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Management information systems (MIS) majors were the top-paid Class of 2015 business graduates at the bachelor’s degree level, according to results of NACE’s Class of 2015 First-Destination Survey.
These majors earned an average starting salary of $58,526, up 3.6 percent from last year’s average. They were followed by finance ($56,094) and real estate ($55,827) majors. (See Figure 1.)
Last year, MIS graduates were the third-highest business major, trailing entrepreneurial science and management science majors. (See Figure 2.) Both majors saw their average starting salary drop this year.
For NACE’s Class of 2015 First-Destination Survey, 279 colleges and universities nationwide, representing nearly half a million graduates, provided data for Class of 2015 associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree graduates. Overall, data were reported for nearly 244,000 bachelor’s degree graduates in 34 broad disciplines and 185 majors. Detailed results of the survey, which also covered first destinations for associate, master’s, and doctoral degree-level graduates, and details about outcomes by specific major, are available on NACEWeb.
Figure 1: Top-paid Class of 2015 business majors
| Major |
Average Starting Salary |
| Management Information Systems |
$58,526 |
| Finance |
$56,094 |
| Real Estate |
$55,827 |
| Business Economics |
$54,991 |
| Construction Management |
$54,787 |
| Management Science |
$54,330 |
| Accounting |
$51,426 |
| International Business |
$49,989 |
| Business Administration |
$49,494 |
| Entrepreneurial Operations |
$48,030 |
| Human Resources |
$45,038 |
| Marketing |
$43,678 |
| Hospitality |
$36,926 |
Source: Class of 2015 First-Destination Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers. All data are for bachelor’s degree graduates and represent initial post-graduation outcomes as of December 31, 2015.
Figure 2: Top-paid Class of 2014 business majors
| Major |
Average Starting Salary |
| Entrepreneurial Operations |
$66,422 |
| Management Science |
$59,041 |
| Management Information Systems |
$56,470 |
| Construction Management |
$54,263 |
| Finance |
$54,086 |
| Business Economics |
$51,882 |
| Accounting |
$49,420 |
| Business Administration |
$46,830 |
| International Business |
$46,340 |
| Real Estate |
$45,949 |
| Marketing |
$43,123 |
| Human Resources |
$41,699 |
| Hospitality |
$38,569 |
Source: Class of 2014 First-Destination Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers. All data are for bachelor’s degree graduates and represent initial post-graduation outcomes as of December 31, 2014.