4 (More) College Degrees for Post Graduation Employment

A few blog posts back, we wrote about some of the hottest college majors. Due to the favorable response, we decided to write about four more educational opportunities for post graduation employment.

Actuarial Science

Actuaries analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty. Data science draws from the fields of mathematics, statistics, and computer science to assess the risk that an event will occur. They help businesses, such as the insurance industry and develop policies that minimize the cost of that risk.

With the volume of computerized data rapidly growing, the Department of Labor project actuary jobs to grow 26 percent in the next ten years. Actuaries will be needed to develop, price, and evaluate a variety of insurance products and calculate the costs of new risks.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapists are often an important part of rehabilitation and treatment of patients with chronic conditions or injuries. Demand for physical therapy services will come from the aging baby boomer population and their need for more medical care. In addition, physical therapists will be needed to treat people with mobility issues stemming from chronic conditions, such as diabetes or obesity.

The college curriculum has recently changed in this field. Students now need to obtain a Master's Degree in Physical Therapy, while also being licensed by their state, in order to be able to work in the field. Many colleges have six-year direct admissions programs, where students combine their undergrad and graduate work.

Colleges are facing large amounts of applications for their programs due to the projected growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 36 percent increase in this field over the next ten years.

Sustainable Development 

With the explosion of green technology, organic products and the concept of sustainability grows in popularity, many students are turning their passion into a Sustainable Development degree.

Students studying this field have described coursework to be similar to environmental science but with more business and economic courses. Students learn that sustainability is attending to and combining the "Three Es:" environment, economy, and (social) equity. Sustainable Development programs work to achieve this by integrating academics with community engagement and outreach.

Students with this degree can have a variety of job opportunities awaiting them. Some of those possibilities are Construction Project Manager, Sustainability Analyst, Sustainable Design Professional, Energy Efficiency Analyst and Operations Manager.

Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum engineers design and develop methods for extracting crude oil and natural gas from deposits below the earth’s surface, while also developing new techniques to extract oil and gas from existing reservoirs.

There are only 22 universities in which a student can choose to study petroleum engineering. But if they so choose to attend one of these universities, students can expect to study mathematics, chemistry, geology and physics. Students will receive education to use advanced computer systems to oversee automated drilling operations, as well as analysis of reservoir behavior.

According to the Department of Labor, employment of petroleum engineers is projected to grow 26 percent the next ten year. Oil prices will be a major determinant of employment growth, as higher prices lead to increasing complexity of oil companies’ operations. This leads to the need for more engineers for each drilling operation. The entry salary for a Petroleum Engineer is near $85,000 and has the highest median pay of all college graduates according to USA Today.

To learn which schools offer these majors or to learn of other popular majors, contact us!

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