Do elite colleges produce the best-paid graduates? Not in my case!

[KamaAina]

Dear FSM, I wish I hadn't read this...

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/107374/do-elite-colleges-produce-the-best-paid-graduates.html?mod=edu-collegeprep

Forget U.S. News's academic rankings and Playboy's party-school rankings. For some prospective college freshmen, here's the important question: Will I make more money if I go to Harvard, or if I go to Harvey Mudd?

PayScale, a site that collects data on salaries for different professions, argues that it can help students answer that question. Today the company is releasing an updated, gigantic data set on the salaries of graduates from hundreds of universities and colleges, as well as salaries and career choices broken down by department/major.

The numbers are from 1.2 million users of PayScale's site who self-reported their salaries and educational credentials in a PayScale survey over the last year. While the data are not from a randomized scientific sample, they are still pretty tantalizing. Here, for example, are the rankings by median mid-career salary (minimum 10 years out of school) by university:



Full rankings are here. An important note: The data include only survey respondents whose highest academic degree is a bachelor's. Therefore, doctors, lawyers and others in high-paying jobs that require advanced degrees are not included in the data set.

So, nearly 25 years out of No. 9 on the list, I am pulling down one-third of what my median classmate -- who also did not get an advanced degree -- is. Remember, I made cum laude.

So it looks like the reason Yale is as far down as No. 9 is, I'm dragging down the curve. :eyes: