Okay. So, do I need to worry about the median alumni earnings of college graduates of a particular school? How significant is this data in my college search?
I think that median income for an entire school often depends on how many engineering, math, and professional programs, such as business, the school may offer.
Those programs or lack of them accounts for much of the variance (not all of a variance) of a particular school.
In other words, your major will often determine your starting salary, and your starting salary often will determine your income X years out.
For generally similar colleges with, particularly, comparable curricula, you might want to consider this among other factors. U.S. News favors the figures for early career earnings, which it publishes with its individual college entries.
I’ve got two who graduated from the same college. One earns an enviable salary (not a stem major) and the other much less. Which do you want to use for your figures? Both highly educated and able.
You may benefit more from assessing your kid’s drives, qualifications, and how he/she sets and reaches goals, not how many grads get jobs in banking, high tech, medicine versus those happily working at lower paying, fulfilling, equally meaningful careers that just don’t have as high a salary.
I agree that this is meaningless unless the school graduates virtually all students in the same type of field…eg STEM or arts.
In lieu of that, look at the strength of the departments where you think you are likely to major. Look at the career placement services. Look at the internship placement programs. If your likely field typically involves graduate school, then try to find grad school placement numbers. These are the things that will position you to get the best possible start in your career.
It also depends on where the school places its graduates; $60K goes a lot further in Tennessee than in NYC.
It’s no surprise that only one southern school is in Payscale’s top 25 (Rice at #25), nor is it surprising to see a school like Santa Clara - where the vast majority of graduates take jobs in the Bay Area - at #13.
It also depends on where students are X years out. I was in grad school earning a pittance as a PhD candidate for 7 years. Then I had a PhD in Electrical Engineering and a very nice salary and career from then on. If a large proportion of students from a college are in law school, med school, or PhD programs, their salary might not be a meaningful thing to pay attention to.
Absolutely!! It is the critical measure. You are virtually guaranteed to earn that amount, because of course you are idential to the median alumni.
As the OP is an international applicant, getting sponsored for a work visa, let alone earning the median income, is far from “virtually guaranteed.”
@skieurope I think Post #7 is #sarcasm.
The OP has asked “[h]ow *significant/i is [earnings] data in my college search?” This question requires some nuance for a proper response, rather than a rejection of the validity of the inquiry itself. No one here who asserts that your choice of college cannot influence your post-graduation opportunities will be supporting you financially, @GillBates.
Not really knowing how important median alumni earnings numbers are for someone like @GillBates, I personally notice the WSJ rankings “Salary after 10 years” numbers. Although it may be skewed by specific majors, it probably does serve as some kind of proxy for how much industry values an education from that school.
If you are an international applicant, what matters is what people in your own country (or another country where you have work permission) think about the college/university. It is extremely difficult for international graduates to find permanent jobs in the US. You need to study at a place that can help you get a job when you leave the US.
Thank you all for your feedback
Worry may be too strong a word, I’d review them for sure, esp if you’re going into a STEM major, but take the numbers with some context as posters have already mentioned. You should definitely look at outcomes, salary, grad placement among others, when deciding a college, most people in the US do.
Median income reports are misleading…
A school with a larger eng’g dept will have higher reported earnings. But does that help someone seeking a Communications degree? No.
A school in a high rent area may report higher incomes, but the incomes are eaten up with rent.
This may be true for some state universities, but not so much for top private colleges where most students are OOS. Actually, I would think low state living expenses probably explain low median salaries better than high state cost of living explain high median salaries. Also, the fact that graduates end up migrating to high income/high expense areas probably is a good indicator that that school’s students are highly valued.