What’s your degree earning you?

August 13, 2008

As a (proud) graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, I’ll admit: I went to more than a few parties while I was there. I’m still surprised that the campus made Princeton Review’s list of “Top 20 Party Schools” last year - but, hey, I wasn’t involved in Greek life, so maybe my perception’s skewed.

Regardless, I’m pleased to read today in a PayScale report on graduates’ salaries that UMD ranks second on the list of party schools with “salary potential.” Supposedly, by mid-career (PayScale says typically, age 42 with 15.5 years of experience) a UMD graduate can expect to be earning $95K. (Obviously, this is highly dependent on area of expertise.)

UMD also scored well (No. 14) on the “Top State Universities” list, a broader category. (And if you squint and ignore all the schools based on the left coast, we’re easily inside the top 10!)

I nosed around for other local schools that were ranked but didn’t find any. If you see one I missed, let us know.

Data for the report was gathered from employees who completed a survey. Only employees who have a Bachelor’s degree and no higher degree were included.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

Top Party Colleges By Salary Potential

top party colleges
Methodology
Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 3 years of experience; mid-career have 15.5 years. See full methodology for more.
top party colleges
Sphere: Related Content

Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under business, salaries, university of maryland 

Comments

2 Responses to “What’s your degree earning you?”

  1. emily on August 13th, 2008 4:13 pm

    Yeah, this is very interesting, though it definitely applies to engineering majors more so than, say, journalism grads ;)

  2. Demographer on August 14th, 2008 7:41 am

    Do you think the fact that schools with higher medians are located in states with higher costs of living and higher pay scales generally, combined with the fact that most of the graduates of those schools (flagship campuses of big state universities) tend to work in the states where they went to school (since they usually were residents of those states to begin with), has anything to do with the payscale distribution? Why not recalibrate the numbers, controlling for cost of living and state payscales generally, to see if there are any differences of significance. The absolute numbers mean nothing in their own right, at least for comparative purposes. This post is reminiscent of the law school graduate who thinks a $160K salary in New York is a better economic deal than a $145K salary in Baltimore (or D.C.), because 160 is more than 145.

    By the way, the “full methodology” link is probably more accurately described as a “definitions” link.

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