are all engineering majors in it for the money?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I have a hard time believing an accountant can work those hours for that money. All the CAs I know (father, uncle, cousin, cousin’s wife) work a hell of a lot more than 40 hrs per week. My dad is a partner at a CA firm and he works like 50-60+ hrs a week normally, obviously those hours sky rocket during tax season. And he doesn’t take much vacation. I assume he makes over 100k but certainly not 150-200k. He basically discouraged me from going into accounting because he didn’t think the long hours/lack of vacation were justified by what he made.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus- The athlete thing was half joking. Obviously no one wakes up one day and says “hey I decided I’m gonna be the starting 3B of the NY Yankees.” Those who have a shot try for it all their lives and a small percentage get it, those who don’t are usually not idiotic enough to pursue it.</p>

<p>@silence kit- my point of illustration was directed towards gen practitioners, who will not be making plastic surgeon money and are usually faced with rough start up costs when they open a practice. They take home probably in the 150-200k range depending on how good their business sense is and their location. Its not heard of to have GPs only bringing home 100k or so after costs. </p>

<p>You talked about specialties. Specialties require a lot more training. A lot more training equals more debt and less time paying it off. More debt and less time paying it off equals deceiving pay numbers for heart surgeons with huge malpractice insurance on top of regular costs of owning a business or practice. </p>

<p>To be clear: I am in no way at all saying that medicine is not a good way to make money. What I’m saying is, over the long haul it basically evens out with careers like Business, Accounting, and Finance if you get the right breaks and have the right business sense. Even engineering with an MBA and the right breaks will get you there, again with no huge debt. People hear “$300,000 salary for orthopedic surgeon” and assume that hes banking. Just remember how much time he had to wait to get there and how big of a hole he put himself into to get there. Sure there are specialists that rake in a million a year, but that has as much to do with business sense as it does with medical knowledge. In fact, its way more business.</p>

<p>All in all, medicine is a very good profession. Very rewarding (it seems) and very respectable. I’ve considered it myself but I’m only getting through undergrad due to my scholarships and fin aide, so I just don’t feel comfortable going into that kinda debt and being without income for so long. Therefore I’m choosing what for me is the best, most economically sensible choice. </p>

<p>@you of eh- No offense intended, but it doesn’t sound like your dad is a partner of a very big firm if he’s reached partner status and is only bringing in 100k and works that much. Its still a big accomplishment to get partner in any firm because it shows he’s obviously good at what he does, but my if I had to guess its a fairly small firm, or that he makes more than you think. Usually partners are making stupid money. Which is why the few people who choose to pursue it kill themselves for years to finally get a shot at partner in their later days.</p>

<p>If you own your own office, hours tend to be more demanding. If you work for a private company, its usually more normal and the pay is very good.</p>

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<p>@domrom Yes I didn’t say he was partner at a massive firm. It’s a small firm, there’s only like 7 people that work there. But even then I think he can say he has been relatively successful with his degree. I mean the way you described it made it seem natural for an accountant to eventually be making 150-200k working 40hrs a week. I think we can both agree that that would be a very successful, above average career, certainly not the norm. I see what you’re saying but it’s not really fair to compare an average career as a doctor to an extremely successful career as an accountant. I think it would make a lot more sense to compare an accountant making 150-200k working 40hrs a week to say a radiologist with a successful practice. I don’t even know why I’m arguing this though cause I pretty much agree with what you’re saying. I definitely don’t think medicine is the best and easiest path to a big salary.</p>

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<p>See I didn’t really know that. I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about accounting or anything cause I really don’t. Guess I was just in the mood to argue lol. </p>

<p>To answer the OP, yes money is certainly one of the top reasons I’m in engineering. Maybe even more so than the average engineer. I don’t have a passion for math or science and I don’t plan to work as a technical engineer for very long.</p>

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<p>^ lol, I feel yea I’m in the mood to argue sometimes too. Now that you told me the size of the firm it makes much more sense. Although as I said before obviously partner level of any firm is still an accomplishment.</p>

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<p>You know, a lot of this argument depends on what you mean by “in it for the money” - do you mean a high chance of a significantly above average salary, or do you mean a low chance at an incredibly above average salary. I know a lot of engineers, and I know a lot of accountants - I work for an engineering firm, my sister for an accounting firm. In my experience the average engineer out-earns the average accountant (you can verify this using federal income reports), but accountants have a higher income ceiling. So accounting is a better money choice only for that talented one out of a hundred.</p>

<p>Regardless, this conversation seems to come up every other week or so as some new non-engineer (or reluctant/regretful engineer) tries to convince all the engineers that they made the wrong choice. My particular engineering department at work has an average salary over $150k (based on the “level” income guidelines), and we play with lots and lots of fun stuff. I think engineering is just fine.</p>

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<p>Excellent observation!</p>

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<p>You haven’t shown this. You have compared the money you make in the best case working as an accountant to the money you make in the worst case as a doctor.</p>

