<p>I want to start by saying “No, I am not just wanting to go into engineering for the money. Yes, it is something that i am very passionate about doing.”</p>
<p>Now that I got that over with…When i made a trip to UIUC, i received a handout about starting salaries in from the different engineering majors. While most of the majors tended to be in the 60-70k range, aerospace (which is usually among the highest) was at 54k, below the national average of about 58k. all the other disciplines were either equal or above the averages. any ideas on why that is?</p>
<p>Small sample size? One or 2 low-ball offers distorting the data? Or results of a general industry downturn exacerbated by where the UIUC graduates went to work (employers with below-average starting salaries but attractive for other reasons)? When I graduated with a BS in aero/astro (a LONG time ago), the industry was coming out of a broad downturn. So there were very few graduating seniors, and of that group, all but 3 or 4 of us went directly to graduate school or military service. Of the 3 offers I received, one was 15-20% below the others (company was struggling, they new they were low, didn’t take for that and for several other reasons). A similar situation could affect the UIUC stats for aerospace grads. </p>
<p>And when an industry turns around, college enrollments will lag by several years. Over the 2 years after I started, the recovery was in full swing and starting salaries were actually higher than those for employees with 1-2 years experience! YMMV.</p>
<p>Location can play a significant difference. For EE and CS, Berkeley and Stanford boast pretty high salaries, but they are also located in Silicon Valley —> expensive!
I don’t know if Illinois has a very large aerospace industry.</p>
<p>i dont think the location of UIUC matters much. most of those grads would probably relocate. i mean…its not like UIUC is the type of engineering school that has most of its kids employed in the immediate area…</p>
<p>First let me say I’m not a UIUC graduate nevertheless I am from Illinois and just graduated with an aerospace degree.</p>
<p>While at first I was inclined to think this was due to that the cost of living in Illinois is far lower than where Aerospace companies are typically located (ie California). However, there is a very low number of aerospace companies in Illinois that hire aerospace engineers. I should know as I spend the better part of the first half of this year looking for aerospace jobs in Illinois. Boeing is headquartered in Chicago but thats more of the managerial side. Northrop Grumman also has a few places in Illinois but its the “electronic systems” sector. The only company I know of in Illinois that would hire entry level Aerospace engineers is Hamilton Sundstrand and I doubt they only hire all UIUC aerospace grads. Also, I don’t know of any of my classmates in Aerospace actually working as an aerospace engineer in Illinois, they all relocated for an aerospace job or are working as an Mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>I guess this is another thing you should consider, not all Aerospace engineering majors end up working as an aerospace engineer. Sometimes they can work as a mechanical engineer, test engineer, sales engineer, etc. My guess is that some AE grads working in IL aren’t working as AE and making somewhere in the low 50’s/high 40’s (which is quite normal in IL). The rest relocate for AE jobs and make more, thus increasing the average salary to around 54K. As to why all the other engineering major’s boost higher salaries, I don’t know. I’m just glad I manged to get a job related to my major, albeit I’m forced to relocate to California</p>
<p>thanks for the answer so far. am i wrong in thinking that aerospace usually sits at the higher end of the spectrum?</p>
<p>i actually have the complete data in front of me now: (+ is above national average; - is below)
for class of UIUC Class of 08
CS = 70k +
Computer = 69k +
Chem = 66k +
EE = 61k +
Materials = 60k +
Industrial = 60k +
MechE = 60k +
Nuclear = 59k -
Agricultural = 58k -
General = 57k +
Civil = 55k + Aero = 55k -</p>
<p>personally, I had never seen any entry-level job that pays over $60k in DC. Unless of course you live in CA or NY, I think it’s hard to expect $60k+ salary with no experience and just a BS. I’m pretty sure it’s even harder to find a $60k+ job in Illinois with just a BS degree.</p>
<p>i would be oos at UIUC and i really dont think that too many grads from a top 8 school like that would stick around Illinois.</p>
<p>@Hockey07 — yes it does. for aero BS, the highest offer was 78k, lowest was 35k.
for Aero MS - average= 63k; low=58k; high=67k
for Aero PhD - average=82k; low=75k; high=92k</p>
<p>the MS still fits into the bottom quartile of the majors at UIUC and below the national average. the PhD is about par for other UIUC PhDs and well above the national average…</p>
<p>again, i thought aero was one of the higher paid majors. am i wrong?</p>
<p>I think it just depends on the number of people who responded and the different companies they got jobs from. Electrical, chemical, and other engineers seem to get paid more to start even with just a bachelors, and I too thought aerospace paid high, but I think it just depends on the survey you’re looking at.</p>
<p>It generally is among the highest. ExplorerCY, do you have data from previous years as well? It would be interesting to see if this is an anomaly.</p>
<p>no. this is just what they gave me this weekend when i went for the visit. it just seemed a little strange to me so i thought i would get the great think tank that is CC involved.</p>
<p>Well, I have some speculation on the number of responses to the survey.
it is a multiple of 4…if all the salaries ended in 3 zeros.
yes. i did math to figure that out. please dont ask me to go through my thought process. i just self-smarted myself through it. [YouTube</a> - self smart](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3SIXtLaAY]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3SIXtLaAY)</p>
<p>Perhaps a lot either went to the USAF (like treetopleaf said), or perhaps a few went to work for NASA, who I imagine would have lower than average industry pay.</p>
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<p>My girlfriend was offered an EE job earlier this year in Phoenix for around $65k. My old roommate from undergrad was offered a few jobs all over $60k in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Seattle. Heck, the mean salary for Materials Science & Engineering grads from 2002-2008 at my undergrad was $59k. Not even 10% of them went to the west coast.</p>