<p>Yeah thats true. But some of us who live in California have a skewed understanding of money. Out here, 100k is just okay... nothing to get too excited about. I recently found out that managers at In N Out (...hungry) make around 100k... lol. Not that I'd wanna do that job.</p>
<p>But then again, 70K/year isn't that far fetched for a BS in engineering (for California).</p>
<p>I read somewhere that NASA pays a "disciplined expert" (or something along those lines) 150k per year for Aerospace. That's rather superb for a government job, although it's obviously referencing someone with a PhD and many years of work experience.</p>
<p>IMO Engineers really get to work on some amazing things and are the ones who (in general, with scientists) have jobs that always offer something interesting as new problems are tackled. Other jobs can be repetitive and boring.</p>
<p>Yes, you can go further than low-level management with an engineering degree, but of course not everybody makes it. Just because you're a good engineer does not necessarily make you a good manager. I think $100k is very good, and you can definitely raise a family and be well off, even if that's the sole source of income. </p>
<p>And of course, if the top pay elsewhere in the country is $100k, then of course the pay in Cali for similar work would be more. Then again, I see Citan is from California and he would be satisfied with it. You can't always get the best of both worlds; working a job with top pay, but loving what you do as well. You have to find the best compromise for you. Is the potential for advancement worth switching out of engineering? Something to think about...</p>
<p>Personally, I feel one of the best aspects about an engineering degree is the ample opportunities you have upon graduation. Engineers typically command some of the highest graduating salaries and if "engineering" isn't for you, consulting, financial services and even I-banks heavily recruit engineers. </p>
<p>Though 100k year is pretty damn good and if you do have an itching for a higher salary, an MBA or a JD are still open.</p>
<p>Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics was brought up earlier in the thread, I'll bring it up again.</p>
<p>If you create customized salary tables, you can select an occupation, then select as many regions as you want (states or metropolitan areas) to compare salary data. While the results may still be slightly skewed, they are likely much more accurate than the ones on the engineers page. They're also more recent.</p>
<p>Occupational</a> Employment Statistics</p>
<p>The top 25% of engineering managers make a lot of money (over $100k, sometimes well over $145k in many states). Aerospace engineers seemed to make a lot of money (the top 10% made 100-145k+). The results may be somewhat skewed (although it does list a median salary, which may be more accurate), but at least it separates them based on cost-of-living and everything.</p>
<p>Yes I know 100K is not bad at all. It is outstanding, especially if the nature of your work is satisfying (as is the case with many engineers). However, I am an overly ambitious person; I would not be disappointed with 100K especially if I enjoyed my work, but if possible, I would like to do better.</p>
<p>"Personally, I feel one of the best aspects about an engineering degree is the ample opportunities you have upon graduation. Engineers typically command some of the highest graduating salaries and if "engineering" isn't for you, consulting, financial services and even I-banks heavily recruit engineers."</p>
<p>Let's say I decide engineering is not for me. In order to branch out into another quantitative field such as consulting, finance, etc. would I need to have a really good GPA? Is it only possible to branch into other such fields if you have a good GPA? Would a 3.3 or 3.4 in EE be good enough to do so?</p>
<p>I don't have any experience with this but a 3.3 or 3.4 might be enough. You can always go to grad school to "fix" your GPA.</p>
<p>Brownman: That would naturally depend on which university you graduated from.. For example, the majority of engineering students at UPenn goes into finance/bank/IBank/consult/management etc. At UIUC, this is definately NOT the case. It's sort of like TOP engi schools > Prestige schools (usually with small engineering deparments, school does not have engi as main focus, ivies are the best examples) >> (Public) Engineering "mills" like UMich purdue UIUC GATech.. (more research than prestige focused, generally). </p>
<p>BTW, the average engineering salary in Norway is 150k USD, but that's 50% tax on top of that.. And the petrolium industry pushes the salary up dramatically. And we have laughable amount of engineers.</p>
<p>Engineering is worth going into if you have a brain, the self-destructivity not to study something directly business-related, find that the largest awards in life do not come through cash nor prestige, is a more "how" person than "why" (pure science), and enjoy working in a team.</p>
<p>Brownman,</p>
<p>When I was applying for jobs (before I decided to go to graduate school), I found that consulting companies were eager to scoop up engineers. I applied/got accepted by Delloite, Accenture and a few other firms and had a significantly "easier" interview process--I didn't have a single "case study" that the other finance/business applicants had to go through. Also, my starting salary was slightly higher than the norm for business students and my HR rep attributed it to being an engineer.</p>
<p>Of course this varies case to case but all in all, engineers can typically compete with business students for jobs.</p>
<p>However, being able to apply to such positions really varies from school to school. If the business/finance firms don't come to your campus to recruit, you'll have to find other avenues. I can't really speak about GPA requirements or standards but the higher the better, though I feel that you'll get some slight slack for being an engineer.</p>