I want to make the most money possible after college, what graduate degrees should I pursue?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

I’m a math junkie for a lack of a better word. I got an 800 on math for the SAT. And I enjoy anything that involves numbers. I also like to negotiate, debate, and study trends. Therefore, all I can think off when it comes to graduate degrees that fit me is something in Business. This is why my dream schools are Michigan, Georgetown, and Berkeley.

All in all, my question is what are the highest paying Business degrees and if there is another degree that pays a great amount of money that you think I should look at please tell me.

2

Many ross grads work for wall street and get paid a lot. Actuaries work with numbers for insurance companies and also get paid a lot. Engineering also. Make sure you like what you do though!

3

What much is a lot? Like 150k+ a year?

4

Computer Science grads average $95k.

If you work for Google or Facebook, you can get 135k+ salary and that doesn’t even include the huge bonus. I think high frequency trading firms like Jane Street do very well too.

Ross is overrated. They get paid less per hour than CS since those in management consulting like McKinsey will average 60-65 hours and those in investment banking average 75 hours.

For software development, you will average 40 hours per week. Plus you are often allowed to work from home remotely. The 40 hours isnt fixed. If you get you’re work done extremely fast it could be something like 25 hours The hours don’t matter as long as you get it done.

In the entrepreneurial space, software developers are most likely to get their companies bought out for millions.

5

http://career.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2017/02/annualreport1516.pdf

6

Become an actuary.

7

@betoh

Some corrections I want to make (as someone who interned in banking/consulting, and is now pursuing a career in tech):

Jobs at firms like Google and Jane Street only go to the best. The average CS/DS (or other related subject) major, even at a school like Michigan, is not going to end up there. Also, when you do work at these firms, you will definitely be putting in more than 40 hours a week. I am interning in software right now, and I am putting in 50 hours/week in formal work time, with more time outside of work on work stuff (it would add up to 60-70 hours a week). Is it a hard-requirement to work this much? No (while that is the case for consulting and even more so for banking). But if you want to move up in these companies and stand out, it is a requisite (especially if you are not a genius and needs to put time in to get great results, like myself).

My evidence goes beyond the anecdotal, check out the placement stats the CS department put out. You can see that only the top are getting offers at the high paying Googles, Facebooks, and Jane Streets. Michigan does a lot better in placing students at the elite firms than its less prestigious counterparts in the college world. However, the average student at Michigan is unlikely to end up at the very tippy top firms. It is also the same at Ross. Only the top students are getting the Goldman, McKinsey, and Lazard offers.

Clarification: By average student, I do not mean average student by GPA. It is holistic.

8

@yikesyikesyikes

Hours per week in software development Is almost a irrelevant number to job requirements. More importantly as long as you get things done.

Putting in over 50 hours frequently is the sign of being a slow developer and/or poor planning.

The only place I’ve heard of where anyone is consistently required to work 60+ hours per week is Epic Systems.
However, their developers make $111k+/year in a low cost of living city (Madison, WI).

There are more desirable jobs spread around the nation for CS grads than Ross grads.
For Ross, there are really only two destinations: Chicago or NYC. If you want anywhere else geographically, then that would most likely hinder your ability to move up the ladder.

If you’re in CS but like Phoenix, Dallas, OKC, Kansas City, etc… then you will no problem looking for opportunities there. The average uofm CS student could get a $75k offer easily in Ann Arbor. I have no clue if a Ross student could get $75k in Ann Arbor and I doubt there are more than 10 positions available for those new BBA grads.

You also have to account for the fact that Ross recruiting is much more intense than CS recruiting. For consulting or ib internships, the recruiting process for 1 company can be 8 months or more just for an internship position with 7 rounds.

Again, you can get a $75k+ offer in CS without ever being asked a difficult question (this includes no whiteboard questions). And that would only be 2 rounds (phone + in-person). It’s completely normal to get a $91k+ job offer only through on-campus interviews without ever visiting the company’s offices. For Ross, you will always be expected to have a superday on-site.

For the top that make $105k+ in investment banking or consulting, a significant chunk of that figure is from non-guaranteed performance based bonuses. In Software Dev you can start at a 105k base salary. There are fewer positions available for those in IB and consulting where you get a 6 figure base fresh out of college. In technology, a higher proportion % of your total compensation is guaranteed.

