Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting Pay
By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN
Where people go to college can make a big difference in starting pay, and that difference
is largely sustained into midcareer, according to a large study of global compensation.
In the yearlong effort, PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data,
surveyed 1.2 million bachelor's degree graduates with a minimum of 10 years of work
experience (with a median of 15.5 years). The subjects hailed from more than 300 U.S.
schools ranging from state institutions to the Ivy League, and their incomes show that the
subject you major in can have little to do with your long-term earning power. PayScale
excluded survey respondents who reported having advanced degrees, including M.B.A.s,
M.D.s and J.D.s.
Even though graduates from all types of schools increase their earnings throughout their
careers, their incomes grow at almost the same rate, according to the survey. For instance,
the median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college
graduates -- and at 10 or more years into graduates' working lives, the spread is 34%,
according to the survey.
One reason why Ivy Leaguers outpace their peers may be that they tend to choose roles
where they're either managing or providing advice, says David Wise, a senior consultant
at Hay Group Inc., a global management-consulting firm based in Philadelphia. By
contrast, state-school graduates gravitate toward individual contributor and support roles.
"Ivy Leaguers probably position themselves better for job opportunities that provide them
with significant upside," says Mr. Wise , adding that this is the first survey he's seen that
correlates school choice to a point later in a career.
CAST YOUR VOTE
Do you think where you went to college has impacted your salary? Vote in the Question of the Day.
Also, more Ivy League graduates go into finance roles than graduates of other schools,
and employers pay a premium for them, says Peter Cappelli, a professor of management
and director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania. "Dartmouth kids get paid more for the same job than kids from Rutgers
are [doing]," he says.
Which school pays off the most? According to the survey, graduates of Dartmouth
College, an Ivy League college, earn the highest median salary -- $134,000.
Of all Ivy League graduates surveyed, those from Columbia earn the lowest midcareer
median salary -- $107,000. Meanwhile, the highest-paid liberal-arts-school graduates,
from Bucknell University, earn slightly more -- $110,000.
Mr. Wise called the data thought-provoking. "These results, to some extent, confirm
suspicions that many people have about the importance of a person's college choice in
giving them better pay opportunities down the line," says Mr. Wise. "What we still don't
know is whether or not it's the training or education the school provides that drives these
pay differences, or if the people from those schools are just wired to self-select into jobs
that are likely to be paid more."
The survey also looked at how much salaries increased over time. Liberal-arts-school
graduates see their median total compensation grow by 95% after about 10 years, to
$89,379 from $45,747. Meanwhile, graduates of "party schools" (as defined by the 2008
Princeton Review College Guide) aren't that far behind, with their incomes increasing
85% during that time to $84,685 from $45,715.
At the bottom: Engineering-school grads, who earn the highest starting salaries, yet see
their paychecks expand just 76% by their career midpoints to $103,842 from $59,058.
Contrary to what many parents tell their children majoring in subjects like political
science or philosophy, these degrees won't necessarily leave you in the poorhouse. It can
depend on what career path you choose to pursue with that degree. History-majorsturned-business-consultants earn a median total compensation of $104,000, similar to
their counterparts who pursued a business major like economics -- whose grads earn
about $98,000 overall at midcareer, the PayScale study shows.
English majors in all career paths who graduate from Harvard University earn a median
starting salary of $44,500, compared with $35,000 for those with English degrees from
Ohio State University -- a 27% difference. And that disparity widens even more after 10
years. By then, English majors from Harvard reported earning $103,000 in median pay,
111% more than their counterparts from Ohio State.
"With a liberal art's degree, it's what you make of it," says Al Lee, director of qualitative
analysis at PayScale. "If you're motivated by income, then there are certainly careers in
psychology that pay as well as careers out of engineering."
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
Salary Increase By Major
Your parents might have worried when you chose Philosophy or International
Relations as a major. But a year-long survey of 1.2 million people with only a
bachelor's degree by PayScale Inc. shows that graduates in these subjects
earned 103.5% and 97.8% more, respectively, about 10 years postcommencement. Majors that didn't show as much salary growth include Nursing
and Information Technology.
