<p>Depending on your definition of good job a prestigious degree most certainly does not guarantee that. A prestigious degree isn’t even a guarantee of entry level employment. It might make it very likely you have entry level employment. I have an aunt that was a director of HR for a fortune 500 company and she didn’t even have a degree or any college education. My aunt was the manager of several Stanford and Berkeley graduates since she lived in the bay area. Your degree will not mean long term career success. </p>
<p>Your degree gets your foot in the door. That is all. Just because you perform well academically that doesn’t mean you will perform well in the work place or be well liked enough to attain a promotion. The work place in some companies is a lot like high school. Those who are liked get promoted!!! What good is someone that gets a lot of work done if he drives the group’s productivity down since no one can stand him?</p>
<p>Entry level salaries in the all fields that require a BA in my opinion are not good. The best you will get is 80k-90k per year salary for a BA in engineering or an investment banking position in an area with a high cost of living.</p>
<p>Minimize your debt go to Washington. My guess is the 80k would be comprised of some private loans. Private loans from banks cannot be forgiven or have income sensitive repayment. They also cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. You are playing with fire being that leveraged.</p>