 the master's degree tier list for 2023. In today's videos, we are going to be ranking master's degrees from S tier, which is the best to F tier, which is the worst. And I've been hard at work making this year's list. It's going to be different than last year's. The main change that I have to this year's list is I actually included entry level job demand, right? So last year I basically just have the demand in general, but the truth is there is a difference between the demand of a career and the demand of the career at the entry level. Cause there's a lot of careers out there that have great demand, but you already have to have experience. So it's more useful for people watching this video because most of the people who watch my video are in high school or college to know the demand at the entry level. So I put a lot of work into this year's list. If you appreciate that, go ahead and let me know by psychologically destroying that like button, like Gordon Ramsay when someone messes up in the kitchen. And let's go ahead and jump into it. All right, so first we're going to talk about technology degrees at the master's level. So when it comes to technology careers, it's so difficult to tell you the best way to get into them because the truth is the degrees have really good outcomes, but just about every other way of getting into technology careers also have good outcomes. So there's like six different ways you could get into technology to careers. You could get a degree, you could self study, you could get certificates, you could do online courses, et cetera, et cetera. And basically any way that you get into technology careers is going to be a good return on your investment because the technology industry is the best industry to work in. So you really have to take it on a person by person basis and a situation by situation basis when it comes to figuring out what the best way to get into these technology careers is. Now that being said, there are certain technology careers where getting a master's degree is going to help you out. If you're just trying to become a front end web developer, you don't need to get a master's degree. And honestly, you probably don't even need to get a bachelor's degree. However, if you're trying to learn machine learning or artificial intelligence, getting a master's degree might help you. So just keep that in mind while I'm going over this list. But with that being said, let's say you get a master's degree in computer science. You'd expect to make about $106,000 a year as a computer scientist according to Glassdoor. And you'd likely make a little bit more than that with a master's degree. There are about 12,400 people graduating with a master's degree in computer science per year. And if you type in computer science on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are gonna see 191,000 results. So lots of job postings have that keyword of computer science in them. So technology degrees or just other ways of getting into technology in general are going to be S tier on every single level, including masters. Next one on the list is going to be engineering master's degrees. So this is another one where you're gonna have to take it on a case-by-case basis because there are certain careers where getting a master's degree is going to help you. There are certain careers where you have to get a master's degree or it's very close to having to get one. But the vast majority of careers you actually don't need to get a master's degree in engineering in order to get into. So it's very important you know what career you're going for. But with that being said, let's say you got a master's in electrical or electronics engineering, there's about 11,000 people that do that every year. As an electrical engineer, you could expect to make about $95,000 a year. And if you look up electrical engineering on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see about 38,000 results. So the great thing about engineering degrees is you can get a bachelor's level degree and you're gonna have a lot of different options out there. And if you want to go back and get a master's, you'll likely even make more money. But the key thing here is it's an option. You don't have to do it. There are many other types of degrees out there where you pretty much don't have an option. You have to go back and get a master's or a doctorate in order to work in that field. With engineering, you do have an option and they're pretty much good at every single level of education. So engineering is also gonna go into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be science degrees at the master's level. So there are some science degrees out there where at the bachelor's level, they're actually pretty bad. And an example of that would be biology. There are tons and tons of biology graduates every single year at the bachelor's level. And at that level, you're probably not gonna get a job. And even if you are able to land a job, it's not gonna be very well paying and you're probably not gonna have very good job satisfaction. However, at the master's level, there is gonna be more opportunities for you. So for instance, let's say you get a biology degree at the master's level, about 3,500 people do that every year, you could become a research scientist. Now, typically research scientists, especially in biology are gonna have PhDs, but you could get into the position with just a master's, but you'd likely make less money than this. Now, according to Glassdoor, they make about $97,000 a year. But if you type in like biological science, for instance, they make about 70,000 a year. And if you type in biological science on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are gonna see about 45,000 results. Now, people like to generalize things like oh, just get a STEM degree. But the truth is technology and engineering degrees are much better than science degrees and they're a little bit