More data: Salaries for Colleges by Type | Salaries for Colleges by Region |
Degrees That Pay You Back || Related article: Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting
Pay
Undergraduate
Major
Accounting
Aerospace
Engineering
Agriculture
Anthropology
Architecture
Art History
Biology
Business
Management
Chemical
Engineering
Chemistry
Starting
Median
Salary
$46,000.00
Mid-Career
Median
Salary
$77,100.00 67.6
$57,700.00 $101,000.00
$42,600.00
$36,800.00
$41,600.00
$35,800.00
$38,800.00
$43,000.00
75.0
$71,900.00 68.8
$61,500.00 67.1
$76,800.00 84.6
$64,900.00 81.3
$64,800.00 67.0
$72,100.00 67.7
$63,200.00 $107,000.00
$42,600.00
Percent
change
from
Startin
g to
MidMid-Career Mid-Career
Career 10th
25th
Salary Percentile Percentile
Salary
Salary
69.3
$79,900.00 87.6
Mid-Career
75th
Percentile
Salary
Mid-Career
90th
Percentile
Salary
$42,200.00 $56,100.00 $108,000.00 $152,000.00
$64,300.00 $82,100.00 $127,000.00 $161,000.00
$36,300.00 $52,100.00
$33,800.00 $45,500.00
$50,600.00 $62,200.00
$28,800.00 $42,200.00
$36,900.00 $47,400.00
$96,300.00
$89,300.00
$97,000.00
$87,400.00
$94,500.00
$150,000.00
$138,000.00
$136,000.00
$125,000.00
$135,000.00
$38,800.00 $51,500.00 $102,000.00 $147,000.00
$71,900.00 $87,300.00 $143,000.00 $194,000.00
$45,300.00 $60,700.00 $108,000.00 $148,000.00
Civil
$53,900.00
$90,500.00 67.9
Engineering
Communications $38,100.00
$70,000.00 83.7
$63,400.00 $75,100.00 $115,000.00 $148,000.00
Computer
Engineering
Computer
Science
$66,100.00 $84,100.00 $135,000.00 $162,000.00
Construction
Criminal Justice
Drama
$61,400.00 $105,000.00
$55,900.00
$53,700.00
$35,000.00
$35,900.00
71.0
$95,500.00 70.8
$88,900.00 65.5
$56,300.00 60.9
$56,900.00 58.5
$37,500.00 $49,700.00
$98,800.00
$143,000.00
$56,000.00 $74,900.00 $122,000.00 $154,000.00
$56,300.00 $68,100.00 $118,000.00 $171,000.00
$32,200.00 $41,600.00
$36,700.00 $41,300.00
$80,700.00
$79,100.00
$107,000.00
$153,000.00
Economics
Education
Electrical
Engineering
English
Film
Finance
Forestry
Geography
Geology
Graphic Design
Health Care
Administration
History
$50,100.00
$34,900.00
$98,600.00 96.8
$52,000.00 49.0
$60,900.00 $103,000.00
$38,000.00
$37,900.00
$47,900.00
$39,100.00
$41,200.00
$43,500.00
$35,700.00
$38,800.00
$39,200.00
69.1
$64,700.00 70.3
$68,500.00 80.7
$88,300.00 84.3
$62,600.00 60.1
$65,500.00 59.0
$79,500.00 82.8
$59,800.00 67.5
$60,600.00 56.2
$71,000.00 81.1
$50,600.00 $70,600.00 $145,000.00 $210,000.00
$29,300.00 $37,900.00
$73,400.00
$102,000.00
$69,300.00 $83,800.00 $130,000.00 $168,000.00
$33,400.00 $44,800.00
$93,200.00
$133,000.00
$33,900.00 $45,500.00 $100,000.00 $136,000.00
$47,200.00 $62,100.00 $128,000.00 $195,000.00
$41,000.00 $49,300.00
$40,000.00 $50,000.00
$78,200.00
$90,800.00
$111,000.00
$132,000.00
$45,000.00 $59,600.00 $101,000.00 $156,000.00
$36,000.00 $45,500.00
$34,600.00 $45,600.00
$80,800.00
$78,800.00
$112,000.00
$101,000.00
$37,000.00 $49,200.00 $103,000.00 $149,000.00
Hospitality &
$37,800.00
$57,500.00 52.1
Tourism
Industrial
$57,700.00
$94,700.00 64.1
Engineering
Information
$49,100.00
$74,800.00 52.3
Technology (IT)
$36,100.00
Interior Design
$53,200.00 47.4
$35,500.00 $43,600.00
International
Relations
$38,200.00 $56,000.00 $111,000.00 $157,000.00
Journalism
$40,900.00
$35,600.00
$80,900.00 97.8
$66,700.00 87.4
Management
$49,200.00
Information
$82,300.00 67.3
Systems (MIS)
$40,800.00
Marketing
$79,600.00 95.1
Math
Mechanical
Engineering
Music
Nursing
Nutrition
Philosophy
Physician
Assistant
Physics
$45,400.00
$57,900.00
$35,900.00
$54,200.00
$39,900.00
$39,900.00
$74,300.00
$92,400.00 103.5
$93,600.00 61.7
$55,000.00 53.2
$67,000.00 23.6
$55,300.00 38.6
$81,200.00 103.5
$91,700.00 23.4
$50,300.00 $97,300.00 93.4
$81,900.00
$124,000.00
$57,100.00 $72,300.00 $132,000.00 $173,000.00
$44,500.00 $56,700.00
$35,700.00 $42,600.00
$38,400.00 $48,300.00
$96,700.00
$72,500.00
$97,700.00
$129,000.00
$107,000.00
$145,000.00
$45,300.00 $60,500.00 $108,000.00 $146,000.00
$42,100.00 $55,600.00 $119,000.00 $175,000.00
$45,200.00 $64,200.00 $128,000.00 $183,000.00
$63,700.00 $76,200.00 $120,000.00 $163,000.00
$26,700.00 $40,200.00
$47,600.00 $56,400.00
$33,900.00 $44,500.00
$88,000.00
$134,000.00
$80,900.00 $98,300.00
$70,500.00 $99,200.00
$35,500.00 $52,800.00 $127,000.00 $168,000.00
$66,400.00 $75,200.00 $108,000.00 $124,000.00
$56,000.00 $74,200.00 $132,000.00 $178,000.00
Political
Science
Psychology
Religion
Sociology
Spanish
$40,800.00
$35,900.00
$34,100.00
$36,500.00
$34,000.00
Source: PayScale Inc.
$78,200.00 91.7
$60,400.00 68.2
$52,000.00 52.5
$58,200.00 59.5
$53,100.00 56.2
$41,200.00 $55,300.00 $114,000.00 $168,000.00
$31,600.00 $42,100.00
$29,700.00 $36,500.00
$30,700.00 $40,400.00
$31,000.00 $40,000.00
$87,500.00
$127,000.00
$70,900.00 $96,400.00
$81,200.00
$118,000.00
$76,800.00 $96,400.00