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This is where I have a big doubt. Do you really think these engineers from no-name schools are the ones that constitute the 'chemical engineers' as defined by CNN. If you take the number of engineers graduating from the top 50 schools, excluding the no-name schools, it might be large enough to embody the 'chemical engineers' as defined by CNN, whereas those engineers from no-name schools constitute only the menial tech jobs not counted into the average chemical enginerring jobs quoted by CNN.
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<p>Ok, then don't take the CNN figures. Just poke around the Internet and look at the salary figures for some no-name schools.</p>
<p>For example, I found the numbers for Montana Tech. I never even knew there was a school called Montana Tech before. Have you? But here I see some pretty decent salary numbers. Here are some snippets.</p>
<p>"Placement rates for the [Montana Tech] 2003 Graduating class were as follows:</p>
<p>General Engineering: 100% with an average starting salary of $47,154. Reported salaries range from $36,000 to $62,000.</p>
<p>Civil Engineering:100% with an average starting of $41,530. Reported salaries range from $31,650 to $50,100. </p>
<p>Electrical Engineering:100% with an average starting salary of $50,750. Reported salaries range from $45,000 to $55,000.</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering:100% with an average starting salary of $45,989. Reported salaries range from $30,000 to $58,000.</p>
<p>Welding Engineering:100% with an average starting salary of $46,667. Reported salaries range from $38,000 to $52,000.</p>
<p>Or how about Kettering University? Ever heard of it? It's basically a small school that is highly engineering focused. But I think we can all agree that it is fairly "no-name". </p>
<p>"The starting salary for Kettering's 2002 class: Engineering graduates averaged $49,695. Overall the average starting salary for 2002 graduates was $49,224. Approximately 23 percent of graduates responding to a Kettering salary survey received a signing bonus in addition to salary-the average bonus for those receiving one was $5,444 with the range topping out at $20,000. The range of salary averages for 2002 graduates was $35,000-$62,000."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kettering.edu/news/fastFacts.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.kettering.edu/news/fastFacts.asp</a></p>
<p>Or how about Iowa State? I think we can agree that it's not MIT. </p>
<p>"The average starting salary for the [Iowa State] engineering class of 2005 was more than $50,000..."</p>
<p>And here's a survey of reported salary offers to Iowa State Chemical Engineers for fall, 2004. You gotta admit, they're pretty good.</p>
<p>Or how about Drexel University? Ever heard of it before? </p>
<p>"Graduates from the College of Engineering reported the second highest median starting salary at $49,400."</p>
<p>But hey, look, if you don't believe me, you can go do the research yourself. You will see that even engineers at no-name schools report fairly highly decent starting salaries, certainly quite comparable if not higher than graduates of the elite schools but in less marketable majors. You should be able to convince yourself that this is true. </p>
<p>Hence, I would argue that an engineering degree is a a great way for a less qualified student to 'even the score' with somebody who was good enough to get into an elite school, but opted for a nontechnical major. Which gets to a point I made in another thread - for those people who are not stars (and hence can't make it into medicine or consulting or banking or law or whatever) , engineering is a pretty good deal. For a lot of people, engineering really is the best they can do.</p>