How much does an average 25 year old college graduate earns?

[Anonymous]

Unless they are CS Econ Accounting Finance Law

They are making $50, 000 or less

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go straight to law school, 25 is old enough to have finished a T14 JD and earn $220,000 as a first year associate at a white shoe firm. These numbers are public information.

BS. Friend made 115K starting. I made more in pharma sales than she did.

You ignored the "white shoe firm" part:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/ny-law-firm-raises-starting-salaries-215000-lawyer-pay-race-continues-2022-01-20/

Legal salaries have risen rapidly and overtaken finance salaries. There's plenty of mid to late 20-somethings in the DC biglaw firms making 200+ plus bonus.

For a bright kid with aptitude, going from college to premier T14 law school and doing well and landing a spot at a biglaw firm is probably the surest and fastest way to a solid six figure income, which I daresay now really means 200+ these days.

[Anonymous]

My 23 year old DS just got his first raise after working for 16 months for a government contractor. $95K plus $3K bonus. He started last year at $85K plus a $5k signing bonus. His degree is in Data Analytics.

[Anonymous]

“Average” is a meaningless number. CS graduates earn well above $100k and the highest earners probably do as well as junior biglaw associates. Even graduates without a CS degree who are proficient in coding, data analytics, etc. should easily pass six figures. Graduates with other science/engineering background probably earn $80-100k. For liberal arts majors, on the other hand, pay is more variable, perhaps $40-70k is realistic.

Re the above posts about biglaw, I think that CS is a better path if you have the aptitude for it and your primary goal is money. The problem with biglaw is that you need to make partner after 8-10 years, or your high-paying opportunities deteriorate significantly. Someone with the right coding skillset, by contrast, is always employable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go straight to law school, 25 is old enough to have finished a T14 JD and earn $220,000 as a first year associate at a white shoe firm. These numbers are public information.

Is going straight to undergrad common? I just read a few of the Ivies’ law school data on current 1Ls and only 12%-15% of class arrives straight from undergrad, most have at least two years’ work experience.

Depends on the school. At Yale, proportion is really small, but around the T14 it probably averages about 30% going straight through, with the majority of those w/ work experience being a year or two.

I personally attend a T14 though and highly recommend any student interested to take at least 1 year off and work the most impressive sounding job they can get. Minor for admission but huge for employment with students with work experience often outperforming others with similar grades in terms of the tier of biglaw firm they get.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the industry. I am in finance and we just paid a couple of kids in that age range around $400k all in because they work hard and are very smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the industry. I am in finance and we just paid a couple of kids in that age range around $400k all in because they work hard and are very smart.

Also wanted to say that in finance, that’s 4 years of experience and usually means an associate, so $200-400k with bonus in the good years is not unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless they are CS Econ Accounting Finance Law

They are making $50, 000 or less

This is correct for entry-level in the federal govt or nonprofits. (In other words, NOT lawyers or finance or CS.) I've seen lower starting salaries for Hill staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Average” is a meaningless number. CS graduates earn well above $100k and the highest earners probably do as well as junior biglaw associates. Even graduates without a CS degree who are proficient in coding, data analytics, etc. should easily pass six figures. Graduates with other science/engineering background probably earn $80-100k. For liberal arts majors, on the other hand, pay is more variable, perhaps $40-70k is realistic.

Re the above posts about biglaw, I think that CS is a better path if you have the aptitude for it and your primary goal is money. The problem with biglaw is that you need to make partner after 8-10 years, or your high-paying opportunities deteriorate significantly. Someone with the right coding skillset, by contrast, is always employable.

Law allows a wider range of people to practice it. CS is a rather narrow skillset. You really have to like it and possess an intuition for it to want to do it. Whereas people can grind their way through law more easily.

While it's true most people entering BIGLAW ultimately leave and not make partner, the majority will still go on to comfortable jobs paying in the 200s-400ks at smaller firms or in house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go straight to law school, 25 is old enough to have finished a T14 JD and earn $220,000 as a first year associate at a white shoe firm. These numbers are public information.

BS. Friend made 115K starting. I made more in pharma sales than she did.

You're calling BS on the salary scale for big law associates? You know these are published, right? They really do let idiots do pharma sales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 25 year olds at my firm are making about $100k. Econ and accounting and finance majors.

The 25yr. old I know makes 40K in the same field.

Him and his friends make about the same. Economics majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dang I started at $19K with no benefits or health insurance when I started as a magna cum lauds grad from a top 20 college graduating into a recession in 1992.

dang. I started out at 26K at a nonprofit in CA with great benefits -- 32.5 hour work week. I graduated from a no name state u with a B average. 1992.

That's crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the industry. I am in finance and we just paid a couple of kids in that age range around $400k all in because they work hard and are very smart.

WHERE????????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Average” is a meaningless number. CS graduates earn well above $100k and the highest earners probably do as well as junior biglaw associates. Even graduates without a CS degree who are proficient in coding, data analytics, etc. should easily pass six figures. Graduates with other science/engineering background probably earn $80-100k. For liberal arts majors, on the other hand, pay is more variable, perhaps $40-70k is realistic.

Re the above posts about biglaw, I think that CS is a better path if you have the aptitude for it and your primary goal is money. The problem with biglaw is that you need to make partner after 8-10 years, or your high-paying opportunities deteriorate significantly. Someone with the right coding skillset, by contrast, is always employable.

Law allows a wider range of people to practice it. CS is a rather narrow skillset. You really have to like it and possess an intuition for it to want to do it. Whereas people can grind their way through law more easily.

While it's true most people entering BIGLAW ultimately leave and not make partner, the majority will still go on to comfortable jobs paying in the 200s-400ks at smaller firms or in house.

well, that would depend on the person, but it seems like most lawyers hate their jobs, not to mention how many hours they work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$120k in DMV

Wrong. I was not earning 120k with 20 years of experience just 5 years ago. With a masters.