s/o Low Paying Prestige Jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe not exactly a "prestige job" but highly respected:

Staff Psychologist within the counseling center of an elite University. The work is very rewarding. Everyone has an advanced level degree, in most cases a doctorate. Looks great on a resume. Pay is crap, though. Salaries start at 40-60k and rarely climb above $80k.The saving grace is that the hours typically aren't bad so many of us supplement with private practice.

How is this highly respected, exactly? I work at a university and I don't even have a clue how many/who the counselors are.

I think it may be respected in your circle, but that's not at all a "prestige" job.

Um, okay. I didn't say it was a prestige job. I guess I naively assumed that a job requiring a PhD that entails years of clinical training would be highly respected. Guess you told me otherwise. Good to know.

I'm a psychologist (PhD), too, and thanks to the APA, respect for the profession has really eroded. And it's hard to argue with that when anyone can become a "psychologist."

Really? Anyone can become a psychologist? Not to derail this thread but that's hardly true. But thanks for undermining the profession even further with hyperbolic generalities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe not exactly a "prestige job" but highly respected:

Staff Psychologist within the counseling center of an elite University. The work is very rewarding. Everyone has an advanced level degree, in most cases a doctorate. Looks great on a resume. Pay is crap, though. Salaries start at 40-60k and rarely climb above $80k.The saving grace is that the hours typically aren't bad so many of us supplement with private practice.

How is this highly respected, exactly? I work at a university and I don't even have a clue how many/who the counselors are.

I think it may be respected in your circle, but that's not at all a "prestige" job.

Um, okay. I didn't say it was a prestige job. I guess I naively assumed that a job requiring a PhD that entails years of clinical training would be highly respected. Guess you told me otherwise. Good to know.

I'm a psychologist (PhD), too, and thanks to the APA, respect for the profession has really eroded. And it's hard to argue with that when anyone can become a "psychologist."

Really? Anyone can become a psychologist? Not to derail this thread but that's hardly true. But thanks for undermining the profession even further with hyperbolic generalities.

Are you also the "Um, okay," poster? If so, you really come off like a jerk with a chip on your shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Why has respect for psychologists eroded? My dd is SN and we have worked with some brilliant child psychologists.

[Anonymous]

Oh, I know all about those!

Husband is a professor. Pay is 85K and most of the benefits a PP mentioned definitely don't apply at this point in his career. From what I can see from his colleagues who already have tenure, there's no cake walk up ahead either.

I work at a mid-sized well known non-profit (100 employees) where the CEO makes about 100K and division heads top out below that. I'm currently mid-level and make 50K but have other benefits (namely the ability to advance while working PT, doing work that is regularly highlighted in the media, knowing I'm making a positive impact on the world, and sounding like a badass when I talk about my job at cocktail parties).

I know in the scheme of things neither of those is exceptionally low-paying, but compared to others with our educational credentials, we're certainly on the low side for income.

[Anonymous]

Lawyers

[Anonymous]

Oh, wait, I was looking for something that was prestigious. Sorry, I was mistaken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Foreign Service Officer

Would you really call this a "high status" job? I'm married to one, by the way. Although I wouldn't say it in real life, a lot of them are loosers.
But I'm interested in others' perceptions.

What's a looser? Someone on the loose? Someone who looses something?

[Anonymous]

This thread has taken a mean, snarky turn.

[Anonymous]

To me the first thing that comes to mind is a White House staffer. Yes, a GS 14 in DC is making $110K which is not peanuts, but most of those folks could be making a heckuva lot more in the private sector so that's the accurate apples-to-apples comparison.

Physicians working with Doctors Without Borders also come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For lawyers, they are DOJ jobs.

Lateral attorneys at DOJ with only a few years experience easily make six figure salaries. Based on recent numbers I saw in a job listing for the Civil Rights Division, with only four years experience, a newly hired lateral attorney at DOJ could have a starting salary of $120k. Does this really count as "low-paying"? Even if it's a lot less than a big-firm lawyer would make, those lawyers are already the exception rather than the rule in the legal profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Journalism. Especially public media (NPR, pbs).

Only certain journalism jobs. Certain beats at NYT or wapo, but not every NoVa local courts beat reporter. Named reporters at nor, or the producer of All Things Considered. But not the social media associate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For lawyers, they are DOJ jobs.

Lateral attorneys at DOJ with only a few years experience easily make six figure salaries. Based on recent numbers I saw in a job listing for the Civil Rights Division, with only four years experience, a newly hired lateral attorney at DOJ could have a starting salary of $120k. Does this really count as "low-paying"? Even if it's a lot less than a big-firm lawyer would make, those lawyers are already the exception rather than the rule in the legal profession.

Yes. That really does count as low-paying when considered in context. The comparison point is not a sales clerk at Foot Locker or a 4th year preschool teacher. It's another Yale---->ColumbiaHarvardStanfordCalBerkley 4th year associate (aka, your former classmate) working in Washington, D.C. at a firm or elsewhere in the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For lawyers, they are DOJ jobs.

Lateral attorneys at DOJ with only a few years experience easily make six figure salaries. Based on recent numbers I saw in a job listing for the Civil Rights Division, with only four years experience, a newly hired lateral attorney at DOJ could have a starting salary of $120k. Does this really count as "low-paying"? Even if it's a lot less than a big-firm lawyer would make, those lawyers are already the exception rather than the rule in the legal profession.

Yes. That really does count as low-paying when considered in context. The comparison point is not a sales clerk at Foot Locker or a 4th year preschool teacher. It's another Yale---->ColumbiaHarvardStanfordCalBerkley 4th year associate (aka, your former classmate) working in Washington, D.C. at a firm or elsewhere in the private sector.

But only about 10% of those associates have any realistic prospects of partnership after about 7-10 years at those firms. And if they can't make partner, they have to find something else to do. And most of the time, that "something else" isn't going to be nearly as lucrative.

[Anonymous]

Unless a lawyer begins his/her career at DOJ, s/he will be taking a pay cut to work there. The fact that it is actually highly competitive to voluntarilyt take a pay cut to work somewhere by definition means there is a "prestige" or other factor at play. BTW, SEC Enforcement - same thing.

Museum jobs, other cultural institutions, and certain other high profile nonprofit jobs are also prestige jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe not exactly a "prestige job" but highly respected:

Staff Psychologist within the counseling center of an elite University. The work is very rewarding. Everyone has an advanced level degree, in most cases a doctorate. Looks great on a resume. Pay is crap, though. Salaries start at 40-60k and rarely climb above $80k.The saving grace is that the hours typically aren't bad so many of us supplement with private practice.

How is this highly respected, exactly? I work at a university and I don't even have a clue how many/who the counselors are.

I think it may be respected in your circle, but that's not at all a "prestige" job.

Um, okay. I didn't say it was a prestige job. I guess I naively assumed that a job requiring a PhD that entails years of clinical training would be highly respected. Guess you told me otherwise. Good to know.

I'm a psychologist (PhD), too, and thanks to the APA, respect for the profession has really eroded. And it's hard to argue with that when anyone can become a "psychologist."

Okay, you've piqued my curiosity! What has the APA done?