Hey guys so I’ve been admitted to CS in COE and I have been looking at CS starting salaries. On the UIUC website, it says that the starting salary is about $86,000 and in a recent UIUC powerpoint, I saw that for 2014 grads, the starting salary is now around $92,000. However, on other websites like pay scale, it says UIUC comp sci grads get around $70,000. Where are these websites getting those numbers? Is it possible that these websites are looking at CS grads from the arts college which might receive less? Should I go off the UIUC website stats cuz they would know best? Thanks
A statistics course would be useful.
Payscale is self-reported data. Actually, they’re all self-reported data, and Payscale’s average could (and likely does) include numbers from years past.
BTW, note that there will be regional variations as well.
What do you mean ‘go off’? Your own starting salary may have a lot to do with the research and internships you do or not do, maybe gpa, your skill set, how well you interview–cracking the code and all
Yes these are salary surveys, and you should look at how many people are surveyed and the rate of response when you look at such data.
Some colleges that have CS in 2 depts report that there aren’t any differences in salary and prospects, so that may or may not be true for UIUC.
Salaries will also depend on the location. They will be lower in cities with a lower cost of living and vice versa. Can’t really just look at the numbers. It may wind up being a better deal to make $50,000 in a place like Indianapolis than to make $75,000 in a city like Chicago. So I wouldn’t focus so much on the “exact” numbers.
There is no difference in what you make coming from Illinois vs. any other top CS program for a given job
These surveys are just averages, and reflect low response rates in most cases. You will earn more on the coasts, and schools that send more grads there will show higher averages, but Facebook does not pay a more for an XYZ grad vs an ABC grad, given it’s for the same job. And whether you qualify for that given job is almost entirely based on what you do vs where you do it, given that the school is on the recruit/visit list in the first place or you have some other way to get their attention.
Thanks, so would you say going to Ohio State with an average starting salary of $60,000 is about the same as UIUC grads when you consider that most OSU grads work in ohio and most UIUC grads work for large companies in larger cities with much higher costs of living?
Well, do most OSU grads stay in Ohio because of desire to do so or because those big city firms do not recruit as aggressively on campus?
I think there is enough of a difference in status between the two programs to say the difference in outcomes is at least partially due to that status difference.
In other words, I think it is easier to get to those high paying coastal firms if you successfully complete the Illinois program. Much easier? That is hard to say and definitely debatable.
BTW, @srparent15, I think you’ll find that Indy and the major cities in OH aren’t measurably cheaper than Chicago. Chicago is quite cheap for a major city, especially when you compare to the big cities on the coasts.
To the OP: UIUC has a much larger network in Silicon Valley than OSU. That may be of some benefit. UIUC CS grads make more than OSU CS grads because they are on average better. There isn’t a big cost-of-living difference between OH and IL.
@PurpleTitan isn’t there a significant difference in cost of living between silicon valley and cities in ohio? For example, $60,000 in most Ohio cities is better than $90,000 in silicon valley. I get that most Illinois and Ohio cities are the same but aren’t most UIUC grads are going to silicon valley jobs?
Many go to Silicon Valley. Many also stay in IL (mostly Chicagoland). I don’t know which area gets more.
As for $60K in an OH city going farther than $90K in the Valley, I can say that wasn’t true when I lived in the Bay Area, but that’s over 10 years ago.
In any case, don’t pick your first job because of salary; pick it for the experience and people. When you take that in to consideration, I’d choose the Bay Area any day.
I beg to differ @purpletitan. Chicago is a lot more expensive than Indianapolis. I almost moved there a few years ago and housing was about 1/3 the price as it is here (and surrounding suburbs). Sales, Income and property taxes are also significantly higher here which also has to be factored into that equation as well. The big difference however, is that Chicago is a much bigger city with more companies competing, so the pay should be higher, although it isn’t always the case.
Places like San Fran and NYC gives us sticker shock when we travel and we’re in Chicago, likewise, when we were in Champaign visiting UIUC, we had the reverse sticker shock. Things were so much cheaper than our suburb of Chicago. It’s really all relative. If you want to be near where all the action is, it’s definitely going to cost you more and you’re have less disposable income, however, if you don’t want to be in a major city, you can definitely end up with more money in the long run because all your other costs will be less.
There are cost of living comparisons you can look up online to determine how far $1 goes in one city compared to another. So again, don’t put so much stock into those numbers because at the end of the day, it’s the offers you get that will help you decide where you want to go and what job you want to take. Afterall, you may begin at a start-up company that pays you nothing but gives you stock and options, and boom in 2 years that may be worth billions. On paper a job making $75k may sound better at first, but in the long run, if the start-up hits a home run that was obviously the correct choice!
thanks again guys for the insight. If my options right now were about $20,000 for four years at Ohio State, which has a reputable top 30 (I think 26th or 27th the last time I checked) computer science program or $190,000 for four years at UIUC for CS in CoE, what would you guys recommend? I am giving UIUC a lot of thought because reputation is very big in getting really great jobs and UIUC CS definitely has that but also a difference of $170,000 is quite large
@UATenista, it is huge. Is that tuition only? So unless you come in with a ton of AP credits to shave off a year (and maybe also pick up cheaper credits through study-abroad), though all that would take major coordination and you may have to take 3-4 CS classes some semesters (which would be no walk in the park), it’s hard to justify.
Really depends on your family circumstances, though.
20k vs 190k? Who is paying the 190k? I would take the Ohio offer and after a couple years of working you can get a MS if you find that a more prestige name will give you a big earnings boost–this way you will have a MS for less. Not to take away the UIUC name is great, but the cost difference is ridiculous. I think you are far, far underestimating how much of your salary is going to be determined by your and what steps you take.
@BrownParent I was thinking about the MS as well but from what I’ve mostly heard, an MS in comp sci really isn’t that useful as most employers would rather just give you training after you have a BS in CS. Also in terms of salary, from what i’ve seen even at UIUC, a masters really doesn’t give a significant pay boost. Say I was only going to do get a BS and then go join a job, would paying for a UIUC CS degree still be worth it? Also, I definitely agree with you that the steps I take are large contributors of salary