Lastly, technology professionals have greater leverage over their own career. It’s easier to acquire to develop new skills outside through the internet. For example, you can contribute to the open source community or open up your own devshop/freelance as a side-business. This allows them to build up a portfolio of work which helps them negotiate for higher $$$ on their next job. I bet its a lot harder to freelance for real money as a business person and their career skills are mostly dependent via their employer. If you did Ross BBA, eventually you will hit a plateau in your career and get passed up on jobs that will go to top-tier MBAs because prestige is a bigger factor in banking/consulting. Also you need to account for the opportunity cost being out of the workforce and heavy tuition required for that MBA. In the tech industry, having a masters degree (except maybe machine learning) and ivy league education is less important as long as you can get the job done.

9

I’ve been in IT my entire career. The only software developers I know that work 40 hours or less per week are the ones who are not advancing in their careers and aren’t getting significant raises. Unrealistic client deadlines are the most frequent reason for working overtime, not being a bad coder or having planned poorly.

Software development is a good-paying job, and the opportunity to continuously learn is exciting, but the idea that most everyone hardly works is definitely not my experience or the experience of my peers.

10

Unrealistic client deadlines? Sounds like poor management then. You just contradicted yourself if that doesn’t fall under poor planning. Don’t hand out unrealistic timelines you can’t expect to meet. If you are frequently not meeting deadlines for clients, then that’s how you lose them in the future. It’s simple logic.

Btw, sounds like you don’t work in product-based companies (eg. AirBnb, Apple, Uber, etc…), and you instead work in software consulting agencies (eg. Cognizant, Infosys, Accenture, etc… ) which have among the worst devs in the industry (hence, why they are frequently missing deadlines and require overtime). Any reasonable dev in a product-based company would not use the term “IT” nor “coder” regardless of the actual distinction.

literally no one ever said that. Nice straw man argument. In fact, I said the opposite. If you are a very talented and efficient developer, then you can do the job faster. Working way below 40 hours doesn’t happen regularly in the industry, it’s just a reward you can have if you’re fast. Different companies are different.

You have 2 people who work at two different speeds. Let’s say you need to create chat app.

It would take dev1 53 hours to get the job done.
It would take dev2, 32 hours to get the job done.

Under no circumstances would dev1 be better. Just use some common sense.

Sure you may want to put in extra hours if want a promotion or raise, but it comes at the cost of more time.
There is value in wanting a better work-life balance.

11

I’m glad you are the arbiter of what terms are proper. If you could send me the dictionary I would appreciate it. Given that I started in the industry 30 years ago I may use some slightly archaic terms. Oh, and I never claimed to be a developer - haven’t written code in 20 years. I do happen to hire a lot of developers. And I’ve fired a few.

I work in an agency now, but not a behemoth like Cognizant. I have also worked in product based organizations. At least in the agency I work, we have very talented devs - I find it rather short-sighted and arrogant to stereotype so broadly.

I have issues your argument about work pacing. I do have common sense - but I’ve never seen a development team, especially an agile one, that assigns the same amount of work to every individual and “when they’re done they’re one”. If a developer is efficient and can burn through story points at a rapid pace - then they typically get assigned more points, or more challenging stories. Or they’re asked to learn new skills, mentor others, do those things that people who want to grow a career do. And without jeopardizing their work-life balance. To some, growing in their career is an important part of that balance. And some people like the reward of a nice raise. If you check out at 40 - or less - you’re not going to be seen as a rising star. Which may be perfectly acceptable to you.

Also, in many cases devs are NOT the ones setting deadlines. In a perfect world that would be the case, but oftentimes it’s upper management or the sales organization that sets the deadlines the development team is held to. Again, it varies by company, but to say any dev who has to go all in to meet a deadline caused this by their poor planning - again shows your narrow view of the world.

I’ve seen people worked to the bone - I have many friends who used to be in the gaming industry, and at least the companies they worked at were horrendous, as the deadlines were all driven by movie release dates.

That said, I’ve stayed in this industry for 30 years because I love it - the people, the constant learning, the challenge. But you do a disservice to people if you make it sound like every job in the industry - and yes, I’m going to once again prove I’m not a developer by saying IT industry - is a Nirvana where you work when you want and rake in the money.

'Nuff said. I’m out of here so the thread can go back to the OPs intent.

12

Nice anecdote. Nobody ever said “40 hours and less” happen in every company in the industry. Obviously there will inevitably be variance. It’s nice to know you need exaggerate and strawman my arguments for yourself to appear correct.

However, you have completely missed the point of this thread. On average, starting software developers will typically work less hours on average than anyone starting out in IB/consulting. They’re more likely get paid more $$/hour on average.

