How much do you think is an acceptable starting salary for a Wharton grad?

[aj725]

I don't think that 70-80k is aiming too high but I don't think that 50k is too low either. I understand the frustration with wharton career services and recruiting generally; I didn't think it was all that helpful except for the people who were headed to the large banks in NYC. I do recall a section of the website that year to year charts of starting salaries -- if you look at those you'll see that there were plenty of people starting around 50k even in the good years.

I think it's always reasonable to keep your eyes open for better jobs -- either better pay or better work. It won't anger employers unless it affects your current job -- you obviously have to put in everything you can at the job you have, even if you're looking around or else employers/co workers won't want to keep you around. Not to mention -- a lot of times, esp now, looking for better jobs is through networking -- maybe joining some corporate/professional organizations so you'll hear about the opportunities that are out there; it doesn't necessarily have to be an exercise of sitting at your desk looking at job websites.

[legendofmax]

Problem is I am generally very bad at networking. I've done everything myself growing up and I am just not very good at making contacts/using networks to get places. The other problem is that many of the places I try to contact for work just aren't hiring a whole lot.

[tk21769]

You've seen the payscale.com data, right?
Median starting salaries for graduates of top colleges tend to run around $50K-$60k.
Penn: $60,400
Yale: $56,000
Swarthmore: $55,900

Your offer may sound a little low, but I suspect the payscale Ivy & top LAC numbers are inflated by (a) the tendency for a self-reporting sample to over-report higher earnings, (b) the tendency of college grads in the Northeast to choose jobs in the Northeast (where COL and salaries are higher).

[bioeng]

Legend, this might make you feel better about your offer.
My son graduated from Penn SEAS also in 2008. He is working in a NYC based start-up consulting firm that specializes in emerging technologies, such as Nano, Biotech, Energy and such. He was asked to be on the hiring committee this year at the firm. He told me that there were 300+ PhD's. MS. MBA and MEng, all from the Ivies and elite schools applying for the entry position, Research Associate, paying $35000 a year. (An almost 40% drop of salary from years past.) Some even ask just to be admitted as a No-pay intern.
My younger son got an internship at a start-up this summer in SF. There were 200+ applicants competing for 2 openings. On the first day of work, he found out that the other intern was a Wharton MBA (graduated). Everyone in the company came from elite colleges. Even the executive assistant was from Amherst. That's the reality for college grads now-a-days.
If you get a job with $50K doing things that you (can) like, it's a great opportunity. Don't forget that the "learning " is part of the compensation for the first few years or your career. It lays the foundation for your next move or graduate schools.

[dadx]

Don't worry about it at this point. Theres not a lot you can do. Your compensation is fine. Its fair.

Focus on doing the best possible job. That will open the next set of doors.

[Erin's Dad]

That is a fair salary. We had an intern who got a job in Chicago at $45K 1.5 years ago (before the tank).

[MomofWildChild]

I just asked this very question of some very successful business people who are on my company's board of directors (large, publicly traded). Every person said that if you get an offer- take it. Any job is a good one in this economy- Wharton, Ivy or whatever.

[midwesterner]

I think some companies aren't offering better starting salaries because they don't have to. There is a long line of applicants for nearly every job. My oldest son graduated from Cornell in May, and many of his friends have had a tough time in the job market; everyone is grabbing what they can. They would join the chorus here in saying taking a good job in a depressed market is the smart thing to do. Look at it this way - you may be working for a company that starts low but promotes quickly if your talent stands out. Given your intellect and motivation, that may be the ideal situation for you.

And, yes, Chicago is not as expensive as the big cities on the east and west coasts. There are plenty of nice, well-located apartments under $1000 a month and you don't need a car. Check the rentals on www.chicagoreader.com

[QwertyKey]

I imagine it would depend on your GPA and exactly what you studied, but I know the average starting salaries for Ross BBAs are around 55-60K (depending on what you study), so I imagine Wharton should be a little more.

[legendofmax]

Problem is I am apparently really bad at finding high-paying work that is best suited for me.

[JHS]

You can definitely live on $50,000/year in Chicago, but not alone and not in a fancy neighborhood. Chicago is noticeably more expensive than Philadelphia. There are tons of cool, edgy neighborhoods, though, and you can definitely get good digs for well under $1,000/month.

I suspect that an analyst job paying $50,000 has bonus potential. If not, look for a job that does -- and it will be much easier to do that from a job you have. Work hard, do well, build a track record, and stay loose. Finance tends to be pretty cyclical, but you have to be in a position to ride the next cycle. Take the job!

Also, it is a thousand times more easy to network when you are in an industry than when you are outside looking in. And after a while you will actually know something, and have honest-to-god skills, things which you do NOT have now, Wharton degree notwithstanding.

[busdriver11]

I agree, take the job! From there, you'll gain experience and knowledge that may help you get the job you really want. It is ugly out there, so much competition, the longer you are unemployed often it gets harder to get a job (particularly with little experience). With a programming backround, you should eventually be able to do much better, with the job skills you've gained. Plus, you don't have a family to support yet, right? 50K is alot of $$ for a single person (unless you have mega student loans).

[soccerguy315]

IMO you should take this job.

Once you take the first job, you will gain experience that will make your resume better. You will also make contacts, and start to learn the field from a practical standpoint.

and for disclosure, I am not a parent. I am 23 and finishing a year with AmeriCorps, and am looking for work (and considering going back to school).

[legendofmax]

Problem is I am horribly bad at networking and I don't really have anyone I could live with in Chicago -- if $50k is not enough to honestly live on my own in Chicago, I don't know if I can stay in such a position long... I feel like I'd have to immediately start looking for other work... but that seems really, really rude.

Part of it's arrogance, too, but only to the extent that I know I've got a lot of great skills under my belt that many of my Wharton peers don't have -- it's just that I'm really bad at networking and asking around, and I've had a lot of other things to focus on. It bothers me when I see people I know I can outperform land fun jobs at 80k/year... I am perfectly capable of that without question. But I just don't know the best way to find that meeting of supply and demand with respect to job skills and open positions.

I've got the underlying goods -- just bad at the advertising.

[busdriver11]

Actually, Chicago isn't that terribly expensive, if you don't have to live downtown. They have plenty of suburban areas that are quite reasonable. Consider renting a room from someone, a mother-in-law apartment. There are also many ways to find people to share apartments with online, consider airline or military personnel if you want a place practically to yourself, they are always gone. I know it's hard to get over fear of the unknown, but if you don't have a better offer before you have to turn down this one....won't it really suck if you don't get any more job offers and you don't have options at all? That would be a much worse problem, unless you're independently wealthy.