Tuesday, April 08, 2008

#4 with a bullet!

According to this morning's WSJ, Economics is the 4th most remunerative undergrad major (based on starting salaries), beating accounting, finance, and marketing.

Bad news for philosophy majors though: they come in dead last, behind even elementary ed majors.

Somewhere, Ludwig Wittgenstein must be smiling.

Hey Mungowitz: polysci isn't even on the list? Are there really no polysci majors left?

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing PolySci is in sociology. I think the list keeps going though. There are 16 majors listed, so Journalism is probably #17.

Tom said...

I'm reminded of a true story told around UNC for a long time: the very best average life time income was for geography majors.

Yes, GEOGRAPHY.

Tom said...

The key is in that word "average." There was one geography major, Michael something, who got a job in Chicago handling orange spheres... made $50M+ ...skewed the average quite a bit.

Who knew that there could be so much demand for the skillful handling of orange spheres? It's a weird world.

John Thacker said...

I suspect that these numbers are averages of only people who take jobs straight out of their undergraduate education. Some of these undergraduate majors are considered "preparation for grad school" majors more than actual preparation for immediately starting a career, I think. Though I'll note that Math does well at both.

John said...

As an engineer I say this looks great, but I have to ask, where are the doctors and lawyers?

Shawn said...

and architects?

oh, wait, we don't do so well. :)

Angus said...

Yes these are average starting numbers for straight to work with your undergrad degrees.

Ummm Tom, it says college graduates LOL, did mr. michael orange sphere get his diploma? If not, that probably really held him back!!

8^)

Anonymous said...

Darn. I graduated 6 years ago with a math/Spanish double major, and I'm still making less than the average philosophy major.

Anonymous said...

And yet I'd still rather make $34,257 than be a computer programmer.

Anonymous said...

No English?
Prob #84, right below

-#82: College dropout
-#83: High School dropout

Unknown said...

@Angus -- He did graduate, a couple years after he went pro, which helped boost the average even further.

The story I heard was that the dean announced at graduation the average salary of the graduating class was $300,000 -- Michael @ $3MM and everyone else @ $20K

Anonymous said...

I was a PoliSci major. My starting salary was $0. Couldn't get a job and want straight onto grad school.

Anonymous said...

how many of those occupations get summers off though

Tom said...

I'm a programmer. According to the Inflation calculator, my starting salary in today's dollars was $62,145.88. I guess that Masters really paid off!

Anonymous said...

Many philosophy majors have a second degree, including me.

Also, I make $15k above the engineering salary. Even with cost of living differences, these number seem very low.

Anonymous said...

haha, I graduated with a math/Spanish/philosophy triple major, and now I'm a computer programmer (despite taking no CS classes)!

Anonymous said...

I'll bet the average starting salary for philosophy majors reflects the fact that they tend to gravitate to low-paying jobs by choice, e.g. nonprofits. I doubt many accounting majors work for nonprofits.

Also, at the software company where I work, college hires from good CS programs routinely start at $70-80K. I also would not be surprised if there were more EE majors working as programmers than as engineers.

Anonymous said...

Where are the doctors, lawyers and architects?

Probably entering the workforce 2-4 years later with the requisite graduate degrees...

Anonymous said...

It's not how fast you sprint out of the gate, it's where you finish the race. I sincerely hope that no college students base career choices off first year salary studies...

Unknown said...

I'm taking stats this semester (I'm a finance major, YAY 38,000 for me), and what I would like to know is the margin of error. What do they really make? Do Engineers make $49,707 ± $10,000 or $5,000? They really never display those numbers so in my opinion it's kind of irrelevant information. What do you guys think?

Unknown said...

Interesting how we always seem to focus on staring salaries out of college.I would be interested to see those same salaries 10, 15, 20 years out, for me I wish I had taken Business/Economics not engineering.

Doug said...

In 1994, I started my first job as a Mechanical Engieer making $36,000. I picked that job becuase it paid $1500 more than going to work at Anderson Consulting. Graduates need to understand it is not starting salary that is important, but where can you grow professionally and learn new skills and experience. That is where the big payoffs come into being.

Anonymous said...

I'm currently an undergrad student working towards my marketing degree. Just curious if there are business people out there that can tell me..is grad school a necessity? Or will I be able to find a job easily just with my bachelors?

Shawn said...

adjusted, that's 41,300 for a landscape architect...right below chemists...not too shabby for someone who draws pictures all day. :)

Dee said...

Oh, that's right. Because philosophy majors tend to wait tables or something before they go back to school for a second (Master's) or third (Ph.D.) go around.

/at least i did
//w00t for not going into law

Anonymous said...

Thats very strange, Trading in Investment bank graduate salary ~$80,000 + 100% bonus = total first year pay ~$160,000 and this IS average

Anonymous said...

Blog messages are good.
Earn Money online without investing a cent, learn how at googlecashcow-Money.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Strange, I didn't know computer programming was a major. Any monkey can program a computer.

If computer science was meant, that would seem to make more sense. It's a little irritating when supposedly educated people don't take the time to know what they're talking about.

It's like me calling economics "screwing around with money".

Anonymous said...

無料 出会い 競馬予想 無料 競馬予想 競馬予想 無料 競馬予想 無料 競馬予想 無料 近視 手術 メル友 出会い 出会い 出会い 出会い メル友 メル友 人妻 メル友 ギャンブル依存症 AV女優 無料 出会い 出逢い 掲示板 出会い系 無料 出会い 人妻 出会い 人妻 出会い セフレ 人妻 出会い セックスフレンド メル友 出会い SM 愛人 不倫 セフレ 無料 出会い 出会い系 無料 無料 出会い 富士山 写真 富士山 メル友 無臭性動画 カリビアムコム 一本堂 出会い 人妻 セックスフレンド ハメ撮り エッチな0930 メル友 無料 出会い 無料 出会い セフレ セフレ セフレ セックスフレンド セックスフレンド セックスフレンド 人妻 出会い 人妻 出会い 人妻 出会い 出会い系 出会い系 出会い系 カリビアンカム カリビアンカム

vishnuprasath said...

It's useful information
View salary information for thousands of different companies.
Search for salaries by company, city or profession.
Job

Dissertation Help said...

This blog is very nice and informative. it is pretty hard task but your post and experience serve and teach me how to handle and make it more simple and manageable.
Dissertation Help | Custom Dissertation