Neurobiology and Neurosciences at The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

A $21,138 starting salary for a neuroscience bachelor's degree from UT-Knoxville places graduates in the bottom 5% nationally for this field—that's roughly $10,000 below the national median and even trails the Tennessee state median by nearly $5,000. While the debt load of $18,500 isn't catastrophic, the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.88 means graduates are carrying nearly a full year's salary in debt, which becomes problematic at these income levels. For context, Rhodes College neuroscience graduates in Tennessee earn nearly $35,000—68% more than UT-Knoxville's reported figure.

The critical caveat here is sample size: fewer than 30 graduates means these numbers could be heavily skewed by a few students who went into low-paying research positions or pursued gap-year opportunities before medical school. Neuroscience is typically a pre-med pathway, and first-year earnings don't capture students who are about to enter graduate or medical programs. However, even accounting for this, the gap is large enough to warrant concern if your child plans to enter the workforce directly after graduation.

If your student is using this degree as a stepping stone to medical or graduate school, the low initial earnings are less relevant than the quality of preparation and research opportunities. But for direct employment after graduation, these numbers suggest either very limited job market success or a cohort heavily oriented toward non-career gap years—neither of which offers reassurance about immediate ROI.