The University of Texas at Austin is looking into the next generation of pharmacists by urging students who are seeking a degree with great job potential in the future to pursue the career field.

Recent data confirm what The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy has long known: a pharmacy degree is not just a commitment to knowledge; it’s an investment in a secure and impactful future with an invaluable effect on the health of our communities of care.

A recent Postsecondary Education and Economics Research (PEER) Center report, drawing on nearly three decades of earnings data from hundreds of thousands of students, said that among the 18 most popular graduate fields, those with Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degrees experience the highest percent return to earnings following graduation and among the highest percent cost-adjusted returns.

According to the report, a Pharm.D. degree provides the highest return to earnings percentage, and the second highest cost-adjusted returns. In fact, a Pharm.D. offers the quickest career boost of any postgraduate degree.

“A pharmacist’s impact goes far beyond a graduate’s career earnings,” says Samuel M. Poloyac, dean of The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. “They personalize care as medication experts to improve societal health. At Texas Pharmacy we train the very best.”

The program at UT-Austin ranks among the highest in the nation for pharmacists, and the college has the core technology and teaching to help students advance in the field.

In fact, the program has a job placement rate of nearly 100 percent.