better than math degrees as well. But that's just generally speaking, and it really does depend on what your goals are and if you have a plan. But with that being said, science degrees are gonna go into B tier at the master's level. Next one on the list is going to be math degrees. So let's say you get a degree in mathematics and statistics, about 10,000 people do get that every single year at the master's level. If you became a mathematician, you would expect to make about $90,000 per year. And if you became a mathematical statistician, which for some reason I cannot say that word, you would expect to make about $105,000 a year. And if you look up mathematician on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see 24,000 results. If you look up statistician on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see 14,000 results. So yeah, decent amount of demand there. A lot of companies, especially in like finance, for instance, will hire people who graduate with mathematics or statistics degrees. But mathematics especially tends to be a little bit less practical than an engineering degree. But overall, I'm gonna give mathematics-related degrees at the master's level an A tier rating. Next one on the list is going to be an acupuncturist. So there's a couple different names for this type of degree. It's kind of like a natural medicine doctor or an acupuncturist. But there's about 1,200 people that graduate with this degree every year at the master's level. And if you become a licensed acupuncturist in the US on Glassdoor, it says you're gonna make about $57,000 a year. So that is pretty low, especially for a master's level degree. And I did a video where I looked at numbers that were collected by a website that actually works with people who have graduate level degrees and they get deep into debt. An acupuncturist actually had a 4.6 to 1 debt-to-income ratio, which was one of the worst on the list. What that essentially means is they were taking out way more debt than the amount of money they were making after they graduated. Now, I also had a cousin who got like a natural medicine, you know, homeopathic acupuncturist type degree. And he's a pretty smart guy, but he was not able to successfully start an acupuncture natural medicine type practice. He tried several times and then he also tried working for somebody else and he was not able to find a job. So I've gotten a few comments saying like, oh, Shane, you're a hater of natural medicine and stuff like that. Actually, no, I'm not a hater at all. I'm just giving you the numbers. Now, if you type in acupuncturist on LinkedIn, there are about 35,000 results at the entry level. So if you wanna go into this, just make sure you do your research, make sure you know what the laws are in your state, make sure you know what state you wanna practice in and all that sort of thing. You need to have a really good plan if you go into this. This one is gonna go into F tier. Next one on the list is going to be an art-related masters degree. Now, I've said this many times before, for 99.9% of people out there, you should not get an art degree. There is gonna be that 0.1% person who's like world-class pianist or something like that okay, great, go to Juilliard, work with other world-class pianists. But that is incredibly rare. For everybody else, you do not need to get an art degree. You would be much better off spending those four years moving somewhere where there's a bunch of other people doing the same type of art that you're doing and you can even pay somebody who's really good like 50 bucks an hour or something to teach you. And I bet you'd spend a lot less money doing that and you'd learn a lot more than going to college for four years. It just does not make sense. College and creativity are like polar opposites. College is old, antiquated, stuck in the mud. There's nothing creative about college at all. They are not cutting edge at all. In fact, anything that happens that is cutting edge, college usually takes like 10 to 15 years to adjust to it. All you have to do is look at like digital marketing, for instance. Colleges are teaching stuff that worked like 10, 15 years ago and it does not work now. That's the problem with colleges is they're just so slow to adapt to things. So anything that is cutting edge that takes time to adapt to, colleges are not gonna be good at teaching you. Now let's take music performance for an example here. There's about 2,100 people who graduate with this one every year. If you look up artist on Glassdoor, you're gonna see they make about $46,000 a year on average and if you look up artist on LinkedIn, you'll see about 29,000 results at the entry level. This one is gonna go into F tier. Next one on the list is going to be getting a master's degree in order to become a college professor. Now I did an entire video on should you get a graduate degree and I broke it down in detail in that video. I talked about why you should and why you shouldn't get a graduate level degree and many people want to get graduate degrees because their goal is to become a college professor. Now keep in mind here, if you are able to become a college professor, especially if you're a tenured professor, it can be a really cool job. But that is a big if and most people are trying to become college professors in the subjects that are even more difficult to get into. So for instance, if you want to become a college professor and you are an engineer, it's actually much easier to get into it in that way. And the reason for that is because if you have an engineering degree, there are so many other options for you. And so there's way less competition to become a college professor. Whereas if you went to school and you got like a creative writing degree or an art history degree or an art degree or a social science degree, something along those lines, it's much more difficult to become a college professor. Oftentimes you