The best types of college degrees in the 2024 tier list. That's what we're going to be talking about today. I'm going to be going over the different types of college degrees at every single level. Associates, bachelors, masters, as well as doctorates and professional degrees. I'm also going to be ranking the different types of degrees like health, mathematics, science, engineering, business, etc.
I will rank them from A tier, which is the best, to F tier, which is the worst. So you're definitely not going to want to miss this one because the different types of degrees are good at different types of levels.
Table of Contents
Engineering Degree
Engineering Bachelor Degree
So the first one on the list is going to be engineering bachelor's degrees. So just to clarify here, these are engineering-type degrees at the bachelor's level. One thing I'm changing about this year's list is I'm going to be including the demand at the entry level.
So there are a lot of degrees out there that will lead to careers that have a lot of demand, but there's not necessarily very much demand at the entry-level. And the truth is, most people who read these types of articles are in high school or college, and so you probably care about the demand at the entry-level.
Because once you've gotten a few years of experience, you're typically good to go. Alright, so if you type in engineering as a keyword on Glassdoor, they're gonna show the average salary of $89,000 per year.
And if you type in engineering as a keyword, sort by jobs, and then entry-level jobs on LinkedIn, you're gonna see about 733,000 results, So both of those are very good. Engineering degrees at the bachelor's level go into the A tier.
Engineering Degree at the Master Level
Next on the list is going to be engineering degrees at the master's level. Now the truth is, 95 of the people reading this are not going to need to get a graduate-level degree.
But with that being said, if you are going to get a graduate-level degree, engineering is going to be one of the better choices so I'm going to go ahead and put engineering degrees at the master's level into B tier.
But just keep in mind that you probably can get most jobs out there with just a bachelor's level degree, so make sure you do your research and make sure that you have to get a master's or you're doing it for a different reason. You're doing it for the knowledge itself. You're not doing it because it's a good return on investment.
Engineering Degree at The Doctoral Level
The next one on the list is going to be engineering degrees at the doctoral level. So this is just totally unnecessary most of the time. But with that being said, again, if you're going to get a doctorate, engineering degrees are probably one of the better ones. So this one goes into the C tier.
Engineering at The Associate Level
And finally, engineering at the associate level. Engineering at the associate level is actually pretty good. There are a lot of technician-type jobs out there that do require an associate-level degree, or at the very least, they really like if you have it. So engineering at the associate level is going into the B tier.
Math Degree
Math-Related Bachelor Degree
Next on the list is going to be math-related bachelor's degrees. So this would be something like mathematics or statistics. And if you type in mathematician on Glassdoor, you're going to see they make about $93,000 a year.
If you type in mathematician at the entry level on LinkedIn, you're going to see 23,000 results. So overall, getting a math degree at the bachelor's level is really good. I'm going to go ahead and put it into the B tier.
Math Degree at The Master Level
Next is math at the master's level. Now, this one is, again, unnecessary in many cases, but there are a lot of jobs out there that do require a master's degree. And so in this case, I'm going to go ahead and put math at the master's level into C tier.
Math Degree at The Doctoral Level
Again, this is one that only applies to probably 1% of people out there. But with that being said, it's not bad. I'm going to go ahead and put it into the D tier.
Math Degree at The Associate Level
And finally, math at the associate level. There are some jobs out there where they really do like to see that you have some math skills at the associate level. So this one is going to go into the C tier.
Technology Degree
Technology Degrees at The Bachelor Level
Next on the list is going to be technology degrees at the bachelor's level. So this one would be computer science, for instance. Computer science is a phenomenal degree, probably the best degree period.
So if you become a technology manager, for instance, you can make like $146,000 a year. If you type in the keyword technology on LinkedIn at the entry-level, you're gonna see 1.1 million results. So technology at the bachelor's level is going to go into A tier.
Technology Degrees at The Associate Level
Now, this is also really good. There are a lot of technology careers out there like technician-type careers, that don't require a bachelor's degree, or at the very least, it really does help if you have an associate's degree. So this is also gonna go into the A tier.
Technology Degrees at The Master Level
Next on the list is technology at the master's level. So again, it is unnecessary for like 95% of people out there, but there are some jobs, for instance, data scientist, where having a master's degree is going to help you. So technology at the master's level is gonna go into B tier.
