Bachelors Degrees With the Lowest Starting Salaries

Bachelor's Degrees With the Lowest Starting Salaries There’s more bad news for humanities and social science graduates. Michigan State University’s Recruiting Trends report, the largest and most comprehensive annual survey of prospective employers, reported that recipients of advertising and PR bachelor’s degrees can expect to receive the lowest average starting salaries of the 35 majors studied. (The report also includes information on the bachelor’s degrees with the highest starting salaries and the most hirable career fields for new grads). And while the averages are painful, the salary ranges are downright depressing: A public relations graduate can expect to earn between $17,000 and $60,000, while the cap for a special education teacher’s salary is $49,950. Compare that to the highest average starting salary, chemical engineering, which ranges from $34,850 (the highest low-range salary on the list) to $100,600. There’s also no noticeable difference when the degree-holder boasts a master’s degree instead of a bachelor’s. According to the report, people with an engineering master’s degree can expect a starting range of $34,400 to $105,600 ($68,134 on average), while those with a social sciences or humanities master’s degree will earn between $28,000 to $67,900 ($45,250 on average). “Starting salaries declined for most majors during the first few years of the recession. Salary recovery remains uneven five years later,” the report notes. 15 Bachelor’s Degrees With the Lowest Average Starting Salaries: Advertising â€" $35,733 Public relations â€" $36,235 Psychology â€" $36,327 Music/drama â€" $36,744 Middle school education â€" $36,836 Elementary education â€" $37,480 Foreign languages â€" $37,647 History â€" $37,788 High school education â€" $38,055 Special education â€" $38,354 Pre-K and kindergarten education â€" $38,387 English â€" $39,000 Social work â€" $39,100 Political science â€" $39,407 E-commerce/entrepreneurial â€" $ 40,468 If you’re looking for a great college, check out the new MONEY College Planner website and our Find Your Fit tool, which lets you search for schools by major and other criteria that are important to you. Read Next: Bachelor’s Degrees with the Highest Starting Salaries Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  SharePlayback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedAudio TrackFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal Dia logEnd of dialog window.PlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  Playback Rate1xFullscreenClose Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.