Universities Ranked By Earnings Data: CS Graduates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people complaining have DCs that went to a school that didn't make the list. This is the most impartial data available on the web.

Impartial but incomplete.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of the kids at top Ivies have connected parents. There's plenty of nepotism at those schools.

[Anonymous]

Yale CS in Tier 1 ??? Wow! Would that be mostly hedge funders and quants? However I didn't think Yale CS was the kind of program that quants would be sourced/hired from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of the kids at top Ivies have connected parents. There's plenty of nepotism at those schools.

Remember, this is data only for kids receiving financial aid...indirectly, you are making the case that you go to an Ivy in order to meet wealthy kids with connected parents that can help you out vs. which school has the best CS program.

[Anonymous]

How does the gov obtain compensation data for those that received federal fin aid? Do students have to report such data? what do they report - Fed 1040 AGI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notice how big and celebrated publics like UT Austin and Georgia Tech didn't make the list.

Right? But Rice and Emory did... it's very telling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people complaining have DCs that went to a school that didn't make the list. This is the most impartial data available on the web.

The most impartial data on the web is found in bios on LinkedIn and on company websites. Look there and you'll see that, for the same position, those with degrees from less selective colleges far outnumber those with degrees from elite colleges. The path to success is paved by the individual, not the college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people complaining have DCs that went to a school that didn't make the list. This is the most impartial data available on the web.

The most impartial data on the web is found in bios on LinkedIn and on company websites. Look there and you'll see that, for the same position, those with degrees from less selective colleges far outnumber those with degrees from elite colleges. The path to success is paved by the individual, not the college.

Uh LinkedIn bios don't tell you how much someone makes. The salary clearly tells you how much a certain graduate is worth and its those 40 top schools are worth more than the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's up with the Penn numbers?

For some reason Penn has two separate (but seemingly identical) categories. Bachelors in Computer & Information Sciences at $246k and Bachelors in Computer Science at $146k. The data shows 50% more graduates in CIS vs. CS. Most other schools just have data for one or the other, but not both.

I guess it's worth it to add the "Information" to your Penn degree...worth another $100k/year .

At a guess -- Computer & Information Sciences has a higher percentage going into IT/cybersecurity/ibanking and Computer Science has more people going into grad school or startups. Would be interesting to see a net worth comparison further down the road.

[Anonymous]

There are other papers that do not agree with the Dale and Krueger analysis


For example

A commonly held perception is that an elite graduate degree can “scrub” a less prestigious but less costly undergraduate degree. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates from 2003 through 2017, this paper examines the relationship between the status of undergraduate degrees and earnings among those with elite post-baccalaureate degrees. Few graduates of non-selective institutions earn post-baccalaureate degrees from elite institutions, and even when they do, undergraduate institutional prestige continues to be positively related to earnings overall as well as among those with specific post-baccalaureate degrees including business, law, medicine, and doctoral. Among those who earn a graduate degree from an elite institution, the present value of the earnings advantage to having both an undergraduate and a graduate degree from an elite institution generally greatly exceeds any likely cost advantage from attending a less prestigious undergraduate institution.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2473238

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are other papers that do not agree with the Dale and Krueger analysis


For example

A commonly held perception is that an elite graduate degree can “scrub” a less prestigious but less costly undergraduate degree. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates from 2003 through 2017, this paper examines the relationship between the status of undergraduate degrees and earnings among those with elite post-baccalaureate degrees. Few graduates of non-selective institutions earn post-baccalaureate degrees from elite institutions, and even when they do, undergraduate institutional prestige continues to be positively related to earnings overall as well as among those with specific post-baccalaureate degrees including business, law, medicine, and doctoral. Among those who earn a graduate degree from an elite institution, the present value of the earnings advantage to having both an undergraduate and a graduate degree from an elite institution generally greatly exceeds any likely cost advantage from attending a less prestigious undergraduate institution.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2473238

This paper directly addresses the big issue with the Dale and Krueger paper and analysis

However, their research is based on data from students at a limited number of highly selective colleges and universities. This means that those students who were admitted to more selective schools than they ultimately entered were still attendees (and usually graduates) of highly selective institutions, and does not mean that the same individual would have been equally successful had they instead attended a non selective college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is useless and misleading.

+1 It only shows those who took out federal loans. Sure, it excludes those who are full pay, but that also excludes some UMC/MC families who sent their kids to cheap in state schools with a 529.

It also doesn't take into account *where* they are working. $150K in Silicon Valley doesn't take you that far. $100K in Philly takes you a lot further.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/computer-science

I used to work in the Bay Area. When I moved to the DC area, and looked at salaries for my level, it was so much lower. Luckily, my Bay Area employer let me keep my Bay Area salary.

+1000 It's useless data, especially if the COL is not taken into account.

My recent grad (not CS major) living in Madison Wi is making the same as their friends living in Chicago. Guess who is do much better financially?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice how big and celebrated publics like UT Austin and Georgia Tech didn't make the list.

Right? But Rice and Emory did... it's very telling.

Comparing with UT Austin makes no sense. Remember UT Austin is one of the cheapest Public flagships in the country. A person who goes to UT Austin for CS and can still not afford the university, could be really poor and may have many many extenuating circumstances that keep their salary low. Most of the UT CS students (Largely Asian and White) may not take any loans for their education, so they are largely excluded from the analysis and may be earning quite well.

This would not be the case with private universities where tuition alone runs close to $60K a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale CS in Tier 1 ??? Wow! Would that be mostly hedge funders and quants? However I didn't think Yale CS was the kind of program that quants would be sourced/hired from.

+1 Yale is not known for top CS program. This list just goes to show that alumni network trumps degree program. And keep in mind.. *the list shows only people who got federal loans*.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is useless and misleading.

+1 It only shows those who took out federal loans. Sure, it excludes those who are full pay, but that also excludes some UMC/MC families who sent their kids to cheap in state schools with a 529.

It also doesn't take into account *where* they are working. $150K in Silicon Valley doesn't take you that far. $100K in Philly takes you a lot further.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/computer-science

I used to work in the Bay Area. When I moved to the DC area, and looked at salaries for my level, it was so much lower. Luckily, my Bay Area employer let me keep my Bay Area salary.

+1000 It's useless data, especially if the COL is not taken into account.

My recent grad (not CS major) living in Madison Wi is making the same as their friends living in Chicago. Guess who is do much better financially?

+1 useless list

My Rutger grad niece is making six figures with zero debt. She would not be on the list. But, their friends who took out loans would be on the list, and even though they are making similar amounts, they are struggling because of the loans. My niece is about to purchase her first condo at 26. Their friends are still living at home trying to pay off their debt.