medical device companies, I can also report that they hire a lot of folks with nursing degrees - in roles other than, well, nursing.</p>
<p>I think the most lucrative jobs are still in computers/electronics industry. Most starting jobs in Silicon Valley pays around $50K - $60K for BS, $55K - $65K for MS, and $60K - $75K for PHD. The salary ranges are very high with experience and in 10 years you can look at $125K - $150K. Very skilled or talented engineers make upward of $175K easily as base pay.
Stock options are standard and ESPP pays at least 15% on the maximum 10% you can deduct on 6 months basis.
401K and Health benefits are standard. Work hours are long but flexible.</p>
<p>But if you are from the top 10 colleges with BS and MBA, you can join the big stock brokerage companies with starting salaries over $100K.
Colleges that qualify under this are
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Columbia, U Penn, Duke, JHU
The degrees that qualify generally are CS/EECS/Engg/Math/Physics with minor in Finance or MBA.</p>
<p>That is another reason to get into a top school.</p>
<p>When I took my first job out of grad school, I took a cut in income from my waitress tips/GI Bill combo. But, three years later my salary had tripled--same firm. That firm started people low, trained them, and then paid up to keep those they liked. Those washed out were still hired away at big increases by other firms who didn't have an in-house training program. I don't think starting salaries are the metric I would care most about if my goal were to maximize life time earnings.</p>
<p>Also, the people around here who make the big money are not the doctors, lawyers, engineers, or bankers. They are the people in sales. For example, the dad who showed up to one of his son's soccer scrimmages in a helicopter is a wholesale supplier of video games (or something along those lines). Medical equipment sales also seems to be a lucrative field for some.</p>
<p>It is not questionable that you can make big money in almost any profession but OP question was which degrees can provide you fast and most lucrative jobs.
So the answer to it is High Tech or Finance. Medical and Law require rigor and have a large startup period.
That is why the San Jose median income is the highest in US since 1990.</p>
<p>I don't agree entirely with ParentofIvyHope....his situation is quite different in that he is much older with solid work experience than a 21 year old with zero or minimal work experience. He needs to look at paraprofessional or courses of study that lead to specific jobs...the type of jobs as Mini and others have pointed out - building inspectors, mechanical inspectors, etc. require a 4 year degree these days but the pay scale tops out much higher than the OPs current job. Nursing, surgical technicians, labs, physical therapists, etc. . A legal parapro... maybe supply chain management, purchasing....packaing engineer....project management, a city planner, recreation management (gold course, ski area, etc.) I did not get the impression that the OP was interested in a particular type of college, but more interested in potential career possibilities and I did not get the impression he was looking at this point in time for a commitment past the BA/BS level. I don't think we know what part of the country the OP lives in, but I did not get the impression that he was focused on a particular school or area of the country. My suggestion to the OP is to request or go to your nearest college and get a course catalog or request a course catalog from whatever college or university you are thinking about...start looking through it, then go to the department websites. If you are considering a large state school, I think you will be totally amazed at the track of courses that lead directly to a particular job classification.</p>
<p>Maybe what you want to figure out is what kind of degree fits your skills and can lead to a better paying job pretty quickly.
You like part of your EMT job - would a Physical Therapy job just be the part you don't like? If that's the case - look into lab work, bacteriology, etc.<br>
If not, PT or nursing is a HOT job right now. You will never make megabucks but will never be out of work.
Enroll in your local community college for at least one course and use the career center (I know, that's hard for you - my kids also.... we'll be your nagging kick-butt person if you want).</p>
<p>Many degrees will give you a higher salary. We've lost some recent graduates to higher salaries ($40K+) but they've been to higher cost areas like Chicago. If you want to stay in east Kansas but with higher wages you may want to look at more populated areas like Topeka.</p>
<p>
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If that's the case - look into lab work, bacteriology, etc.
