Skip to content
← Back to explore

Education

Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary

Typically requires Doctoral or professional degree

What is this page & how do I use it?

This is a research report for one career — the kind an analyst would write for a stock. The rating at the top is the neutral baseline (same for everyone); below it come the cases for and against, how the last official forecast for this career actually aged, and what the education path costs and pays.

How to use it: read the bulls-vs-bears case, then hit Score this career to weigh it against your other options with your own interests factored in.

CareerStar rating
StrongMedium uncertainty
top 4% of all 730 careers

Analyst take: Strong market prospects — +16.8% projected growth, moderate AI exposure (40/100).

65
/ 100
low riskhigh
top row = high reward

Moat (borrowed from investing — the water that defends a castle): how shielded this career is from AI. Wide = well-defended — few automatable tasks, built on skills few other jobs have.

The small grid is a style box (borrowed from Morningstar’s fund reports): the blue square places this career on reward (top row = high) versus risk (left column = low), against all 730 careers. Medium uncertainty means the score leans partly on forward-looking bets like AI exposure, so treat the exact number loosely.

🐂 Bulls say
  • +Strong projected growth — outpaces 98% of careers (+16.8%).
  • +High pay — above 76% of careers ($79,940).
  • +Low AI exposure — resilient (40% of tasks exposed).
🐻 Bears say
  • Its softest spot: it carries some AI exposure (40% of tasks).
📜 Reality check — how the last forecast for this career fared

In 2014, the U.S. government projected +19.2% growth for this career by 2024. What actually happened: +33.5%. Reality beat the forecast — a reminder that every number on this page is an estimate, and this is how the last one aged. Full back-test →

Was this rating fair?
Projected growth
+16.8%
Median pay
$79,940
AI exposure
40/100
share of tasks exposed to AI — not job loss

Education & ROI — how to get here

Real outcomes for the college majors that feed this occupation, across 1,331 bachelor’s programs.

Median earnings
$62,724
1 year after graduating
Typical debt
$27,000
median federal debt
Pay-to-debt
2.3×
first-year pay ÷ debt
Feeder majors
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical NursingBioethics/Medical Ethics
Selective schools offering these majors
Columbia University in the City of New York
NY · 4% admit rate
$89,472/yr
$102,491 grad pay
Northeastern University
MA · 5% admit rate
$84,641/yr
$92,538 grad pay
University of Pennsylvania
PA · 5% admit rate
$89,028/yr
$111,371 grad pay
Duke University
NC · 6% admit rate
$87,072/yr
$97,800 grad pay
Johns Hopkins University
MD · 6% admit rate
$85,947/yr
$87,555 grad pay
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · 9% admit rate
$38,614/yr
$82,511 grad pay

Earnings & debt from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard; majors mapped to this occupation via the NCES CIP→SOC crosswalk. A grounded ROI snapshot, not a guarantee — pay varies widely by school and specialty.

What this work involves

teachingeducationpeoplecommunication