<p>Just open this link and you can see that starting salaries for Purdue's engineering students can go up to $80,000 for IE, $84000 for ChE, and $96000 for MSE. This is noted for Bachelors Degree.</p>
<p>Can some students earn that much just right out of college? How is it possible.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>It's rare, but possible. Some companies are willing to pay that much, it may have been a startup or a small firm. Also, the document doesn't say that the "high's" took engineering jobs. </p>
<p>Just take a look at the average starting salaries, that will give you a realistic picture.</p>
<p>It should also be noted that many of the 'high-earners' may in fact be people with significant prior work experience. For example, I know people who went to work right after high school or dropped out of college before graduation and amassed significant work experience, and only later decided to complete their bachelor's degree. Other people even graduated before and then went to the workforce, but then decided to go back to school to earn a 2nd bachelor's degree. Certainly these people should be expected to earn more than the average engineering graduate who has no significant work experience.</p>
<p>Take a look at page 8 of this document:
<a href="http://www.seas.virginia.edu/careerdevelopment/images/stories/PDFs/seasannualreport.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.seas.virginia.edu/careerdevelopment/images/stories/PDFs/seasannualreport.pdf</a>
That's the University of Virginia's engineering school's "annual survey". Beware of small data samples (like BioE's seven reporting graduates), and know that those still looking for work are never included in these surveys.</p>