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</p>
<p>I'd nix that. I'm a medical technologist and though I haven't worked in the field in many years, what I hear is that there is not much advancement potential at all and salary increases are slow.</p>
<p>Two well-paying fields that I have heard are in high demand are speech pathology and accounting. S's gf is about to finish her B.S. in accounting and she is being heavily recruited (she won't even be eligible to sit for the CPA). A friend who has a speech pathology business says she can't find speech pathologists to hire....and that the pay is very good.</p>
<p>Just a thought - while salary sounds like the primary need right now, over the long haul, choices and options tend to provide a better quality of life. You can get a fairly immediate and lucrative job as a nurse or accountant, but you may have trouble ever doing anything but being a nurse or an accountant. If you eventually burn out from that work, it could not only be difficult finding another field with your pre-professional degree, but you may not be able to afford forfeiting the salary you have in order to expand your credentials. Highly-paid professionals who feel trapped have been some of the most desperately unhappy people I've known. It's good to have a branching-out strategy in addition to an entry-level strategy.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone. I'm not a greedy person, so I don't need to be making triple digits or anything like that. I just want to make a comfortable living and not have to live paycheck to paycheck.</p>
<p>Like I said, it's just something that I was wondering about since it seems like the jobs I'm finding don't start out making that much. </p>
<p>"I'm a medical technologist and though I haven't worked in the field in many years, what I hear is that there is not much advancement potential at all and salary increases are slow."</p>
<p>That's actually one of the fields that I've been considering. Most hospitals around here don't list their salaries on their websites, but the hospital that my wife works at does. It's a mid sized hospital and their lab techs start out making about three or four thousand more a year than I make now. There are larger hospitals in the area that I'm sure pay more than that (plus a VA that pays really well).</p>
<p>Dan, a lot of starting salaries may be less than what you are now making, but your problem is that you are "topped out" without the degree. If you get a college degree in any field where your existing work experience will be relevant -- and continue to rack up work experience while in school (with part time & summer employment) -- then you won't be looking at "starting" salaries in any case. You will end up being a lateral hire with a college degree, and will be competing for a higher level position than 22 year olds with the same degree coming out of college with little work experience. Even if hired for the same position, you may start with a somewhat higher salary -- that's what the "DOE" means in job listings. </p>
<p>Even if you are getting a degree in a new field, your work experience may be a big boost, depending on whether it shows you have skills that transfer to the new line of work. For example, if you worked as a manager in a retail store and get a degree in medical technology -- your experience supervising other employees means something, even though the work context would be entirely different. Working with a career counselor will help you structure a strong resume and target positions that are a good fit for your education and experience down the line.</p>
<p>Get a degree in a field that you find interesting or stimulating, and you'll do fine.</p>
<p>Thank you, calmom. What I do now probably won't be considered "experience" if I do go into lab work, but I think it will reflect very positively that by the time I do get my degree I'll have been working at the same place for over 10 years.</p>
<p>Well, you have to break down what you do at your job into component tasks and skills to get a better handle on how it transfers. For example: do you have to write reports? track inventory? keep books? work with computer software? Does the current job require attention to detail? or ability to work independently with little supervision? Good people skills? Obviously, each situation is different but there are ways to highlight specific skills. </p>
<p>Anyway, you don't have to worry about it now -- the main point is that when you have your college degree, you will have that AND 10 years of full time work experience, clearly indicating maturity and ability to assume a good deal of responsibility from the start.</p>
<p>Actually, my job does require quite a bit of attention to detail. I have to verify numbers on order labels and make sure they match with the product number. I have to do this at a pretty fast pace (the production rate for my specific area is 153 cases an hour) and it's been probably two years since I've had an error and I'm always at 100% or above. I'm also cross trained in almost every area of the warehouse, so I guess you could say I'm well diversified (at least in the warehouse).</p>
<p>Well, there you have it -- if I was hiring a lab technician, I would certainly want one who can work efficiently and gets the numbers right on all the labels -- nothing can be worse than a mislabeled sample or a transposed number in a report. ;)</p>