average starting salary for harvard grads?

sakky
Thu, 30 Jun 2005 01:01:11 +0000

Prepster05, I don’t know about that. You know and I know that for the most part, high school is a fairly low-stress environment. Much of the time is spent sitting in class doing nothing, or socializing with friends. Only a few times does it get stressful, like during exam crunch time. IB is not like that at all - it is ALWAYS stressful in IB. Imagine that it’s exam week, every single week. Imagine pulling one or two all-nighters every couple of weeks. That’s the kind of stress I’m talking about.

You may want to read some of the books about the industry to get a feel for what the lifestyle is all about. There are true stories of people regularly taking naps in bathrooms because they are so tired. There are true stories of people buying new underwear every week because they don’t have time to do laundry. There are true stories of guys sleeping in the office for days at a time because they just don’t have time to go home.

Now, to eternity_hope2005, there definitely are analysts who can make 100k+ (including year-end bonus) in IB in their first year, which easily dwarfs the kind of money you make in engineering. But again, it’s all about the hours worked. Engineers don’t work the kinds of hours that IB analysts do. It’s a tradeoff. Do you want to make more money but never leave the office, or do you want to make less money, but have a life? If all you care about is money, then don’t do engineering. Go to IB. However, again, a lot of people see the kind of lifestyle that those people live and decide they want no part of it. I know people who have gotten IB offers and turned them down because they know they can’t handle that kind of lifestyle. I know other people who took those offers, but quickly quit in frustration because they hated the lifestyle. A career as an engineering offers a way to make a decent living without having to live in the office.

And no, in general, large engineering companies do not pay the most money. As an engineer, if you want to make the most money, you generally do not work for a large company like Exxon. Exxon’s salary offer will be decent, but nowhere near the top. That’s because Exxon knows full well that their big-name, their ‘resume prestige’ and their stability means that they don’t have to offer the best salaries. If you want to make the best engineering salaries, you generally have to go work for a small-to-midsize company. The best salaries I’ve seen that engineers make come from certain small companies (not all small companies, but certain ones), because they know they have nothing to offer except a high salary if they want to attract talent.