How can I be sure of what the college is telling me?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Today I got an email from NYU Gallatin saying that the students there end up being among the top 10 majors in the school. Gallatin is a unique program within NYU where all the students get the same major in Individualized Studies (although a concentration is attached), so I thought it was pretty interesting that their salaries were able to compete of those in Finance, Accounting, Nursing, etc, even though a lot of the students seem to take rather arcane and not very practical majors. </p>

<p>However, the only data that I found online showed that Gallatin majors made only about $35k/per year, less than $10k per year than what the students in the regular College of Arts and Sciences make, even thought the two schools are comparable academically. I’ve looked and looked, and I can’t find any more information on this. Obviously, I’m not going to college just to make money, but I don’t want to earn a lot less than if I go to another school and get a more conventional major. </p>

<p>I don’t want to believe the school is lying to me, but the only data I have available says otherwise. I already sent one of the enrollment directors an email asking about this (I hope that I didn’t sound too aggressive to them). Would there be any way I can check this? I don’t want to decide on a college without having the most factual information.</p>

<p>btw, here is the study:</p>

<p><a href=“Career Development and Jobs”>Career Development and Jobs;

2

<p>What exactly did the email say? Your description of it doesn’t mention money. In any case, your future earnings are going to depend as much on specifically what course of study you pursue and what effort you put into your college career as on which school at NYU you attend.</p>

3

<p>Oops, I made a huge mistake. I meant to say in the OP that Gallatin students were among the top 10 earning majors in the school, which seems unlikely to me.</p>

<p>I just don’t want employers to be scared off because of having an individualized major, even though I plan on having comparable skills to a regular Economics major. (I’m going to take Calculus and all that)</p>

4

<p>So it said that of the ten graduates earning the most money (in a particular year or overall?), some were Gallatin students? I don’t see why that statistic is incompatible with the other data you uncovered. It might be that two or three superstars from Gallatin are making big bucks, but that the earnings of Gallatin grads as a whole lag the other schools. But I don’t see how these statistics are very helpful for your own personal decision process. It still seems to me that your specialization at Gallatin and your performance there will be the key factors in your future success.</p>

5

<p>I think it was supposed to mean, on average, Gallatin students earned the most out of ten majors.</p>

6

<p>Well, without seeing the precise words, it’s hard to react, but I’m sure you know that all kinds of games can be played with statistics. Let us know what kind of response you get to your inquiry.</p>

7

<p>“The mean salaries by school for
respondents from the class of 2010 were: College of
Nursing $69,380, Stern $60,545, SCPS $57,505, Tisch
$44,860, CAS $44,300, Gallatin $38,400, Steinhardt
$37,700, and Silver School of Social work $37,000.”</p>

<p>You should know that, as in all studies of this kind, the numbers of employed, and salaries, are usually way overstated. The 38% of those who did not respond (and mind you, they were sent survey twice and contacted four times) are much more likely to be unemployed, semi-employed, or employed at very low salaries.</p>

<p>Anyhow,</p>

<p>“The average starting salaries for NYU graduates
entering a variety of industries were excellent. Mean
salaries were the highest for respondents entering
the following 15 fields:
Nursing $69,400, Banking $68,340, Computer
Science $67,150, Financial Services (excluding
Banking) $61,850, Healthcare Administration
$58,570, Consulting $58,015 Accounting $55,850,
Marketing $48,160, Fashion/Retail $43,810,
Education $42,530, Advertising $41,635, Non-Profit
$40,915, Entertainment $42,970, Communications
$40,520, Law/Paralegal $40,700.”</p>

<p>So the mean salary of a Gallatin graduate was below the average salary of the top 15 fields. Or so the survey seems to say. (But again, this is only of those who responded (62%) and had jobs.)</p>

8

<p>One item of note in the study you cited – Gallatin students reported the highest percentage of participation in internships or part-time employment while students. (97.8%). That makes sense, given the flexibility of the individualized major – it would be natural for a student to incorporate one or more internships into their major. Students who have jobs and/or completed internships are probably somewhat better positioned for post-grad employment than those who don’t, assuming the student does well at their internship and uses that as an inroad into employment or networking opportunity.</p>

<p>That being said, Gallatin is a school for independent-minded students with strong & somewhat unique academic interests or passions. If your main focus in college planning is worrying about how much money you will earn post-grad, then Gallatin is probably not the school you would want. While not all Gallatin students will pursue careers related to their self-create majors, I think most are the type who will take their individualistic & creative approach to learning with them into future employment, probably placing higher value finding work that suits their interests than on salary level.</p>

