Project Management

Types of Degrees Project Management Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many project management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	1,470
Basic Certificate	1,227
Bachelor’s Degree	914
Graduate Certificate	689
Undergraduate Certificate	33
Associate Degree	24
Doctor’s Degree	6

What Project Management Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, project management majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Project Management Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in project management should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Project Management Majors

When studying project management, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Project Management Majors

A major in project management will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Can You Do With a Project Management Major?

People with a project management degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Brownfield Redevelopment Specialists and Site Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Business Professors	18.0%	$83,960
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Investment Fund Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Supply Chain Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Wind Energy Operations Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Wind Energy Project Managers	8.0%	$107,480

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Project Management?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 60% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of project management majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	23
Black or African American	93
Hispanic or Latino	139
White	513
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	134

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Project Management. About 1.3% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Project Management

Some careers associated with project management require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for project management careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	2.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	3.7%
Some College Courses	1.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	52.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	3.1%
Master’s Degree	19.5%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.7%
Doctoral Degree	11.0%

Online Project Management Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	11	6
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	9	0
Bachelor’s Degree	88	47
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	78	45
Post-Master’s	5	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Project Management

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to project management.

Major	Number of Grads
General Business Administration and Management	336,268
Organizational Leadership	15,303
Interior Design Management	13,070
Supply Chain Management	10,445
Operations Management	5,884
Office Administration	3,252
Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management	2,481
Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts Management	1,102
Retail Management	985
Transportation/Mobility Management	592
E-Commerce	415
Science/Technology Management	321
Research and Development Management	287
Customer Service Management	282
Risk Management	177

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.