Interesting rankings...
 

First....

This post is not intended to be inflammatory. I simply thought everyone would find it interesting. The link below ranks schools by graduates that earn the highest amount of money. No, this poll is not an exact science. So take it for what it is worth.

I was very surprised to see there were no Big 10 schools (other than Northwestern). I fully expected to see many Pac 10 and Ivy league schools.

Lastly, I was not all surprised to see the SEC was nonexistant, except for Vandy. That should not be a surprise to anyone.

Here you go...

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08..._topSlideShows

It's almost entirely small "elite" schools. No surprise there wasn't a showing of many larger schools, because larger schools will have plenty of graduates bringing the average down.

It also has to do with popular majors at the school. Engineering is very popular at Bucknell and Lehigh, and engineers make a good amount of money. Therefore, Bucknell and Lehigh grads made it high on the list.

I think the reason behind the missing SEC and Big 10 schools is that the markets they put their graduates into, for the most part, have lower COL and therefore lower salaries. Most of those schools dump their graduates into major cities or into specific industries that make a ton of money.

I'd imagine that 35k a year out of U Alabama (if the person stays local) is going to have a ton more purchasing power then 60k out of Pace.

I admit, I had to look up Union College. Other than that, I am not surprised the top schools were mostly Ivy League and strong engineering schools.

#38! :cool:

They must be taking into account the market you most likely live in. Otherwise Austin, TX should be higher.

Again, polls are NOT an exact science....

What struck me as interesting was the "top incomes". I think these are incomes for people that have been competing in the workplace (i.e. against graduates from other schools) for an extended period of time.

Yes, engineers start out right out of college with higher pay. However, their pay tops out (relatively speaking) fairly average. That's not a "knock" on engineers. I could never have earned a degree in engineering.

Also, the Ivys, USC's, Notre Dame's, Vandy's, Emory's, Duke's, Northwestern's, Stanford's etc. of the world tend to dispurse their graduates over a greater area because they tend to try to enroll kids from all over (unlike a public school).

Anyways, one could argue the merits and faults of this poll from so many angles...

Rankings
 

Hoorah Bulldogs!

You are stereotyping engineers to people who always stay in engineering. One of my doctors has both a BS and an MS in EE. Many of my friends with engineering degrees have either gone on to own their own companies, particularly manufacturing companies.


When I was working on my MBA, most of those in the program with me were engineers. My brother (Civil) is Chief Estimator for a major paving contractor, my father (Civil) is a consultant, my cousin (Mechanical) became a physician, another cousin (Nuclear) CIO of a think tank, my neighbor (Mechanical) owns a manufacturing company and my good friend (Electrical) is in medical equipment sales. I'm not saying they are all at the top range that are listed, but I can't say they have "topped out" on their pay.


Engineering attracts and teaches analytics and critical thinking, which are also a qualities necessary to be successful. Among my friends, we would look at students of engineering and hold them in a high regard.

I was about to reply with the exact same thing, including having to google Union! Hmmm, it's like we're sisters or something... ;)
This is a good point.

Every Greek should know Union College, We are talking about the mother of fraternities after all.

"Fraternity and Sorority Life at Union College has a long and rich history. As the home of the Union Triad, we are hailed as the Mother of Fraternities. As such, Union College has always been a leader in the Fraternity & Sorority movement."

....And, so they say

five national organizations have been founded there, including the Kappa Alpha Order. So it started there in a sense.

No, Kappa Alpha Society was founded at Union, not Kappa Alpha Order

two seperate and totally unrelated organizations.

sorry. I confuse the two. Should have checked before making an ass of myself.

KA Order was founded at Washington and Lee. :)

Can anyone transcribe the list? I'm too lazy to scroll through it all myself. LOL

Two MAJOR disclaimers from the list:

It's interesting, but given those disclaimers I'm not sure how much it REALLY means. Don't the people who want to earn crazy big salaries usually get MBAs, JDs, or MDs anyway?

banditone, I don't think I realized you went to UT... duh.

Check out http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...ndex_lifestyle and the links at the bottom for a more readable format. For some reason, they didn't have my alma mater in the public schools list... it's definitely a public school, don't know what's up with that.

What do you know? My Alma Mater made the list.

They've got a whole section just for engineering schools (see the 2nd link), GaTech is on that list.

This entire discussion overlooks one key factor: look at the types of students that most of these schools admit. For all the ivies, MIT's, and stanfords, the students going to those schools are HIGHLY qualified. They are intelligent, good test takers, have excellent time management skills and are highly motivated. In other words...they're going to be successful no matter where they went. It is NOT due to the schools influence.