Look at investment banking working hours

https://thetab.com/2015/12/14/the-best-and-worst-banks-for-working-hours-65437

Head over to WallStreetOasis and the posters will say management consulting are around 60-70 hours per week or so. Good luck finding a single top tier company in IB/consulting where they would be fine with 45 hours per week regularly.

13

A classic example. David Cutler and his Windows-NT development team worked around the clock for weeks before the launch … and that’s Microsoft. But you are correct that the average software developers are required to work less hours than in consulting. OTHO, you’ll need to work much harder if you want to move up the ranks quickly. You’ll want to be managing … people, projects, or business … after a few years.

14

@betoh

I am speaking from experience (both my friends/family and mine - some of whom are just starting out, others who have been in the industry for 20+ years). For those moving up the ladder in top firms or trying to launch a start-up, long hours are usually necessary (or godly skills that make you able to perform at such a level without working as many hours, which few people have). Young Googlers are NOT working under 40 hours a week - it is misleading to even imply this.

Also, please refer to the CS placement stats @ Michigan. Average salary for new grads (after bachelor’s is 80-90k USD base.

Also, money earned per hour worked is a flawed measure. Bankers/consultants who stay in it for the long haul or take one of the lucrative exit ops will make much more than their software developer counterparts (ignoring special cases like early start up employees/founders). Just check out the bonuses bankers/consultants (or exit ops like Private Equity people) make after the first 5-10 years.

I agree with your point that recruiting for IB/consulting is more intense (and they work much longer hours on average than tech people), and tech people have more control over their career and options.

15

The Engineering Annual report I linked directly in this thread clearly states $95k / $94k as the median/average. Before you say “high cost of living” in Seattle/Bay Area, same goes for NYC. Chicago is a lower cost of living, but the opportunities are not as good as NYC.

You forget that bankers/consultants are still competing for the top coveted exit opportunities against other bankers/consultants and those spots are limited in number where there is no guarantee of getting the better ones and getting passed up for office politics.

A software developer who is good at scoping out fast growing startups can take a lower salary in exchange for some equity and can make off very well once the company sells. Not sure why you choose to ignore this since this process isn’t exactly a lottery.

16

@betoh

Successful start-ups, even in the fertile Silicon Valley, are few and far between. Back when I interned in the consulting/banking world, I worked on an engagement involving some clients who were in the West Coast start-up arena. Even the the majority of start-ups that get funded by the most pretigious sources, like Andereessen Horowitz and Y Combinator, fail. Getting funds from these sources is tough, so these people are definitely legit and would be considered “top” software developers. Yet, they still usually fail. Let’s not even forget about the vast, vast majority that do not even get the mic time to even be considered by these prestigious funds (and, as a result, have a even higher failure rate). Bankers/Consultants have much higher odds of getting a prestigious exit opportunity or at least staying in their company and moving up and collecting cushy bonuses. The start-up world is MUCH more of a lottery.

17

Startups are for learning, and are great fun (even at 60-80 hours) but, indeed, most fail with no equity payout. Some even fail after going public, with no equity payout due to lockups (been there, done that).

Do let us stick to the OP’s question of money.

18

oh, I disagree.

There is a method to the madness in the startup world. The difference is many people in the scene know the theory to a successful startup, but in practice is extremely difficult. You make it sound like complete randomness, which it isn’t. There’s always a little bit of luck in everything in life, but whining and complaining that the startups are akin to the lottery is a losing mentality.

As someone who has done angel investing on the side, recognizing and choosing the right startup is a skill within itself. It’s best to join an upswing startup as somewhere between employee #10-#20 instead of being a founder. I’m not even talking about the next unicorn such as Instagram or Uber, since private companies get bought out left and right all the time.

But I can concede that the odds are slightly better for bankers/consultants exit opps. The problem is that for Ross alumni, upper management will ~almost~ always choose the Harvard or Wharton alumni (everything else equal) for the next pathway upstairs. Those Ross alumni will still do okay though, just less likely to reach the upper echelons.

19

@timvasilyev7 if you love numbers and have a knack for it, check out career as an Actuary. I don’t think you necessarily need a graduate degree, but majoring in actuarial science, math or statistics would be helpful for your undergrad. There are formal internship programs typically in insurance companies (also some consulting firms) that are offered in summer and are vital to employment. there are a multitude of tests you must take to move up the ranks. If you are a fellow you can make up to $300k. Actuaries are usually ranked as a top job because of its relative low stress and high salary.