When I sorted the results of this Economist ranking by mean salary, I was surprised to see that they have the average salary of Michigan students ranked 84th. That surprised me, not only because of the strength of the student body, but also because Michigan has a large business school and engineering school. I understand that the cost of living is lower in the midwest, but it still surprised me that the mean was not higher.
Can someone give me some insight into what is causing this?
Ross students are only 1% of each graduating class and engineering makes up about 25%. Michigan offers a major in just about everything, including education, art and music, which typically have lower salaries. It is hard to judge the “value” of a school by mean salary since there are so many variables. A school like Harvey Mudd, for example, does very well in such rankings because just about all of its students are STEM.
The Economist’s ranking system is odd, to say the least, since UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn are ranked as better “values.” And MIT is ranked below schools like Duquesne and Scranton. It seems like every magazine is trying to get into the rankings game.
Just because somebody graduated from the business school or engineering school doesn’t necessarily mean they will make good money either. For example, in engineering, if you don’t graduate with at least a 3.0, you are not going to be looking at getting the engineering job salary.
@blue85 Notice that my question does not relate to the rating at all. Instead of looking at the rating, I resorted them on Median salary. Sorting by median salary puts Michigan at 84th, which is really very good, it is just lower than I had anticipated for Michigan. I thought that with a large engineering school and Ross, that mean salaries of Michigan students would be higher than they are.
As a percentage of the total student body, the CoE and Ross combined make up roughly 25% Michigan undergrads. Not that it matters. Those surveys are seldom accurate since they are extremely limited in scope and do not take cost of living into account. Better look at career placement reports from respective universities. Ross BBAs are among the 5 or 6 highest paid upon graduation. Ross MBAs are among the 10 highest paid. CoE graduates are also among the best paid.
I know that at least based on the CoE Annual Report, Michigan salaries are far higher than the national averages for entry level engineers, especially CS.
@CautiousOptimist keep in mind this doesn’t take into account factors such as cost of living. A good number of CS jobs are in Cali, so don’t be overly excited about the fact that some CS graduates report starting salaries of ~$130,000. A ~$130,000 salary in San Francisco is only like a ~$60,000 salary in Ann Arbor.
Also keep in mind that not everybody graduating from CoE responds to that survey. The data you see are only from people who responded. Some people who graduate from CoE with a sub-3.0 GPA will have very little luck getting an actual engineering job, and they are very unlikely to respond to that survey.
Surveys like this are all but useless. A publication like the Economist should be embarrassed to publish such drivel.
as referenced above, these numbers are NOT adjusted for areal/SMSA cost of living. Here are a few figures
Detroit $50K Los Angeles $72.75k
Detroit $50K San Francisco $77.98k
Detroit $50K San Francisco $91.4k
Grand Rapids $50K Orange County $80.33k
Detroit $50K Chicago $60.77k
Detroit $50K Champaign $50.58k
Detroit $50K Manhattan $118k
Detroit $50K Wash. DC $76.30
Detroit $50K Boston $74.58
As you can see, cost of living is a rubber yardstick. If every in-state kid who took a post graduate job in-state moved to Manhattan, s/he would report double the income (if income floated with expenses) and bump the average up;
it isn’t clear to me that continuing students (those who seek a professional degree for example) are included. If included, the resulting distortion would be to lower averages for kids who are earning negative incomes (cost of living exceeds inflows from summer jobs or internships). If such kids earn a degree in future, does this survey compound their income deferrals and properly net out forward compounded expenses?
these figures are self-reported…some kids will report out of pride, some will fail to report if their number is low, most will simply not be bothered to report;
Public schools are required by their parent state to admit local students. Local students probably return to work locally. If kids work locally in a state like Michigan which is not in the best economic shape, then the earnings reported by such students will be artificially capped;
I’m sure these rankings have many other flaws, but what I’ve added above is the 5 minute precis.
These numbers are produced for one reason and it is isn’t to inform the public, it is to draw in gullible consumers/readers to sell magazines. For a publication such as the Economist, even this first pass should cause their editorial staff a degree of embarrassment.