Singapore MOE list of degrees that pay S$7,000 or more to the top 25% of fresh graduates
Singapore MOE released a list of degrees that pay S$7,000 or more to the top 25% of fresh graduates in Singapore.
Astrong
Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed below belong solely to the author. Data sourced from the latest Graduate Employment Survey by Ministry of Education.
It’s this time of the year again—Graduate Employment Survey (GES) is in, with employment and salary data for graduates of Singapore’s public universities.
News outlets have already covered the general findings that fewer fresh grads were able to find work but those who did earned more money on average, with the median gross monthly salary (excluding employer CPF) hitting S$4,500, up from S$4,317 last year.
All of this is useful but I prefer to look deeper and see what the ambitious students can aspire to and which degrees offer the best chances of landing a very well paid job straight out of university. Fortunately, GES provides some insight into that as well.
Why settle for less?
Median is instructive of what the “average” outcomes are, somewhere in the middle. But how well can your effort be rewarded if you work harder to get yourself maybe not to the very top but at least the upper 25% of alumni (75th percentile)?
Here are the courses that gave their best bachelors the highest salaries in 2024:
$7,000 or more
| Rank | Course | School | Median gross salary | Gross salary at 75th percentile | Premium over median |
| 1 | Bachelor of Business Administration | NUS | S$5,100 | S$8,500 | +67% |
| 2 | Computer Science | NUS | S$6,500 | S$7,500 | +15% |
| 3 | Computing Science (cum laude) | SMU | S$6,400 | S$7,500 | +17% |
| 4 | Information Security | NUS | S$6,110 | S$7,049 | +15% |
| 5 | Law | NUS, SMU | S$7,000 | S$7,000 | 0% |
| 6 | Double Degree in Business and Computer Engineering/Computing | NTU | S$6,250 | S$7,000 | +12% |
| 7 | Computing Science (4-year programme) | SMU | S$6,000 | S$7,000 | +17% |
$6,000 to $7,000
| Rank | Course | School | Median gross salary | Gross salary at 75th percentile | Premium over median |
| 8 | Information Systems | NUS | S$6,000 | S$6,955 | +16% |
| 9 | Computer Engineering (multi-disciplinary) | NUS | S$5,800 | S$6,666 | +15% |
| 10 | Information Systems (cum laude) | SMU | S$5,549 | S$6,600 | +19% |
| 11 | Data Science and Analytics | NUS | S$5,400 | S$6,600 | +22% |
| 12 | Computer Science | NTU | S$5,500 | S$6,500 | +18% |
| 13 | Data Science & Artificial Intelligence | NTU | S$5,450 | S$6,500 | +19% |
| 14 | Computer Engineering | NTU | S$5,500 | S$6,391 | +16% |
| 15 | Business Analytics | NUS | S$5,400 | S$6,350 | +18% |
| 16 | Computing & Law (cum laude) | SMU | S$5,000 | S$6,290 | +26% |
| 17 | Arts & Social Sciences (BoA) | NUS | S$4,300 | S$6,250 | +45% |
| 18 | Engineering Science | NUS | S$5,500 | S$6,200 | +13% |
Employer’s CPF contributions, bonuses, stock options, lump sum payments, and payments-in-kind are excluded.
Unsurprisingly the list is dominated by technical courses in various branches of computer science. It is interesting, however, that the top spot was clinched by Business Administration. Lawyers, as usual, can expect good pay—though scoring better than your peers doesn’t seem to translate into higher salary.
There’s some good news for those pursuing arts—a Bachelor of Arts at NUS can land you an offer of over S$6,000 if you do well enough.
Is the extra effort worth it?
It’s up to you to decide, really. Being a better student can translate into a roughly 15% higher starting pay in most cases—or about S$10,000 to S$12,000 annually at this pay grade.
Of course it also depends on your success in job hunting, your employer, and your ability to sell yourself to him.
Nevertheless, even after your portion of CPF and tax are deducted, this is at least an extra good holiday or two, extra money for downpayment on your apartment, or seed cash for a side hustle for those more entrepreneurial types.
Plus, these amounts compound over time and a higher starting pay sets you up for future pay raises and bonuses commensurate with the level you’re already at.
Which is why getting those extra accolades at school, while not paying off instantly, is likely to translate into real money the moment you step out the door of your university.
Featured Image Credit: zdl / depositphotos