Technology Degrees at The Doctoral Level
If you're going into a job with an incredibly big brain, something like machine learning or AI, something along those lines where you truly are on the cutting edge, sometimes, again, maybe like 1% of the time, doctorate degrees might be worth it for you.
But overall, for most people, it's not gonna be worth it. But with that being said, if you are gonna get a doctorate, this would be one of the better ones to do that in. I'm gonna go ahead and put this one into the C tier.
Alternative Education
The next one on the list is going to be alternative education. And this is technically not a degree. So the reason that alternative education has gotten so popular in the last 10 years or so is because of the fact that the value of a college degree has continued to go down since the 1970s, and the cost of a college degree has gone up exponentially.
So it was bound to hit a tipping point at some point, and many of the degrees out there are no longer worth it from a return on investment standpoint. So about 10 years ago or so, there were a bunch of different alternative education opportunities that started popping up. And this started off in technology.
So for instance, there were a lot of certifications that started popping up for careers like IT. And there were a lot of boot camps that started popping up for careers like web developer. Now, alternative education, of course, is not gonna be perfect for all careers.
There are many careers out there where you still have to get a degree. But for the right person and the right situation and the right career, there are many opportunities out there that are actually much better than college, in my opinion.
One of the companies that I'm a huge fan of is Course Careers. One of the most common ones they do is tech sales. Tech sales is a phenomenal career and you absolutely do not need a college degree or any previous experience to get into it.
They typically make $60,000 to $80,000 per year in their first year. And a year or two in, they typically make it to the $100,000 a year mark. So alternative education goes into the A tier. Honestly, it's really, really good for the right types of careers.
Honestly, it's probably more like the A-plus tier. There is a list of about 12 to 15 careers or so that you can do this in. So, yeah, definitely phenomenal.
Also Read: Best 24 Remote Job Tier List
Business Degree
Business Degree at The Bachelor Level
Next on the list is going to be a business degree at the bachelor's level. So if you became a business manager, for instance, you would expect to make about $98,000 a year. And if you type in business management on LinkedIn at the entry-level, you're going to see 371,000 results.
Now, I will say some business degrees are better than others. Make sure you really research this one. And then another thing about business degrees is it really depends on what your goal is. So if your goal is to start a business, I really don't think business degrees are gonna help you all that much.
But with that being said, some of the business degrees do have phenomenal statistics when you look up the numbers. You can question here whether it's correlation or causation, like people who are interested in business tend to get business degrees, and those are the types of people that would have been successful anyway because they tend to be good with money. But overall, I'm gonna put business degrees at the bachelor's level into B tier.
Business Degree at The Associate Level
The next one on the list is going to be business degrees at the associate level. So these tend to be actually pretty good as well. Overall, I'm gonna put them into B-tier.
Business Degree at The Mater Level
Next is business degrees at the master's level, and this can be pretty hit or miss. There are a lot of MBA degrees out there, for instance, that I think are basically worthless. It's just a total waste of time that's going to cost you a lot of money.
But there are also MBA degrees out there that can open doors for you. So overall, I'm going to put business degrees at the master's level into the C tier.
And again, when it comes to master's degrees, this is not going to apply to 95% of people. 95% of people do not need to get a master's. And then I'd say like 98, 99% of people don't need to get a doctorate.
Business Degree at The Doctorate Level
And this one, I just, I really don't see the need for it. Of course, there are a few exceptions here and there, but overall business doctorate is going to go into the E tier.
Also Read: Best 24 Remote Job Tier List
Science Degrees
Science Degree at The Bachelor/Master/Doctorate Level
The next one on the list is going to be science degrees at the bachelor's level. So this is a tough one because science degrees, honestly, some of them are just not good. For instance, biology degrees, are very, very overrated for the amount of people who graduate with them every year.
But if you type in scientist on Glassdoor, you're going to see $107,000 a year. And if you type in the keyword science on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are going to see 617,000+ results. So science is very valuable.
A lot of the time at the bachelor's level, you're not able to get a job. So really make sure you plan this one out. But with that being said, I'll put science degrees into the C tier, and actually, masters also go into the C tier and doctorates go into the C tier as well.