Well, I'm gratified to see that my school made the public school list. What, it didn't make the party school list? This is a travesty! :p

A few of these schools are a mystery to me. SUNY-Albany? Who knew? And Cal-Davis, isn't that an agricultural school? What, are half their graduates going out and starting their own vineyards?

Some schools, like Syracuse, Boston College, and Georgetown, are traditional refuges of the rich and upper middle class. It's not only what you know, but who you know. No surprises there.

The University of Vermont is a traditional favorite of well-to-do New Englanders who want a bohemian-type college experience. They go there, or the uber-pricy Bennington, or Brown or Hampshire, or perhaps one of the Maine colleges. But UVM is well known in that regard.

Pace -- gahh.

An Ivy Leage diploma still matters. A friend of mine (Stanford MBA) reported to me that he was locked out of certain, exclusive Wall Street jobs becasue he didn't have an Ivy League undergraduate degree. But you know what? He got a great job anyway, and he eventually made his fortune anyway. :p

MIT -- my brother is an MIT engineering grad, as are his friends -- they've all done quite well. Most of them eventually moved into management, or started their own companies.

It's a shame that the smaller schools were left off of the list. I'd love to see how Amherst College grads would rank. I knew a number of kids who rejected Ivy League schools in favor of Amherst.

Amherst is on the Liberal Arts school list, and relatively high, Cal Davis was founded as a Land Grant school, which means it was started for agriculture, military and home ec. Ohio State, Cornell and Michigan State are as well, but that doesn't mean that they are only an ag school.


MIT -- my dad went there as well -- and even though it is not Ivy League, I throw it in for good measure.

To clarify though, UC Davis is now a comprehensive university. I mean all the UC schools are awesome. Frankly a lot of the UC-XYZ schools are better than the flagship schools of some states.

I think another thing is just what the student body is like. EG the liberal arts list:

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...640_page_4.htm

W&L (my alma mater) is ranked a higher than schools that are usually ranked as better than it by US News, such as Davidson, Wellesley, Williams, Wesleyan, etc. I'm fairly sure part of this is because W&L people are conservative and tend to value money extremely highly. Maybe people from Wellesley, for example, are more interested in non-profit work.

W&L has the Williams School which is great for students wanting to go into I-banking. And since COL isn't taken into acct and many W&L alums stay in the South rather than moving to the expensive Northeast (DC excepted), they are definitely getting a lot of return on their COA investment.

My impressions of UC Davis are from way back when. It's part of the UC system, and these days, that speaks for itself.

Benzgirl, I stand corrected on Amherst. :)

I have nothing but respect for W&L. The Virginia schools are awesome.

My father was an engineer as well as my brother. I always loved my brother's engineering friends -- just nice, normal guys.

Right, but it's also public, so I'm pretty sure it should be on that list too, like Illinois is both a party school (whatever that means) and a public school. Probably just an oversight.

The picture they have up for Colorado School of Mines is a picture of University of Colorado, Boulder. I thought that was funny...

These lists are totally random...a zillion good schools are missing, but some commuter branch campuses are included? It amazes me that this "study" from PayScale.com made it into the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek as if it was really statistically accurate. It's all self-reported, and from the number of schools omitted, it seems that maybe the PayScale.com folks just didn't know anyone from those schools. I've never even heard of PayScale.com, but I do know a PR stunt when I see one.

Yayyyyyy we're #11

The real winners make big money without getting an MBA and even if they go to schools on that list, make much more than any of the averages shown. As for JDs and MDs...well they make enough to feed pigeons these days I hear.

haha I should have known you would reply to this thread with someone like that. :)

Consider me schooled or whatever. LOL

I don't know, there were quite a few larger schools on the list - it seems like the small schools, like Williams, Amherst, etc., weren't included. I kind of lump Wesleyan with Williams and Amherst, so I was kind of surprised they provided a large enough sample size to be included on the list.

Rudey already made the point, but from my own experience, my friends who are making the most money don't have advanced degrees. They had the grades and background to get into really good jobs right out of school, and now have been there for 5-7 years, and are quickly making their way up the salary ladder.

I have to slightly disagree with this; the name on the diploma can take you places, and if you did well at a good school, that's going to mean a lot. I'm a highly-motivated person and a good test-taker, and I went to a pretty solid undergrad, but if I'm up against someone with a Ivy League or high-level (MIT, U of Chicago, etc.) degree, chances are they'll be more successful than I am.