<p>Two questions:</p>
<p>What is the typical average starting salary for harvard undergrads upon graduation?</p>
<p>I've always heard that Harvard is funded greatly for its research in its graduate programs. Anyone know approx. how much money the univ. gets per year for funding?</p>
<p>Harvard only has this information in hardcopy, not online, and I'm not in town right now so I can't check it. </p>
<p>However, as a frame of reference, here are the Princeton starting salaries. I think it's safe to say that the Harvard numbers are going to be fairly close. In fact, the overall Harvard number might actually be a little lower than Princeton's, because Princeton graduates a larger proportion of engineers and computer scientists, and those guys tend to make the most money.</p>
<p>As far as research funding goes, here are the accounting statements for fiscal 2004. Research revenue totaled about $590 million in fiscal 04, representing almost a quarter of Harvard's overall budget. Also notice that Harvard pulled in more money from research than from student fees.</p>
<p>I always thought it'd be higher. </p>
<p>Wharton'04 was $25,000-$80,000 with $52,000 being the average.</p>
<p>yea jose and thats not even countin the bonus's most wharton students get which tend to be 35-45,000</p>
<p>Yeah, but that's Wharton. Obviously a preprofessional degree program is going to produce people who make more money than the average. For example, if I just looked at the EECS graduates from MIT, I would see a very high starting salary. </p>
<p>When you look at Harvard as a broad spectrum, you will see that there are some majors that will make a lot of money, and other majors that won't make you much money at all. Harvard liberal arts students, for example, don't make a high average starting salary, just like Princeton liberal arts students don't make a high average starting salary, as shown by the data. On the other hand, it should not be surprising to find that Harvard computer science majors make a high average starting salary, just like Princeton and MIT computer science make a high average starting salary. The fact is, certain majors, especially the preprofessional ones, are more marketable than others. Now, will there be a few liberal arts majors that rake it in? Of course. Will there by a few computer science majors that get paid peanuts? Again, of course. But it is true that a Harvard computer science student will make a higher starting salary on average, compared to a Harvard liberal arts student. It's just that Harvard has a lot of liberal arts students. </p>
<p>I would also comment about the jobs that those Wharton guys are getting. Generally, in order to get bonuses like that, you gotta be working in investment banking. The biggest turnoff about investment banking is the hours. You literally are working 80-100 hours a week. You may be making good money, but you're also consumed by the workload. A lot of people just don't want to spend their youths in the office like that. I know people who have gotten investment banking offers and turned them down because they didn't want to be working those kinds of hours. I know other people who worked for a short time and then quit, again, because of frustration with the hours. Money isn't everything. You have to think about what you're giving up to get that money.</p>
<p>Investment banking...What exactly is the job description for a first a first year investment banker? My cousin is one and she makes around 65K but averages 3 to 4 hours of sleep a day. She's transferring out because this job is really getting on her nerves. I would think its great though - she works in NYC for a one of the biggest banks.</p>
<p>She only makes 65k in NYC?</p>
<p>intreresting</p>
<p>First year, I believe.</p>
<p>but still...i thought a lot of the top jobs started around 80k</p>
<p>80K starting with an undergraduate degree? Are you joking? People with a master's (or any other sort of graduate degree) can make that kind of money. 65K salary with bonus is clearly above average for a starting undergraduate with just a bachelor's degree.</p>
<p>Now with an MBA from a top school, your starting salary should be 2 to 3 times the amount of 65K but it takes time to get an MBA.</p>
<p>you should do some research into i-banking. at top firms in NYC, analysts right out of college can make easily 80k. I know a kid who graduated from Yale last year who started this year at 110k (including bonuses).</p>
<p>Harvard does not offer an undergraduate business major, so its usually engineering majors, math majors, and econ majors who get these jobs.</p>
<p>and, by the way, a top undergraduate degree greases the wheels for a top i-banking job. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Wharton are heavily represented at the top of the i banking chain.</p>
<p>Yeah, but on the other hand, as an Ibanking analyst, you're working 90 hours a week. Think about that. I know several Ibankers, and they literally work M-F, 8Am to midnight (yeah, that's right, midnight), and still come in on the weekends to do more work. Before you jump into IB, think carefully about whether you really can endure those kinds of hours.</p>
