Students walk into the 2019 commencement ceremony at Ohio Stadium. Credit: Amal Saeed | Lantern File Photo

This story was originally published Sept. 22, 2021, and updated February 16, 2022, and updated again Sept. 28, 2022, for the Graduate School Edition.

As Ohio State students begin to think about life after graduation, there are many employment prospects for them to look through. 

Scott Kustis, director of industry connections with the Arts and Sciences Center for Career and Professional Success, said in an email that while people with graduate degrees earn more on average than those with lower-level degrees, their end salary depends on the industry.  

“Meet with a career coach; get a mentor; explore as many professional development opportunities as possible while in school; develop a professional network; join student chapters of professional industry groups,” Kustis said.

The graduate programs at Ohio State with the highest enrollment are arts and sciences, engineering, nursing, education and human ecology and social work, according to Ohio State’s analysis and reporting website. 

Arts and Sciences

Ranked No. 1 in graduate student enrollment, arts and sciences graduate programs include master’s and Ph.D. programs in areas — such as psychology, chemistry and political science. As of autumn 2022, there are around 2,200 graduate students enrolled in arts and sciences programs, only a handful fewer than autumn 2021, according to Ohio State’s latest enrollment report.

Brad Hershbein, senior economist and communications adviser at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, said the fields in this college did not suffer the same drops in enrollment as bachelor’s and community college programs did due to the pandemic.

“People who are going into graduate programs generally are a little bit further ahead in life,” Hershbein said. “They tend to be a little bit higher income and otherwise somewhat protected against a lot of the forces that were reducing enrollment.”

Graduates with a master’s degree in psychology typically earn about $57,000 annually five years after graduation, while graduates with a master’s in physical sciences make about $62,000 and graduates with master’s degrees in communication, journalism or a related field average about $72,000 per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Master’s degree graduates earned $15,000 more per year on average than those with only a bachelor’s degree.

Engineering

With the second-highest enrollment, the graduate program currently has 1,800 engineering graduate students at Ohio State.  

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, while engineering students with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn around $80,000 five years after graduation, graduates with a master’s in engineering earn over $93,000 five years after graduation.

Hershbein said degrees that were in demand before the pandemic will probably still be needed going forward, so engineering students will likely find it easy to get a job.

Nursing

With an enrollment number of 976 students, the fifth-largest graduate program this semester is nursing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, health professionals with a graduate degree make almost $20,000 more per year on average than those with only a bachelor’s degree.

Hershbein said graduate students in health care fields have another advantage — the demand for people trained in health care fields is high.

According to the American Nurses Association, nursing shortages have resulted due to COVID-19, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects roughly 195,000 “average annual openings for registered nurses between 2020 and 2030.”

According to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, five of the 20 fastest-growing industries from 2019 to 2029 will be in the health care and social assistance sectors.

Education and Human Ecology

The education and human ecology graduate program enrolled 1,046 students this semester. On average, graduates with a master’s degree in education make around $10,000 more than their peers with only bachelor’s degrees, according to the analysis and reporting website.

The education market is expected to grow at a rate of almost 4 percent annually until 2025, according to a report from Research and Markets. Demand for skilled labor in education is increasing, as well, particularly in K-12 education.

Social Work

The sixth-most popular graduate program at Ohio State is social work, with 939 students enrolled. While the earnings gap between a bachelor’s and a master’s in social service professions is smaller than others, at around $8,500, Hershbein said these professions were in high demand before the pandemic.

“A lot of those jobs got lost during the pandemic because a lot of it takes place in person,” Hershbein said. “There’s just not a lot of funds that were distributed because of a lot of cutbacks.”

Hershbein said the demand for these professions should bounce back once funding is reestablished.