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<p>No I didn’t. I showed it specifically for gen. phys. while still leaving room in which I said specialties could apply but the debt/time factors would be adjusted. </p>

<p>And thats not the best case scenario for accounting. You could make much more in a “best case scenario.” Thats the situation of a given student doing both career paths. In other words, ever think that if a kid who was smart enough to be a successful doctor went into accounting he would be just as successful? FACT: A lot of really smart, driven people choose to be doctors. FACT: Fewer really smart, driven people choose to study accounting. Ever think that has something to do with how much the “median range” of accounting majors make? If all the would-be doctors went into accounting, a ton of them would be making gen phys money. My Big 4 salary numbers are not off. The problem with accounting salary data is they almost always get booked in with bookkeepers with a high school diploma or AA only. This obviously skews the numbers. Those are very good ballpark numbers for a Big 4 accountant. You may say not all people in accounting get into Big 4. Yeah, but the kids who could be doctors sure would.</p>

<p>Point being, you have to think of it as the same kid doing both professions. Not person A with a 4.0 in Bio vs. person B with a 3.5 in accg. And don’t give me that “the bio major might not be good at accg even though hes good at bio” nonsense. We all know most of college work and comprehension of something is a lot more related to hard work, memorizing, and motivation than it is natural comprehension. </p>

<p>So no, I’m not showing “the money you make in the best case working as an accountant to the money you make in the worst case as a doctor.” I’m showing what the same driven, smart student would make in both professions. AND I’M NOT SAYING ACCOUNTING MAKES WAY MORE MONEY THAN MEDICINE! The point was made by someone that medicine was the be all end all in high dollar careers and all I’m showing is that if you look at it sensibly over a long period of time thats not really the case.</p>

<p>I’m not really sure why we’re arguing this when its unrelated to the OP’s question?</p>

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<p>How did this thread turn into accounting vs. medicine? The “best case scenario” for any major is limitless if you start a comany or become a CEO. It is not exclusive to accounting or engineering. Many people with engineering degrees become CEOs but that certainly doesn’t mean that that is the norm. Domrom1’s point is well taken that even though doctors earn more on average than other professions, you must consider their debt and time commited to training. </p>

<p>The point here should not be profession A vs. profession B. The point is that you are pretty misguided if you go into medicine or engineering or any other profession just for the paycheck. Of course salary plays a part in choosing any career but if you hate engineering, is your paycheck really going to give you fulfillment? If you hate dealing with people, is your salary as a doctor going to make you happy even if you spend 40-50 hours a week doing something that you can’t stand?</p>

<p>All of the careers being discussed here can provide many opportunities to earn a great salary. You do not have to make half a million dollars a year to be comfortable. I enjoy the challenge of being an engineer. I would take a job that provides me with personal and professional fulfillment and a comfortable salary any day over something that pays a little bit more but that I absolutely hate. Life is not a competition to compare yourself to people in other professions to see who has the highest paycheck. The people that I truly respect are the ones that do what they enjoy not what they think will get them the largest salary.</p>

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<p>Actually, general / internal / family physicians (primary care physicians) is pretty much the worst case financially in the US among physicians, which is why there is a shortage of medical school graduates going into these areas, as opposed to other specialties like surgery, oncology, etc…</p>

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<p>Actually, that is true for any area. But the top earning people in any field are few, and usually are those who both get the right breaks and have the talent to take advantage of them.</p>

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<p>Guy, I don’t see what you’re trying to get me to say here. </p>

<p>I AM NOT SAYING MEDICINE IS NOT A GREAT, WELL-PAYING PROFESSION!</p>

<p>Someone said “if I was in it for the money, I’d go into medicine.” All I’m saying is that its not an automatic path to Maseratis and mansions like some seem to think. Anyone with intelligence can see there are financial and time drawbacks to medicine, as well as risks that must be undertaken for that bright, new 30-year-old heart surgeon straight outta 12 years of schooling with $250k in debt and about to take on more to open a practice without any guarantee of business success. I’m just saying a statement that implies all doctors are super wealthy is foolish. Do they do well? OF COURSE! I’M NOT SAYING THEY DON’T! I’m just saying over time while calculating in all the costs of living debt while not working in med school, tuition debt, opening a practice debt, etc., it kinda evens out over time with professions like engineering and accounting. </p>

<p>Its kinda like a “now or later” thing in a way too. Sure if you’re a surgeon, by the time your 45, your salary is most likely gonna be above mine as a controller or other accounting based management position. But you have probably just payed off your debt from med school and opening up your own practice with very little funds, assuming you are even out of debt yet. What if you wanna start a family and buy a house at 26, not 36? If I’m taking on mortgage-sized debt, I want it to be for, well, A MORTGAGE! lol. </p>

<p>For the last time: I AM NOT IMPLYING DOCTORS ARE POOR, MIDDLE CLASS, OR ANYTHING LIKE IT. I’m saying that for someone to assume that medicine is more or less an automatic path to a life of Doctor 90210 then I think you are misguided. </p>

<p>I’m still not seeing what we’re arguing here.</p>