This isn’t very college related but more like after. I’ve been so focused on which college I should go to that I didn’t even decide on what I should become. I don’t even know what degree to take. My expenses and cost of living taken into account, I need a start up salary of around 100k but I’m not interested in medicine or IT. Any suggestions?
Where do you live?
If this is really a concern of yours I would be researching jobs in your local area and seeing what you could expect.
Not many jobs are going to get you six figures right out of school.
In the end, do you really want to base what your going to do with your life off of salary alone? What are your interests? What is your passion?
And what kind of expenses do you intend to have? You can share a house or apartment and live frugally like many new college grads.
I read where high-end dog walkers in Manhattan can make over $100,000/year.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-top-nyc-dog-walker-makes-110000-a-year-2016-02-05
Short of connecting with a sugar daddy or a sugar mommy you will be out of luck.
You can live beautifully in Tulsa Oklahoma or Little Rock AK for the salary that has you pinching pennies in San Fran or Boston.
Why not start with what you love to do and then figure out where you can do it to have the kind of life you’d like?
Become an entrepreneur
Hedge fund manager
A very high- end nanny
Maybe the Wienermobile driver?
Three obvious questions:
- Why do you need an initial salary of $100,000?
- Do you know the difference between "need" and "want"?
- What are you good at?
The large majority of recent university graduates are making significantly less than $100,000 per year.
I think most young graduates expect or feel that they are entitled to make 6 figures right after college without any experience in their field.
https://www.thebalance.com/college-graduate-salaries-expectations-vs-reality-4142305
Not one is six figures. I have no clue how reliable this is just looked it up quickly.
So looking at this list and determining what you want to do in life is probably the wrong way to go about it.
What are you good in at school now? If math sucks and you hate it then maybe engineering, actuarial sciences, accounting might not be your thing but maybe economics is exciting for you. You already ruled out medicine fields.
Many good car mechanics that own their own place would maybe double your number. Is that something that excites you?
Many trades would exceed this also. Can we rule this in or out?
Err… Get the idea?
Take sometime and research fields. Take two ideas and Google them. I come up with occupations that I didn’t know existed before.
Look on indeed or Linkin for job ideas. Some show salary.
Don’t do something for the money do it because you have an interest or passion for it.
Data analytics can yield very high starting salaries. Exceed six figures by year 3.
I agree that the trades will pay you a decent amount of money, but you need to be highly trained as a journeyman or as an apprentice.
Think plumbing, electrician, HVAC, auto/semi mechanic.
Underwater welder. Actuary might be close.
I was talking to an airline pilot recently. He said they can’t find enough people to replace all the ones that are retiring. Starting salary isn’t great but a few years later it’s well over $100k, especially international routes.
Not quite up to your high expectations, but air traffic controllers can make a high salary.
Maybe most of those who grew up in homes with parents making six figure incomes (perhaps beginning with a digit >1) who spent it freely on their every need and want, so that they have never had to deal with “not enough money” constraining their choices.
But would a college graduate who grew up in an actual middle or lower income family think that?
But isn’t the pilot shortage because more flights these days are now subcontracted to regional jet airlines that pay pilots much less than the well known brand name airlines that you buy your ticket from?
The entry level pilot jobs at regional airlines do not have particularly high pay: https://work.chron.com/average-salary-regional-airline-pilot-5985.html
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I’m not sure this is even a serious post. But if it is, how are you selecting a college, and how are you applying, with no major or career selected? Some arbitrary ranking?
You need to step back and figure out what you want to be/want to do as an adult.
No one “needs” 100k in income out of college, and practically no one out of undergrad makes that. If you really think you need it, the simple answer is to graduate near the top of your class in Computer Science at MIT, CMU, or Stanford.