Can someone explain to me why top schools have such outrageously high starting salaries when compared to everyone else?
For example, Stanford Computer Science graduates expect to earn around $83,000, while at my school, Virginia Tech, Computer Science graduates can expect to earn around $65,000. Why is there such a huge difference? Virginia Tech still has one of best engineering programs in the nation.
Is the difference because so many Stanford students go on to work for top consulting and top finance firms?
Pretty much. Stanford's also a neighbor to many tech companies that will aggressively compete for talented students. Not to mention I imagine a lot more of Stanford's graduates wind up in high cost of living areas versus other schools.
Go look at more traditional engineering majors and you probably won't see that huge of a difference.
CloudyCloud, it's because they're Stanford. The calibre of a bright Stanford student is light years ahead of a bright Virginia Tech student. At Stanford and other top Ivy Leagues, you're literally recruiting from the cream of the crop, so of course you're going to pay more to lure better talent.
It doesn't hurt that Stanford is in the Silicon Valley, which is a hot spot for CS majors and jobs.
notaznguy, that's a little bit of an absurd statement.
What career surveys do not tell you is a normalized average, so you have no good way of comparing if the average of one school is skewed due to its location. $85,000 in San Francisco goes about as far as $52,000 in Richmond, VA, so actually the $65k base your friend from VT is making probably gives him higher spending power than someone making 20k more in California. According to Salary.com's salary calculator, someone earning $85k in San Francisco would be likely to earn around $70k for the same job by the same employer in Richmond. I'm guessing that a higher percentage of Stanford CS grads work in Silicon Valley at big tech companies, since it's very easy to recruit so close, and a higher percentage of VT grads go to smaller regional companies.
There is quite a bit of data as others have said. The data I prefer is subscription only which is unfortunate. If the information that is gathered from the National Association of Colleges & Employers could be integrated into the existing iPEDS that would be lovely. NACE has 2,000 college members so that is a pretty good representation. That said, I'm another one who agrees that you don't go to college to get a job...unless it's pre-pro program at a university...but it is interesting to see where kids are 5 years out. I always look at the alumni magazines for every college my kids were interested in to see where the early after college alums were reporting.
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For example, Stanford Computer Science graduates expect to earn around $83,000, while at my school, Virginia Tech, Computer Science graduates can expect to earn around $65,000. Why is there such a huge difference? Virginia Tech still has one of best engineering programs in the nation.
Is the difference because so many Stanford students go on to work for top consulting and top finance firms?
Go look at more traditional engineering majors and you probably won't see that huge of a difference.
It doesn't hurt that Stanford is in the Silicon Valley, which is a hot spot for CS majors and jobs.
What career surveys do not tell you is a normalized average, so you have no good way of comparing if the average of one school is skewed due to its location. $85,000 in San Francisco goes about as far as $52,000 in Richmond, VA, so actually the $65k base your friend from VT is making probably gives him higher spending power than someone making 20k more in California. According to Salary.com's salary calculator, someone earning $85k in San Francisco would be likely to earn around $70k for the same job by the same employer in Richmond. I'm guessing that a higher percentage of Stanford CS grads work in Silicon Valley at big tech companies, since it's very easy to recruit so close, and a higher percentage of VT grads go to smaller regional companies.
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