Blog 3: Median Salary my Ass!

For many of us college graduation is fast approaching and we are left to navigate the world of student loan repayment and negotiating salaries. What salary does our four year adventure entitle us to? I read an interesting article on Fox 9 News' website and found some interesting information that I don't necessarily agree with.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/22549026/top-9-college-degrees-for-cost-of-education

Bankrate.com conducted a study that found the 9 best college degrees for the money to obtain the degree. Many of the typical lucrative career degrees are included such as lawyer, marketing/advertising, microbiologist, and physician. All of this sounds legit until you get to the median salaries for some of these careers. Take marketing/advertising for example, the median salary is $108,000! I am sure this could be the case for a professional that has been in the business for 5+ years and works for a high end advertising/marketing firm with a decent job title. This is not the case for the run-of-the-mill college graduate. At the company I work for, the entry level marketing positions (if they ever open) are in the $40,000-50,000 range. This is far from the $108,000 of this article.

The article did include the methodology for the numbers for the tuition costs however, did not mention how they came up with the salary information. As a soon-to-be college grad, I would want to see that information included in here so as not to get unrealistic expectations on what I could potentially be making. Something that would have made this article have more meaning would be to include realistic numbers of entry level positions that college graduates are actually getting. Not only would it be more accurate all the way around, but would also provide more useful information to students who would be reading the article.