Average salaries of Engineering, BA, and LAS

[Archbob]

Interesting statistical numbers(note, these are 2009 numbers):

http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-salaries-by-field-and-major/

All New College Graduates --$49,307
Computer Science Field --- $59,418
Engineering Fields --- $59,254
Business Fields --- $47,239
Liberal Arts Fields --- $36,175
Chemical Engineering --- $64,902
Computer Engineering --- $61,738
Computer Science --- $61,407
Electrical Engineering --- $60,125
Information Sciences & Systems --- $52,089
Civil Engineering --- $52,048
Finance --- $49,940
Economics --- $49,829
Accounting --- $48,993
Business Administration --- $44,944
Marketing --- $43,325
History --- $37,861
English --- $34,704
Psychology --- $34,284
Sociology --- $33,280

Data comes from NACE(National association of colleges and employers) so I expect it to better reflect reality than they payscale.com stuff.

Now, last I checked about 70% or more of our college people where majoring in Liberal Arts. This. coupled with the fact that most growing fields(by jobs) are in the more technical fields. Does this mean, we will continue to have more unemployed or poor college grads?

 

[GenMarshall]

Majors do not matter, it's the position. Besides, there are possitions that a Liberal Arts grad can fit in that are not of the hard sciences, including Administration. Stop stuffing people into holes they dont fit!

Cue MobBoss coming in that you can make big bucks without a degree.

 

[Archbob]

Majors do not matter, it's the position. Besides, there are possitions that a Liberal Arts grad can fit in that are not of the hard sciences, including Administration. Stop stuffing people into holes they dont fit!

No, it does, no one is going to hire you to design a bridge or a computer circuit with your history degree because you can't do it. The positions that Liberal Arts majors can fit into, just about any college Grad can(same can be said for business admin grads) but that can't be said for EE's or ME's because those jobs require specific skills.

 

[GenMarshall]

No, it does, no one is going to hire you to design a bridge or a computer circuit with your history degree because you can't do it. The positions that Liberal Arts majors can fit into, just about any college Grad can(same can be said for business admin grads) but that can't be said for EE's or ME's because those jobs require specific skills.

Did anywhere in my post did I say a LA student would go into an engineering position? No I didint. Reread my post again. I stated "Besides, there are possitions that a Liberal Arts grad can fit in that are not of the hard sciences, including Administration."

Engineering in my view falls under the hard sciences.

 

[Archbob]

Did anywhere in my post did I say a LA student would go into an engineering position? No I didint. Reread my post again. I stated "Besides, there are possitions that a Liberal Arts grad can fit in that are not of the hard sciences, including Administration."

Engineering in my view falls under the hard sciences.

Yeah but see those admin positions anyone from any major can fill and there's only so many of those positions. Its not like engineering majors can't fill them. Once an economic downturn hits, those are the first people to be fired. There's just more and higher-paying possibilities for people with specific skill-sets.

 

[Moss]

It's not surprising that the highest paying fields are also the most difficult...and also the ones with the most openings.

A company (AGCO) near where I live has about 10 engineering jobs open, and they've been open for quite awhile. It's not that there aren't jobs available, there are plenty, it's that no one is apparently qualified to do those jobs because few people have what it takes to finish a degree in the tougher science and engineering fields.

 

[Archbob]

I wish college would release their actual % employment after graduation numbers instead of inflated ones.

 

[luiz]

It's as I posted somewhere else: Americans and Europeans will need to think a bit like middle class folks in the Third World think when choosing a degree: it's not just about studying what you love, but conciling what you like (or tolerate!) with stuff that can give you better chances in the job market.

I guarantee there are plenty of jobs for ALL moderately competent engineers in the world. That's right, if you're a moderately competent engineer and you're willing to relocate there's no way in hell you'll be unemployed for long [in fact any materials or metallurgical engineers interested in working in Brazil, Chile or Peru should PM me!] . That's another advantage of technical fields, it's very easy to relocate.

 

[squall78]

College students need to check out BLS.gov, and do some research on the majors they are getting to the income they might expect. Too many times I hear people say "well I'll make 100k+ my first year so I'll be fine."

Avoiding bias sources (such as the universities web sites) would help too. Of course your career adviser is going to get a degree, it's in their interest to. Ask people in the field. Ask people who were in the field.

With a combined research and expectations I ended up pursuing my education.

Of course if you network then some rules go out the window. A BA or BS might be enough to land a job if you know the right person.

 

[Archbob]

Avoiding bias sources (such as the universities web sites) would help too. Of course your career adviser is going to get a degree, it's in their interest to. Ask people in the field. Ask people who were in the field.

University web sites are good comparisons between the majors though since they are postively bias towards every major they have.

BLS doesn't actually have data that separates it by the college major people graduated out of. That would be pretty helpful in determining your field of study I would think.

 

[Arwon]

Nice to know a year into my post-uni life and I'm outperforming the average American graduate from every field with my lowly Arts degree, including those number nerd types.

Edit: I don't see medicine or law grads there though? Don't you guys have undergraduate medicine or law?

 

[Ajidica]

Nice to know a year into my post-uni life and I'm outperforming the average American graduate from every field with my lowly Arts degree.

Edit: I don't see medicine or law grads there though? Don't you guys have undergraduate medicine or law?

Not really, you have to go on to med school or law school.

 

[Arwon]

Well yeah, but does that mean you don't START medicine or law until post-graduate study?

 

[Dachs]

Nice to know a year into my post-uni life and I'm outperforming the average American graduate from every field with my lowly Arts degree, including those number nerd types.

Edit: I don't see medicine or law grads there though? Don't you guys have undergraduate medicine or law?

Pre-med and pre-law aren't really actual degrees, and you can do other things instead of them (in some cases, you're encouraged to have a different prior education).

 

[Arwon]

Weirdos.

 

[Bootstoots]

Wait, where are math, physics, chemistry, and biology? How could this list miss those?

 

[_random_]

Well yeah, but does that mean you don't START medicine or law until post-graduate study?

Typically, you'll enter into a pre-med or pre-law program, but it will be accompanied by some other major. Standardized test results and GPA mean a lot more than whatever you were studying.

 

[Arwon]

So there's no Bachelor of Medicine then?

 

[Earthling]

So there's no Bachelor of Medicine then?

No, but there are pre-med paths which are essentially the same other than the designation.

This thread has seriously confused truisms about pre-med and pre-law which really aren't that similar at all except for the "pre" part indicating a graduate degree will follow.

Standardized test results and GPA mean a lot more than whatever you were studying.

This, for instance, isn't true for medicine - people generally get degrees in the sciences/life sciences before med school.

It is true that nobody would have what someone could call a "Bachelor's of Law" in the US

 

[_random_]

This, for instance, isn't true for medicine - people generally have to get degrees in the sciences/life sciences before med school.

I know a pre-med philosophy major at Wright State. Probably an exception to the rule, but still, they're out there.