9

<p>I’m not going to college just for making money. However, I don’t want to end up losing out on opportunities just because of the college I went to. Plus, NYU is very expensive, even with the scholarship I have. I don’t think it’d be fair to my parents that I end up spending so much of their money only to fail to find a good job after college. I also am planning on paying back some of the money back to my parents. I think it is a bit ridiculous how people can spend so much money for school and not be worried about debt afterwards? Maybe the people who go to Gallatin are mostly rich?</p>

10

<p>I’m in a hurry, but:</p>

<p><a href=“Career Development and Jobs”>Career Development and Jobs;

<p>If what they indeed mean is that Gallatin is one of the top 10 earning majors, they are wrong, according to NYU’s own survey. NYU only releases the mean salary (among those who report) for the 20 most popular majors, and Gallatin’s is low among them.</p>

<p>If what they mean is that among the ten students who earned the most out of college, one was a Gallatino, that’s possible - but it would be an extremely strange metric to pick.</p>

11

<p>You have to take all of that salary information with a grain of salt. One example, nursing, starting salary of $69,400, in NYC, is not very good. A nurse in our area starts around $60,000, however, the cost of living here is probably half what it is in NYC. You can find a NICE 2 bedroom apartment, free parking, new building for $1000/month or less, very affordable on that salary. Or in other areas of our state that starting salary might be $50,000, but that same nice, 2 bedroom apartment is $450/month. So, when colleges tout all of these “high salaries” keep in mind the cost of living in the general area where the college is located. </p>

<p>Also, remember, all of that information you receive from colleges is advertising, nothing more, nothing less. It is the same as a commercial on TV. The goal is to make the school look better than any other school. They are going to take every advantage to do that and if that means that their graduates make on average $5/year more than others, they will state that their graduates make more.</p>

12

<p>Starting salary is kind of meaningless. Nurse’s starting salary may be 60K, but what about 2 years later, would it be 70k or 120k? A CAS student going into a management training program may start out at 50k, but in few years could potentially double his/her salary. It is the case with Average Salary for a profession too. Are you going to be the top 1% or the bottom 20%?</p>

13

<p>On other thought. The major of a student in many cases did not determine the salary of the student … the student whatever their major in most cases determines the salary of the student. A couple examples, wall street and consulting do not exclusively hire finance majors … they go to schools with lots of top students … and hire the applicants they believe are the best, the brightest, and have the most potential and in many(most?) cases do not particularly care about the applicants major. Picking a school and a major do not make a future … what one does in their current situation makes their future.</p>

14

<ol>
<li><p>Gallatin is often home to some special cases who could move the curve significantly. Like, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson. I’ll bet THEY were among the top-10 earning majors at NYU. </p></li>
<li><p>With the exception of some specific pre-professional programs like engineering, nursing, teaching, or acting, your major does not determine your career or your earnings. I am meeting later this week with the partners in a successful construction management and real estate development business. They both have degrees in English Literature, one from Dartmouth and one from Penn.</p></li>
</ol>

15

<p>I was thinking along the lines of JHS. I know two Gallatin graduates, and I assure you where they went to school and what their major were, has nothing to do with the very high salaries they are earning. They are in families that are very well connected, and those jobs and salaries are waiting for them.</p>

<p>There are certain professions where a certain base salary and good chances of employment are constants where ever one should go to school. Nursing, engineering, health care services, accounting are all such examples. If you want to see some amazing starting salaries, look at SUNY Maritime. And the only reason their averages are so low is that they have so many kids who are entering the military directly after graduation as part of their ROTC commitments, so those starting officers’ salaries are bringing the amounts down!</p>

16

<p>“Starting salary is kind of meaningless. Nurse’s starting salary may be 60K, but what about 2 years later, would it be 70k or 120k?”</p>

<p>Try $85k-$90k. (But that would be in my low-rent district, and for a two-year nurse where tuition was $4,200 a year.)</p>

<p>Look - it’s hard to make the case that $250k spent on four years at NYU is a good “investment” (relative to other possible investments). Nurses from the community college will make about as much. Baruch graduates hundreds of folks employed in the banking industry, and plenty of accountants. Schoolteachers graduating from Brooklyn College will make exactly the same. Perhaps a good case can be made for Tisch, though the number of unemployed actors is pretty substantial. You will hopefully get a good education there if you choose to go, but the rest is going to be up to you.</p>

17

<p>Gallatin enrolls a not insignificant number of successful people who for some reason never got a BA. So yes- you can believe the numbers insofar as the university is reporting income data from a small and self-selected group of graduates. But unless you are already a successful model, real estate developer, actor, or best-selling novelist, the likelihood that you are going to out-earn the typical college grad is pretty remote.</p>