<p>8Am to midnight M-F and work on weekends? Sounds like me in high school.</p>
<p>I got this website previously posted on this same thread:</p>
<p>It shows the average starting salaries for Princeton. And considering the averages start around 50K, I'd still say 65K is well over the average. </p>
<p>However, I do acknowledge the fact that there are analysts who make 80K + for top firms in NYC. I wonder if engineering positions for top companies like Exxon-Mobil pay this kind of dough for first year college students. I believe petroleum engineers make this kind of money but as far as other kinds of chemical engineers, I don't believe they get anywhere near 80K their first year.</p>
<p>Prepster05, I don't know about that. You know and I know that for the most part, high school is a fairly low-stress environment. Much of the time is spent sitting in class doing nothing, or socializing with friends. Only a few times does it get stressful, like during exam crunch time. IB is not like that at all - it is ALWAYS stressful in IB. Imagine that it's exam week, every single week. Imagine pulling one or two all-nighters every couple of weeks. That's the kind of stress I'm talking about. </p>
<p>You may want to read some of the books about the industry to get a feel for what the lifestyle is all about. There are true stories of people regularly taking naps in bathrooms because they are so tired. There are true stories of people buying new underwear every week because they don't have time to do laundry. There are true stories of guys sleeping in the office for days at a time because they just don't have time to go home. </p>
<p>Now, to eternity_hope2005, there definitely are analysts who can make 100k+ (including year-end bonus) in IB in their first year, which easily dwarfs the kind of money you make in engineering. But again, it's all about the hours worked. Engineers don't work the kinds of hours that IB analysts do. It's a tradeoff. Do you want to make more money but never leave the office, or do you want to make less money, but have a life? If all you care about is money, then don't do engineering. Go to IB. However, again, a lot of people see the kind of lifestyle that those people live and decide they want no part of it. I know people who have gotten IB offers and turned them down because they know they can't handle that kind of lifestyle. I know other people who took those offers, but quickly quit in frustration because they hated the lifestyle. A career as an engineering offers a way to make a decent living without having to live in the office. </p>
<p>And no, in general, large engineering companies do not pay the most money. As an engineer, if you want to make the most money, you generally do not work for a large company like Exxon. Exxon's salary offer will be decent, but nowhere near the top. That's because Exxon knows full well that their big-name, their 'resume prestige' and their stability means that they don't have to offer the best salaries. If you want to make the best engineering salaries, you generally have to go work for a small-to-midsize company. The best salaries I've seen that engineers make come from certain small companies (not all small companies, but certain ones), because they know they have nothing to offer except a high salary if they want to attract talent.</p>
<p>I know its stressful. But at my upper (read, 11th grade) year, I would get back to my room around midnight on week nights and then start the hours of homework I had. The weekends I spent doing homework-almost entirely.</p>
<p>The worst weekend was when I had 3 ten page papers due on monday and tuesday, plus a book to read for english and a 2 page paper to write on the fall of the soviet union written in RUSSIAN. Food was secondary. Sleep was non existant. Nothing can be harder than that. I know I banking is stressful, but Im sure that I can do it now.</p>
<p>Hey, don't get me wrong. If you think you can handle it, then go for it. I would just warn you that nobody everybody who wants an IB job actually gets one. Plenty of people spend their entire undergraduate years trying to prime themselves for an IB offer - and get nothing. Furthermore, you will find yourself sorely tempted not to enter that kind of lifestyle when you see your college friends hanging out and having a good time and basically having a life while you're still slaving away in the office. Yeah, you're making more money than they are, at some point, you will inevitably ask yourself whether it's really worth it to make a lot of money if you never enjoy it. You will be mentally tested this way. </p>
<p>Look, there was a time in my life when I used to think that money was everything. Now I realize that I just want to have enough money to enjoy life. A lot of my cohort has come to this realization as well. Yes, we could all make more money if we really wanted to, but at what cost to our own happiness and to the wellbeing of our spouses and families?</p>