Salary for college grads?

<p>okay, Im still in high school, and just want to know whats the salary that I can make after graduate from college (honors college in ASU, U of A, university of Washington, and GaTech.) and lets say I became a civil engineer after my graduation, whats my starting salary? I can be working in either state.</p>

<p>Google “civil engineering salaries.”</p>

<p>I highly suggest you don’t major in civil engineering. My dad has a civil engineering degree and years of experience… Guess what he does now? He’s a construction worker. </p>

<p>Look at engineering salaries… Civil engineers make a lot less than those in other engineering disciplines. Civil engineers with a 4 year degree make about $50,000. URL: <a href=“http://www.isye.gatech.edu/students/career/[/url]”>http://www.isye.gatech.edu/students/career/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here’s something I read on another site, it’s related to job placement… Supports the anecdote concerning my dad:
“For some of College of Engineering’s undergraduates, placement rates have declined significantly over the past two years… For Civil Engineering, placements fell from 75.6% in Spring 2008 to 46.2% in Spring 2010.”
URL: <a href=“https://www.assessment.gatech.edu/2010/06/10/spring-2010-career-and-salary-survey/[/url]”>https://www.assessment.gatech.edu/2010/06/10/spring-2010-career-and-salary-survey/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here’s the information, you can draw your own conclusions…</p>

<p>If your looking for money, major in Petroleum Engineering. The salaries start at 80k, I’m serious.</p>

<p>yea the head facilities guy at my high school had a civil engineering degree. I was really really surprised. I’d honestly stay away from civil engineering. Of course if you like it then definitely go for it, don’t let anybody ever tell you that you can’t do something but it’s risky bidness…</p>

<p>My statistics were from GA Tech by the way… The best engineering school on your list. If you went to another school, you’d likely make even less, and have more trouble finding a job.</p>

<p>In May, 2011, Georgetown University issued a report titled “What’s It Worth? - The Economic Value of College Majors”, which contains earnings statistics on a wide range of careers including 25 Engineering disciplines.</p>

<p>Check it out at: [Center</a> on Education and the Workforce - What’s It Worth Home Page](<a href=“http://cew.georgetown.edu/whatsitworth/]Center”>What’s It Worth?: The Economic Value of College Majors - CEW Georgetown)</p>

<p>It’s hard to judge what Civil will pay in 5 years. Construction is still in a slump from the recession. That said, I think Civil has always been on the low end for engineering majors, and you should probably expect to make somewhat less than your peers in MechE, EE, IE, and ChemE.</p>

<p>I asked about 15 people graduating from bachelors in engineering (mostly EECS and IE) what they were gonna get and typical sounded like 65-70K.</p>

<p>Civil engineering positions will vary with the local economy. In the past few years, construction has been in a slump, but at least where I am things have improved significantly. My company (I work in construction management) has broken ground on quite a few projects in the past year and have been hiring a number of people. A competing firm had tried to lure me over. Another firm that’s trying to get more work in the local area (they’re more established elsewhere) has been giving people significant salary increases to join them. I’m very confident that I’ll have a job for the forseeable future.</p>

<p>Civil engineering salaries do tend to be at the lower end. Its dragged down by the number of government positions for civil engineers (vastly outnumbers those for other engineering). Its also dragged down by the number of positions in low cost of living areas. There are civil engineers in literally every nook and cranny in the country. The work tends to be region-specific, so you typically don’t see a giant national civil engineering firm. The few that do exist are more like conglomerates of local offices. The downside, is of course, lower salaries. The benefit is you can live wherever you want. Your choice isn’t dictated by where the hotspot for your industry is.</p>

<p>Facilities management is not something that’s completely out of left field for a civil engineering grad, though its not a typical route. A college classmate of mine majored in civil engineering, worked for a construction management firm for a few years, and then jumped into facilities management. Construction management is already on the high end for civil engineering grad salaries and he got a significant salary increase when he switched fields (I think it was roughly $20k). You can’t really go into that directly from a CE degree though; he had experience working with mechanical, electrical, fire alarm systems, etc in his construction management experience. A few of my classmates in my masters program were in the facilities management field as well, though I’m not sure what route they took.</p>