will apply to a position and there'll be like 400, 500 other applicants. It all just goes back to supply and demand at the end of the day. But let's just assume here that you are able to become a college professor, right? If you were to become a college professor, you'd make about $114,000 a year. And if you type in college professor on LinkedIn, there's about 4,000 results. So if you're able to become a college professor, this one is awesome, but it really depends on the subject that you're trying to get into. Because your chances of being successful here are very low if you try to become a college professor in certain subjects. But with that being said, assuming you are able to do it, this one goes into A tier. Next one on the list is going to be data science. And this is one where you would typically get a master's degree in something like statistics. So for instance, about 3,100 people graduate with a master's in statistics per year. And if you are able to become a data scientist, you would make about $123,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you type in data scientist on LinkedIn, you're gonna see about 74,000 results. Now this is another one where there's a lot of argument because a lot of people say, hey, you can become a data scientist with just a bachelor's degree. Some people even say you can become a data scientist without any degree at all. And I agree, it is possible to do that, but you have to sort of realize and sort of look at like what are your chances and what are your odds. And data science is one of those careers where getting a master's degree really is going to help you land those careers. So this one, I'm gonna put it into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be a master's of business administration. And this one, honestly, I should probably just make an entire video about it because it really does depend on the person's situation and what their goals are. So MBAs or master's of business administration degrees, you know, there's so many different types. There's so many different schools. There's so many schools that offer these. A lot of the time they'll even offer like dual degrees. And to be honest with you, most MBAs are not worth it at all. MBA is one of those degrees where it can be worth it if you go to the right school and you're doing it for the right goals and situation. So if you got an MBA degree, you might want to become a manager for instance. And managers make about $95,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you type in manager on LinkedIn, you're gonna see over a million results at the entry level. So there definitely is a ton of demand for people who are good at management. But the question here is, is getting an MBA actually gonna help you get good at management? Or do you get good at management by working? And I think you probably get much better at management just by simply working. But with that being said, going to certain schools, getting an MBA absolutely can open doors for you. But it really does depend on the situation. So be careful with this one. I'm gonna go ahead and put it into B tier overall. Next one on the list is going to be other types of business related master's degrees. So in this particular example, I'm gonna be using international business. International business has about 1900 graduates per year. And according to Glassdoor, when you type in international business, they're reporting about a $93,000 a year salary. If you type in international business on LinkedIn, you're gonna see about 25,000 results. So business is getting more and more international. This is a valuable skill to know. It's another one where you really have to plan things out, right? You don't just wanna get an international business degree willy-nilly. You wanna know, okay, what country are you gonna be specializing in? And if you're gonna be specializing in that country, you should probably know their language as well. But overall, business related degrees at the master's level, I really do have mixed feelings on this one. Business is one of those things where, in my opinion, the only way you can really get good at it is to just practice, just to do it. It's kind of like riding a bike. You're not gonna learn how to ride a bike by reading books or watching videos or having a college professor lecture you on how to ride a bike. You learn how to ride a bike by jumping on the bike and trying to ride it. And the same thing goes with business, in my opinion. So overall, this one, I'm gonna go ahead and put it into B tier. Next one on the list is going to be a master's level education degree in order to become a teacher. So according to Glassdoor, instructors make about $62,000 a year. And according to LinkedIn, when you type in teaching instructor, you're gonna see about 91,000 results. And if you type in instructor, you're gonna see 213,000 results. So I do think teaching is a super valuable profession. Society really needs this. And it's one of those professions where it's not good, but it's also not bad. The good thing about education degrees is you're absolutely gonna have a job. The bad thing about education degrees is you're gonna be somewhat limited in how much you can make. And there's also a lot of other downsides to it. So this one I'm gonna put into C tier. And by the way, I interviewed Javier on this channel and he was basically in a graduate level program. And his goal was to either become a professor and his graduate level degree was nothing like what he expected. And when he looked into it a little more deeply, he also realized his chances of getting a job were very low. And even if he was able to get a job, it wasn't something that excited him. So he started looking into alternatives and he found digital marketing. So he was able to land a career in digital marketing. It was much better for him. And now he makes over $100,000 a year and he's really happy pursuing his goals. So if you