<p>^ I don’t doubt that’s true of the typical Wharton grad, and I don’t especially recommend selling one’s soul to any old branch of the federal government. Not so much because of the money as the stultifying bureaucracy. I doubt the vast majority of Americans would consider a $250K family income, in itself, the mark of a failed career (CC’ers may have higher standards/expectations.) Personally, I’d consider a Wall Street job undesirable compared to a career in academia, the creative side of IT, publishing/journalism, or commercial research at $125K, or so. But you’re not likely to make nearly that salary in those fields starting out.</p>
<p>The payscale.com figures (which do deliberately exclude anyone with more than a bachelor’s degree) indicate that engineering school graduates consistently have higher starting pay than average Ivy League, LAC, and State School graduates. 8 of the top 10 starting salary averages are for engineering schools. A liberal arts education seems to have the salary advantage by mid-career.</p>
<p>Of course, the LAC, Ivy, and State School figures include many arts graduates, etc., in addition to business/finance/econ majors. Maybe someone has good references on starting salaries for the later category alone. I was not thinking of Wall Streeters in particular as the “tortoise”.</p>