<p>If I graduate from Duke with a biomedical engineering degree, what would be my starting salary offer (4 years from now) if I have a 4.0 gpa?</p>
<p>First off, don’t expect a 4.0. The BME degree is probably the hardest program at Duke, and it is quite hard for Pratt students to get a 4.0. Secondly, employers look at other things besides grades for jobs. The grades might get your foot in the door for the interview, but it is going to be your personal qualities that you convey through your resume and your interview that will actually get you the job.</p>
<p>You will get a decent salary with a BME degree, but there is no set salary offer for a Duke degree. Chill out man… stop thinking way too far ahead. If you get in and do well here (or do well at any college), you will do well in life.</p>
<p>Yea, GPA does not equal job. Anything above a 3.6 is essentially the same to an employer. The rest is internships, extracurriculars, personality, interviews, etc.</p>
<p>As for salary, it depends on what you do. I’d guess starting is around 60k-80k, 90k for a top consulting firm. Jude Medical has a program where I think the starting is 100k+, but that’s really competitive.</p>
<p>There’s more to a job than just salary: many new graduate programs have lots of traveling, training, and opportunities for career advancement. One company has a 9-month training program in Switzerland.</p>
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<p>Uh, if you’re going in thinking you’re getting a 4.0 GPA and a 90k salary, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I agree with others on not focusing on salary at this time as a lot can happen and there are more important things at this juncture. Just do interesting things in school, perform well, and other things will work out. About 1 person/year in Pratt gets a 4.0, FYI. And that’s from 350 kids (when they start, about 1/3 transfer to Trinity, so fewer than that actually graduate from Pratt) who basically all scored 4.0s, 34 ACT, and 1500 SATs in high school. The competition is not easy and if only one person can do it in that pool, it should tell you how difficult it is. Heck, getting a 3.6 GPA is not easy either. </p>
<p>Most people really need to re-assess what is a “good” and “bad” grade in college, especially in the BME curriculum at Duke. Getting “average” on a test would be terrible for most people in high school, but when you’re competing against other top notch students, getting average on a BME test may not sound so terrible when you’re in the situation, and you may actually think you did well! (Shocking, I know, since nobody wants to be average).</p>
<p>Also, 60k-80k (or 90k for top consulting firm) in this job market is no way guaranteed. Let alone a job that pays >$0. Although the market should rebound in four years time. For the Duke class of 2010, only 31% had accepted full time jobs while 19% were going to look for employment as of April 2010 (i.e. right before graduation). That’s a whopping 38% whose salary is $0! (This excludes grad students and internships). Although BME (if you get through it) certainly sets you up a bit better than most other majors. </p>
<p>And, I don’t know a single consulting firm that offers 90k starting salary for an entry level consultant. If you perform really well at a high quality project and your profit margins are solid, it’s possible you get a huge year-end bonus, but the initial contract you sign will not be for 90k in management consulting. For BME devices/most consulting, a 50k-65k starting base (excluding bonuses) is more reasonable. Many places give signing bonuses and/or relocation too…But you can’t expect it to just happen. Focus on working hard, expanding your horizons, and enjoying college and things will hopefully fall into place.</p>
<p>@bluedog The numbers were a guess based on what I’ve heard. I guess I just got taken in by my friend’s dreamer talk.</p>
<p>If you want GPA breakdown, a good reference would be [Academic</a> Honors - Office of the University Registrar, Duke University](<a href=“http://registrar.duke.edu/registrar/studentpages/student/academichonors.html]Academic”>http://registrar.duke.edu/registrar/studentpages/student/academichonors.html)</p>
<p>The cutoff for Summa Cum Laude is the 5th percentile, Magna is the 15th, and Cum Laude is the 25th percentile. So a GPA of 3.676 is already beating 75% of Pratt. The class of 2011 has already dwindled down from about 340 to 270 people.</p>
<p>Last thing: BME is still a pretty new field with fewer options than an ECE or CS major in terms of employers. There’s only a handful of medical device companies.</p>
<p>Is the gpa at duke done differently than simply taking percentiles of tests so that 90%+ is a 4.0, 80% is 3.0, etc.? Because it seems odd that only one student can get 90% averages and above in every course.</p>
<p>And do you think a starting salary of $100k is reasonable for a summa cum laude duke graduate 4 years from now, because the field will have grown a lot.</p>
<p>Each professor sets their own grading policy. Generally, it’s 93 or 94+ for an A, 90-93 for a A- (3.3), etc. If there’s a curve, it’s usually toward somewhere in the B-range, i.e. half the class below the average will get C’s, D’s, or B-'s, and the other half will get B, B+, A-, A.</p>
<p>Also, some professors like to design tests where it’s impossible to finish in the time given or to get full credit. The idea is to make it really, really hard to separate out the really, really smart students. If half the class gets a 100, then there’s no way to tell who’s just above average and who’s a genius.</p>
<p>Like I said, GPA has almost no effect on getting a job once you’re above a certain cutoff (about 3.0-3.6). More important things are work experience, internships, interview, recommendations, personal connections, etc.</p>
<p>100k starting is not reasonable for any GPA. The only ways to start so high is get a job as an i-banker, at a really top-notch and selective consulting firm, or know someone who can get you a cushy job. None of these have anything to do with GPA and more to do with extracurriculars.</p>
<p>College is about more than just classes. It’s also about making connections, networking, and building your experience. A good GPA could get you a good internship, which can get you an interview for a good job.</p>
<p>Lastly, no engineering job pays 100k to start. 100k is with 10-20 years of experience, and that’s if you do good work, get promoted, stay up to date on current technologies, and continue to get your certifications. You could make 100k if you work for a start-up and get lucky, but not a salaried position.</p>
<p>The only standard careers that will make that much money are investment banking (usually $130k or so all-in for the year, but with 90 hour weeks) or at McKinsey/Bain/BCG (this year they’re at around $90k all in, but with traveling and 60-70 hour weeks). There are many other jobs that are around $60-$80k per year. That’s where most of the engineering jobs fall into. But certain start-ups can be higher. Keep in mind hours are a lot lower in other industries as well, which can be a big plus.</p>
<p>I would emphasize that all of these jobs are tough to get, for obvious reasons, as everyone wants those high-paying jobs. You do need a good GPA (I’d say 3.6 or 3.7+) to get an interview at these top firms, but once you get to the interview your GPA doesn’t really matter. It’s all about how YOU do and what YOU say. So GPA is important, but having lots of on-campus activities, other internships, etc. that you have done are helpful so you’ll have something to talk about!</p>
<p>Message is don’t be that lame person who only studies, gets the interview, but then has nothing to talk about.</p>