graduate salary comparisons by school

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>Lots of people have speculated in other threads about the earning potential of graduates from various top schools. Are there any objective measures of earning potential for recent graduates, as well as say 10 years into the workforce? How about subjective measures? I have an opinion when comparing UVA to W&M for example but it is based on a very small sample size. I would think the networking, employer perception, etc would play a role but an having a hard time quantifying it.</p>

2

<p>I finally found what I was looking for (a lengthy list vs just the top 15). In terms of starting salaries Va. Tech is 51k, UVA 49k, W&M 45k. However, the mid career median salary is highest among those 3 at W&M at 96.5k. VT is 91k, and UVA is 90k. All of those by the way are well down the list of top earners but still WAY above the average school. The list is approximately 600 schools and W&M is 56th, VT 86th, and UVA 100th.</p>

3

<p>how is this data obtained?</p>

4

<p>^^^ No idea</p>

5

<p>TV4caster, can you tell us where you found the list - I would really be interested in seeing the entire list. Thanks for your help.</p>

6

<p>Right here:</p>

<p>[Top</a> US Colleges ? Graduate Salary Statistics](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp]Top”>http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp)</p>

7

<p>Don’t trust this kind of data. At all. It is self-reported by the schools and they have every incentive to manipulate the numbers to make themselves look better. Schools that are honest are beaten by the liars, and that forces everyone to cheat. USN&WR should stop this nonsense.</p>

8

<p>More about why you should ignore salary “data.” Assume two colleges that are equal in how they prepare students for the world of work. One sends a lot of students to the Peace Corp and teach for america. The other sends students to Wall St. The second will have a much higher average salary, but it only means they have a more mercenary set of students. About cheating. Schools have to decide who to include in their data. Maybe they will decide not to include people who do teach for america or volunteer work. Or perhaps they will exclude people without a job. USN&WR can send out guidelines but they cannot police how well schools adhere to them.</p>