<p>I’m with BobWallace on the salary thing. I’m a 50-something electrical engineer and a senior person in my department (a major semiconductor manufacturer). Over my career I’ve performed every part of the hiring process, from simply being one of the interviewers to being the one making the final hiring decision, with several semi suppliers. Pay has NEVER been a pre-defined thing for an engineering position. Perhaps for a secretary or tech, but NEVER for an engineer… be it an entry level position or not.</p>
<p>It is exactly as BobWallace wrote:
“…starting pay varies over a wide range based on the quality of the candidates, and the school is one of the factors that goes into that.”</p>
<p>IMHO, any company not willing to adjust salary (upward or downward) depending on the quality of the candidate probably has a dysfunctional design department. They probably lost their good candidates and pay too much to the ones they hired.</p>