<p>Just wondering, how much does an Engineering Masters degree kid get fresh out of grad school(one of the brighter ones)?
and how about 5 or 10 years after if they work hard and are better than their collegues?</p>
<p>LaCielle, it depends on the particular engineering field, and I don’t know current figures, anyway. I graduated in the dark ages. I do know ONE PhD student in structural engineering who got $110,000 to start, but I think that’s rare.</p>
<p>LOL
I just noticed how shallow people are in this forum</p>
<p>c’mon people be realistic </p>
<p>ill be effin happy if i can make 75K+ a year</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Children generally go on to be in the same socioeconomic class as their parents. So if someone’s parents are making a high income, then he/she might reasonably expect a high income. Outside of fields like medicine, most high paying jobs are based on “who you know” which is in turn based on your prep school, your college, where you lived, and what kind of job your parents had. So there’s not a lot of social mobility. I might never make as much money as my dad made, but he paved the way for me to make an income well over 6 figures.</p>
<p>I’ve never really thought about this, and seeing some of these responses is a real eye-opener. I live in Hawaii, and the cost of living here is enormous (seriously). Like an average middle class family earns somewhere around $150,000+. Average. Middle. Class. Average price of a house is $600,000+. Rent is $2000+/month. It’s hard to imagine living on something like $50,000 (even when single) in Hawaii. I mean I’m not planning on living here once I graduate, but I guess I didn’t really stop to think how much of a difference cost of living is elsewhere.</p>
<p>I am a very spoiled kid. As of now, I am typing this on my 4th iPhone… And I’m on my 8th laptop. I’m only 13. Horrible, I know…</p>
<p>Honestly, single I want to make 200,000+ a year…probably spending 100,000 and saving 100,000 for when I do start a family but I could live on 50,000…</p>
<p>50k would be a good salary to start off at, but I would want to someday be making 100k and more if possible. Then I would say I’m living very comfortably. Although I could still make a living with 50k.</p>
<p>This thread is so funny… you are all going to have an incredibly rude awakening when people aren’t handing you everything you want (prep school, 4 iPhones, 8 laptops, a trust fund that makes you rich the day you turn 21). Its so funny to see people say “50k? People actually live on that?” when my family actually makes less. I can’t wait for you all to go to college and meet other kids who AREN’T like you. It will be eye-opening.</p>
<p>Sent from my Vortex using CC App</p>
<p>This question actually makes me worry. I would really like to do an undergrad in Computer Science. However, starting salaries are about 60k for that field, and I have no clue how fast the salary rises. Earning 60k as a single person would certainly be enough to live a much better life than I live now, but I don’t think it’d be enough to support the lifestyle I would want for my kids. I’d feel horrible if I were able to attend a HYPSM school due to my parent’s low income and generous fin aid, but later my kids did not have that opportunity because I’d be making too much to qualify for fin aid, but not enough to pay for it all. Ahhh, why couldn’t I be one of the kids who want to be doctors/lawyers :P</p>
<p>iPhones do not make you rich. Of course I have money, but I’m not spoiled. My parent worked hard for their money and in the end it worked out well, my parents make more than enough money to live very comfortably. But they taught me a lot on the value of money. Theirs one thing I learned though, the rich usually spend less than the poor. It sounds weird but its something I noticed, many people of lower wealth don’t know how to manage their money and spend more than they make, take out loans all this puts them in worse debt. </p>
<p>Don’t expect to make a lot upon graduating, especially if the economy continues this way you may not even have a job for a very long time. You know what that means? Living with your parents after graduation and working at a minum wage job for a few months until you get a job in your major. I’m serious this is happening more often these days. It took my parents time to make their very high income, and so does it take many other people. In a perfect world you will make a high salary upon graduation, but we don’t .</p>
<p>In the DC-Metro area, 200-300K would be a great salary. Not too much, not too little. Why? It’s EXPENSIVE THERE.