Liberal Arts Degree
Liberal Arts Degree at The Associate Level
The next one on the list is going to be liberal arts degrees at the associate level. So one career path you might go down here is becoming a graphic designer. They make about $45,000 a year. You also might get into web designing, specifically the artistic side of it. And there are about 37,000+ results at the entry level there.
But I'm not gonna lie to you, liberal arts degrees, in general, are just not very good. And especially at the associate level, not very good when you look at the numbers. This one goes into the F tier.
Liberal Arts Degree at The Bachelor Level
Next on the list is a liberal arts-related bachelor's degree. Now these are a little bit better than the associate degrees, but still I'm going to go ahead and put it into the E tier.
Liberal Arts Degree at The Master/ Doctoral Level
And then next on the list is liberal arts-related master's degrees. This one is also going into the E tier. And liberal arts-related doctoral degrees. This one goes into the E tier.
Art Degrees
Arts Degree at The Associate Level
Next on the list is going to be an art-related associate's degree. So if you became an artist, you make about $46,000 a year on average. And if you type artist on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're going to see about 28,000+ results.
So art and college, in my opinion, just do not mix. College is one of the least creative places in the entire world. College is old, stuck in the mud, antiquated. They're not creative at all. Things like art, for instance, change over time. There's sort of like a meta for art.
Same thing with marketing, for instance. Marketing is probably one of the most obvious examples of how incompetent colleges are at staying up with the times. So for instance, the two most valuable skills that you can learn in marketing, in my opinion, are digital marketing and copywriting.
And if you look at most marketing curriculums, you're not gonna see very many digital marketing or copywriting classes. Typically, there's like maybe one or two. And by the time they finally start going over those classes, they're five or 10 years behind. And the same thing goes with art.
But with that being said, if you are gonna get an art-related degree, I would say an associate-level degree is gonna be the best. So I'll go ahead and put art-related associate degrees into the D tier.
Arts Degree at The Bachelor Level
Next on the list is art-related bachelor's degrees. Don't recommend it for 99% of people. This one goes into the F tier.
Arts Degree at The Master Level
Next is art-related master's degrees. Again, 99% of people, are probably not good for it. This one is slightly better, I'd say. So this one goes into the E tier.
Arts Degree at The Doctoral Level
Then finally art art-related doctoral degrees. Unless you're like a world-class pianist or a world-class classical guitarist or something along those lines, and then you get an opportunity to go to Juilliard, it's not going to be a good idea.
Again, for 99 of people, but with that being said, probably a little bit better than the bachelor's degree. I'll put this in the E tier.
Health Related Degrees
Next on the list is going to be a health related bachelor's degree. So health degrees are amazing at pretty much every single level. At the bachelor's degree, a really good one, for instance, would be a BSN. That's a bachelor's of science in nursing.
Or you might go into health administration, for instance. You know, health administration on LinkedIn at the entry level shows about 46,000+ results. If you type in health administrator on Glassdoor, you're going to see $55,000 a year.
And like I said, health is pretty much good at every single level, whether it's associate, certificates, bachelor's, master's, or doctorate. So,
- Health bachelor's goes into the A tier.
- Health master's also goes into the A tier.
- Health associates go into the A tier. And when I say associates, I also mean the random little certification programs that typically take somewhere between six months to three years.
- And then the Health Doctorate also goes into the A tier.
Master's professional Degrees
Next, we're going to talk about master's level professional degrees. And this does actually kind of intersect with the health degrees because typically the professional degrees are health degrees, at least most of them are. And professional degrees mean that by definition, you have to get the degree in order to get into the profession.
So that creates what's known as a barrier to entry. And that's good if you have the degree already. It's not so good if you need to get a degree. but it sort of creates a moat around the castle, so to speak. So it's harder for other people to get into it.
Whereas there is a lot of technology in business-related careers where you can get into it without a degree. Now, that being said, master's level professional degrees are going to go into the A tier.
Typically, these are very good things like physician associate or nurse practitioner. And then doctoral-level professional degrees are going to go into the B tier. Some of the doctoral-level professional degrees are not as good. Some of them can still be really good, though.