wanna check out a free masterclass on how I recommend getting into digital marketing, check that link down in the description as well as the pinned comment below. Next one on the list is going to be nurse practitioner at the master's level. Now this is one where it's a phenomenal career. They are kind of transitioning into requiring a doctorate. I'm not exactly sure when that transition is gonna happen, but that is the plan. But right now you can still become a nurse practitioner with just a master's degree. So these are numbers from a few years ago, but there's about 28,000 people graduating with master's level nursing degrees right now. And that's per year. And if you type in nurse practitioner on Glassdoor, you're gonna see about $139,000 a year. If you type in nurse practitioner on LinkedIn, you're gonna see 196,000 results at the entry level. So phenomenal career, health degrees in general are just amazing at every single level. This one goes into S tier. Next one on the list is another health degree that's gonna be occupational therapist at the master's level. About 6,800 people graduate with this one every year. The pay is a little bit low at about $95,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you look it up on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see about 55,000 results. Now one thing I will say about this one is it has some of the highest job satisfaction scores out of any job out there. So the pay is a little bit lower than some of the other medical related careers, but with that being said, job satisfaction is extremely high. That can be super important. So definitely look into this one. I'm gonna put it into A tier. Next one on the list is physician assistant. This is a master's level degree, about 8,500 people graduate with every year. And by the way, this one is now known as physician associate, but most of the major websites still call it physician assistant, so that's what I'm gonna call it. Now there's a lot of different specialties here, but if you type in physician assistant and cardiothoracic surgery, you're gonna see about $101,000 a year. And if you type in physician associate on LinkedIn, you're gonna see 41,000 results. So yeah, another really good one, really good at the master's level especially. One thing I absolutely love about this one is how flexible it is. This is one of the most flexible medical careers. And what I mean by that is if you became a medical doctor, you would have to specialize in something and you would do a residency that lasts somewhere between three to seven years in order to specialize. If you become a physician assistant, you could go into, you know, cardiothoracic surgery for instance, and then later on you decide, you know, I don't like cardiothoracic surgery anymore, and you can start working in dermatology or something else. It is very, very easy for you to switch as a physician assistant. And flexibility is one of the most underrated things. I think flexibility might be like my number one thing, possibly slightly behind demand. So yeah, physician assistant without a doubt goes into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be psychologist at the master's level. So every year about 27,000 people graduate with a psychology degree at the master's level. Now it is very difficult to get a job as a psychologist with just a master's degree. There are certain kind of like niche sub-careers there where you can, but typically they want you to have a doctorate degree. But with that being said, psychologists make about $85,000 a year. And if you type in psychologist on LinkedIn, there is 142,000 results. So with this one, typically you are going to have to get a doctorate degree, but overall I'm going to put this one into C tier. Next on the list is other social science slash humanity related degrees at the master's level. So for instance, you could get a multi or interdisciplinary studies degree at the master's level. You could become an anthropologist and they make about $52,000 a year. And if you look up anthropologist on LinkedIn, you're going to see about 865 results. So these types of degrees, a lot of the time you're going to have to get a doctorate to even stand a chance to land a job. And even in that case, sometimes you're not going to get a job. And even if you do get a job, they're typically not going to pay very well. So yeah, very, very tough. Make sure you do your research here. This one is going to go into D tier. Next one on the list is going to be a social worker. This one is known as MSW or masters in social work. About 29,000 people graduate with this one every year. And if you type in social worker on Glassdoor, you're going to see they make about $57,000 a year, which is very low for a master's degree. And if you type it in on LinkedIn, you are going to see 129,000 results. So when I did the debt to income ratio score, which I did that in a previous video, this one did have one of the worst debt to income ratios. So these MSW programs are charging people a lot of money. They're coming out of these programs and they're not making much. So you really have to be careful with this one. But with that being said, there are quite a few social worker jobs out there. Kind of reminds me of teacher a little bit. So this one is going to go into C tier. Next one on the list is speech language pathologist. About 3,800 graduates per year here. If you type this one into Glassdoor, you're going to see they make about $94,000 a year. And if you look on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are going to see 40,000 results. So yeah, another really good health related degree. This one is going to go into A tier. So if you have any doubts at all about whether you want to get a graduate level degree, I highly, highly recommend you watch that video with Javier. We discussed the pros and cons of graduate level degrees in that video. So definitely check that out right here.