In a place with a low cost of living, 50-60K would be more than enough. It honestly depends on where you live.
(this is all assuming you want a comfortable lifestyle)</p>
<p>I live in Texas in a suburb that has a fairly low cost of living and I’d say that for a family here to live comfortably they’d probably have to make around $220,000. My parents make about $150,000 dollars a year and financially it is a struggle.</p>
<p>Probably 50-60k, I just want to be a Spanish teacher and live in a simple home. I don’t care about having a 12 bedroom 19 bathroom house with a large pool and a 2021 sports car or whatever.</p>
<p>This thread is funny.</p>
<p>i mean i’ll probably start of with a salary around $40-50k but thats like in my first year out of med school in residency, and i’ll live on salary like that for like the 3-4 years, and then hopefully when I start of as a practicing physician I can yield about $100k, then by time I have a family and the such (having an established practice, living in the burbs) i can make about $200-250k.
I understand that this is more than just living “comfortably”, but i think it would be enough to afford my children with a nice life, and allow money and finances to never reach a point where we can’t manage. But honestly I am a rather frugal person so as long as I have some source of income (that most likely won’t reach the amounts that i’ve projected) I’ll be fine. and most people live on a lot less, and I am not ignorant enough to think that it is impossible to live on less than $300,000 - 400,0000</p>
<p>As long as you can pay rent/buy a house, and not wear holy socks, I think that’s enough? That would probably be around 60k.
But I would want to be able to travel and see the world, and it would be kind of difficult to do that comfortably with a 60k salary. Maybe if my job included traveling (and I still enjoyed it) that would be amazing, but if it didn’t probably 100k would be more desirable.</p>
<p>Making over a million dollars a year would be super fun though, as long as the job let me keep my hair.</p>
<p>The thread made me extremely angry. Some of you guys clearly have been sheltered to an extreme point. My best friend is an only child and lives with his single mother. He makes under $30k a year. He has to manage her and his own life. He reads her email and tells her what bills they can afford to pay. To me, that’s pretty admirable. If he saw this thread, he would probably smash the computer screen in at you sheltered kids.</p>
<p>I’m not in as bad of a financial situation as he is, but money in my family is a worry. My dad might loose his job in September because his company doesn’t have any orders past September. And, my family is spending out of their retirement to pay for my house/debts. So, they don’t really have a retirement to look forward to. So, money is a worry in my family.</p>
<p>When I’m older, all I really want is to not to be too worried about money. I don’t want or expect to make $200k a year as a single person (are you serious?), or to make $400k. Hell, I don’t even know if $200k is going to be worth $200k in the future. America has a pretty uncertain economic future. So, I’m not going to give any specific numbers. I just want to not be excessively worrying about money. Saying that I don’t want to worry about money at all would be stupid.</p>
<p>There is so much pessimism in this thread. At no point during my childhood did anyone EVER suggest that it was hard to make 6 figures. Seven figures, sure. But low six figures was considered a bad salary. Don’t resign yourself to mediocrity. You can only have things after you are confident that you are worthy and that you deserve them.</p>
<p>@ifax108- I agree with you completely. Reading over my post, I know it wouldn’t seem that way, but I do.
Your friend seems like a great individual!
I was ****ed off when one person was like “how do you live on 50k a year?”. I mean really? Thats the majority of this country!!!
And speculating on how much we are going to make when we grow up is pretty arbitrary and pointless anyways.</p>
<p>I’d rather make 30k a year doing what I really really love than make 200K a year doing a I job I’d really really regret because of how little it interests me. </p>
<p>Cash-hungry kids spoil this topic to death, jesus yet another reason why CC’s rep is so mixed.</p>
<p>Although, it doesn’t hurt to have the best of both worlds. But to live comfortably… come on now…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I vehemently REFUSE to be the definition of this statement. </p>
<p>Yet, what if I fail in my life 
</p>