Where you go to school DOES matter
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Career, Wealth
From the pages of the Wall Street Journal this morning (subscription required) comes a new survey that reveals what we've all long suspected. Where you go to college does indeed matter in terms of pay. Payscale, Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, recently released the findings of a yearlong study in which it surveyed 1.2 million bachelor's degree holders with a minimum of 10 years of work experience. The subjects' alma maters ranged from state schools to the Ivy League. It didn't survey those with advanced degrees, law or business degrees.
The median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts colleges, according to the survey. And that lead grows as a graduate's career progresses. Ten-plus years into their careers, Ivy League graduates earn 34% more than graduates of other schools.Which school pays off most? According to this survey, it's Dartmouth, whose graduates earn the highest median salary of $134,000.
The survey points out that many graduates of Ivy League schools go into consulting or finance, which pays big right out of the chute. And while I've always questioned the value of hiring a 23-year-old "consultant" with a degree in Italian Literature from Yale, apparently this doesn't concern the consulting firms or the corporations who pay the big bucks to hire them.
Another interesting finding? What you major in has little longterm effect on your earning potential. It all depends on what you do with that philosophy degree. Go into consulting, and you'll earn a healthy living. Sit on a park bench and ponder pigeons? Well, you might as well have gone into journalism...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-02-2008 @ 12:35AM
Moneymonk said...
I wrote an article about this on my blog about this a while back
http://moneyliving.blogspot.com/2008/05/its-not-college-its-student.html
Reply
8-03-2008 @ 10:15PM
John S. said...
I think it is a disgrace to people who do well in getting a business degree, work for a while in the finance field and then go on and get an MBA from a respected program while working full-time, only to get beaten out by someone who never took one business class in college. Ultimately, they get more growth opportunities in finance than someone like myself and make more money.
I think Julie who wrote this article is right on about questioning the motives of these companies who pay big bucks for people who have no business background to serve them in the financial industries.
JP Morgan Chase is a big offender of this of what Julie writes about. I remember reading one time of them accepting a recent grad at Princeton University who was a religious studies major got into one of their rotational programs.
How can people like this survive or do well in the business world and make a contribution when someone like myself has alot of professional finance experiences and even an MBA cant even get a chance at this type of opportunity? Total hypocrisy.
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8-04-2008 @ 3:18AM
RER said...
People with liberal arts degrees, or humanities degrees, have learned to analyze and think outside the box--they are probably more creative thinkers. They bring more fresh thinking, and are not limited by what they learn in a traditional business program--they are more flexible and less tied to one set of ideas, or one way f thinking--if they are from a top school--they can be taught the practical stuff and pick it up quickly.
Companies that do consulting and finace are often happier with their liberal arts and humanities graduates than with business grads.
8-03-2008 @ 10:50PM
jack purvin said...
university of denver is the best, but its still 95 per cent who you know not what you know........network with everyone. jack mpurvin md
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8-20-2008 @ 10:15AM
ScrapbookDiva said...
Well, if you spent $200K on your education, you need to make 32% more to pay off those school loans.
Go to a community college, it's 8 to 10K a year or less. Go to a state school, it's $12K to $20K per year.
So, let's say I fianance the whole 4 years and I get out of school 80K in debt. Sure, I don't have people with big paychecks wooing me, but do you know what kind of jobs those big paycheck jobs are? They're 60 to 80 hours a week and BORING. Do you really want to crunch numbers for a big accounting firm? Really?
You can start at $134,000 a year fresh out of school-- if you live in New York and work for a big investment firm where you are low man on the totem pole, working for people who make at least $500,000 a year, who don't see you as valuable. You're just chum in their shark tank.
I went to a you-never-heard-of-it liberal arts college. I was only $10K in debt when I got out because it was cheap and the school had great endowments for their students.
Since I didn't have to go work for a company I didn't like to pay off a debilitating loan, I've had the most interesting, diverse jobs on the planet. I once sang for the President, cleaned monkey cages at a primate testing site, read reports on penis sizes across nationalities at a condom company, as well as reported traffic on the radio.
Then there was the job where I hosted talks with some of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time. It paid crap, but they were the most fascinating and stimulating years of my life. For the last four years I was a TV and radio spokesperson. Again, for the most part, it paid a pittance but it was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.
Take your Ivy League Education, and all the bills that go with it, and enjoy the box you must fit into to pay for it and live up to it.
I'd rather be a liberal arts grad with a diverse background and zero debt.
Reply
8-22-2008 @ 10:29AM
jack235 said...
Actually what difference does it make, a college is a college, so long as it is regionally accredited and is not or hever has been sanctioned. Pitting colleges against other colleges unfairly impacts the self-esteem of them who's college did not meet this opinionated list of top colleges. All colleges have the same academic objectives required by their regional and program accreditation boards. According to CHEA, all colleges and universities are on the same level of prestige. CHEA, the most important source of college evaluation, gives no distinction as to what colleges or universities are the best. Individuals should feel free to attend whatever college they so desire without concern or fear of some high flying and unofficial opinon crafted by individuals who may hold certain biases against other schools. Also, adult education is taking on an increasingly important role in the academic activities of America. Why aren't colleges that mostly meet the needs of working adults not part of these unofficial rankings?
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