Good News for College Grads: Salaries Up 7.1%
Average starting salaries for new college graduates are up a surprisingly strong 7.1% over last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Among the average salary offers, according to the association's summer survey:
- $63,165 for chemical engineering, up 6.4%
- $60,416 for computer science, up 13.1%
- $52,418 for information sciences and systems, up 3.1%
- $48,085 for accounting grads, up 2.9%
- $45,915 for business administration, up 5.1%
- $36,419 for liberal arts graduates, up 12.6%
5 Comments:
Unfortunately, I got this memo too late. Majored in history & english but on the upside, I'm great at cocktail parties.
Is this rational ignorance or irrational rationalizing or is it just the joy of being a woman? :)
I assume the National Association of Colleges and Employers collects this data from surveys. Only a small percentage of those being surveyed will bother to respond, and most who do will be among the most successful. It's only human nature to boast about your achievements, or otherwise, to stay quiet about it.
These starting salaries have always been too high.
The US Dept. of Labour provides very comprehensive data on salaries for thousands of different professions.
With regard to the figures given, the National Association of Colleges and Employers compiled these numbers from their summer survey with data from colleges and universities across the U.S. They track salaries for 70 different degrees on a quarterly basis and have been one of the prime sources of information on graduate salaries since 1956.
To assess the accuracy of the report, one would need to know the sample size. Unfortunately, you have to pay for a membership to get this info.
http://www.naceweb.org/salarysurvey/salary_survey.asp
Is it reasonable to dismiss the findings without looking at the methodology or sample size just by saying it was a survey? Aren't surveys an important source of information in our society? If people are willing to pay for this data, can one not conclude that that it has some utility value?
You have suggested that the results reflect a small percentage of grads and that the salaries are too high. While you may be correct, you have not supported these assertions with any data. Your argument therefore remains pure speculation. An educated guess perhaps, but not a proven argument.
I've always discarded these questionnaires because I didn't want to embarrass my alma mater. As an above-average student who remembers graduating with a cord hung 'round my neck, I've long since realized this is no guarantee for earning anywhere as much as this report suggests. Maybe it's because I've never left Genessee County, or simply because I'm too nice to hustle my boss for a raise.
Collecting data costs money and thus has worth, but the customer here is the education industry and gullible teenagers. As a result, too many people believe college is the answer, when they should be pursuing vocational fields, where just as many career opportunities abound.
Education is a business with great marketing prowess.
> I assume the National Association of Colleges and Employers collects this data from surveys. Only a small percentage of those being surveyed will bother to respond, and most who do will be among the most successful. It's only human nature to boast about your achievements, or otherwise, to stay quiet about it.
These starting salaries have always been too high.
Yes, write them off entirely, because they don't suit your own biased ideas of how such things really, really are.
Get real. If you're going to reject data, then you need to have better arguments in favor of it than "Nuuu-Uhhhhh!"
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