Highest Paying Majors 5 years After Graduation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC is considered “underemployed” in law enforcement because the position doesn’t require a degree to start. Five years after earning their B.S. they earn a $102k salary and $40k+ in overtime. They get a raise every year, and sometimes two raises.

That’s better than earnings of Chemical Engineering majors at 35-45 year olds, the #1 major, BTW. Our child could retire with a full pension at 46. LOL.

Our child will make sergeant soon. That comes with a nice raise. By 35 they’ll be a lieutenant. That’s a big salary bump. That’s when 1.5x overtime rates really start to pay out.

Ok, but maybe you don’t want to work so much overtime? Maybe you have other things going on in your life such that you’d like to be minimally at work (ie, not working overtime) yet making great money?

I work with a few 30-something surgeons who work 3 days a week, rarely on call. Maybe 36 hours? And they pull in $600k. Oh and they love their work. LOVE.

I wish I had a kid who was marginally interested in this line of work

Medicine is a slog with 4 yrs of fairly greuling studying and clinicals, followed by 80hrs a week for residency making 75-90k for 3-6 years. It is no joke. But after that it really can be the good life (in comparison to residency and in comparison to the 1980s when docs were oncall 24/7 and always running into the hospital).
It has not been that way in at least 25yrs. There are hospitalists who do shift work, and surgeons, gynos and primary care all rotate call and weekends, often in big groups such that you have one weekend 6-8 times a year. Both primary and specialists can be part-time 30hr a week. Heck Dermatologists and plastics are out of the office by 4pm most days. Most full-time outpatient docs have a half or full weekday off and NO weekends ever. Ever.
Any of these professions can be 50+ hr a week but they also can be shift work, 34-38 hr a week, almost all make 300-500k some make more and parttime makes less around 200-250k No one does it for the money, because you have to put in all the years of med school and residency to get there!

But anyone saying an MD does not pay off once you get the real job has no idea what medicine is this century, or does not know how med loans compare to salaries:
Even before medical school merit money (look it up almost all have merit and need based aid now, and it is going up), one could pay off 4 yrs of medical school loans/living expenses (often 200k back in 2005) in 10-15 yrs when residents only made 32k in 2005. Now the average loans are going down, 200k total may be all that is needed, many at T25 this cycle will be going for much less, plus the resident salaries are higher and starting real-job salaries are higher

[Anonymous]

*grueling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC is considered “underemployed” in law enforcement because the position doesn’t require a degree to start. Five years after earning their B.S. they earn a $102k salary and $40k+ in overtime. They get a raise every year, and sometimes two raises.

That’s better than earnings of Chemical Engineering majors at 35-45 year olds, the #1 major, BTW. Our child could retire with a full pension at 46. LOL.

Our child will make sergeant soon. That comes with a nice raise. By 35 they’ll be a lieutenant. That’s a big salary bump. That’s when 1.5x overtime rates really start to pay out.

BS

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm
https://www.mtu.edu/engineering/about/salary/

I thought engineers are good at math?

From your link:

The overall median annual wage for chemical engineers is $121,860, which is less than that of our twenty something LEO child.

Then there’s this gem:

Most chemical engineers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. They may have to work additional hours to meet production targets or to troubleshoot problems with manufacturing processes.

Extra hours for salaried employees are a great time.

Newsflash. Chemical Engineers go into many fields that don't involve actually being Chemical Engineers. Top Engineering schools producing Chemical Engineers have graduates go into Top Consulting, Analytics/Quant and a lot of other fields where they make a lot of $$$ my friend even though chemical engineers make very good money . Nice try though butt your premise is laughable.

Then why isn’t the median salary for Chem E majors higher? Riddle me that.

Dude...cool your kid is a cop. But please stop this nonsense.

It’s not cool, and has never been about cool. In some places it’s a job you can do with a high school diploma and make decent money without putting yourself in debt for a B.A./B.S. degree.

The mantra here that you need to spend $120,000 - $400,000 and four years of your life to then spend 2+ more years in school, and more money, to out earn a cop is anything but cool.

I know we need cops but I don't want to worry about my kid like that. I don't need a hero, I need my grandchildren to have a father.
If he decides he wants to be a cop I will throw whatever enticements I can to make other options seem more attractive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC is considered “underemployed” in law enforcement because the position doesn’t require a degree to start. Five years after earning their B.S. they earn a $102k salary and $40k+ in overtime. They get a raise every year, and sometimes two raises.

That’s better than earnings of Chemical Engineering majors at 35-45 year olds, the #1 major, BTW. Our child could retire with a full pension at 46. LOL.

Our child will make sergeant soon. That comes with a nice raise. By 35 they’ll be a lieutenant. That’s a big salary bump. That’s when 1.5x overtime rates really start to pay out.

BS

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm
https://www.mtu.edu/engineering/about/salary/

I thought engineers are good at math?

From your link:

The overall median annual wage for chemical engineers is $121,860, which is less than that of our twenty something LEO child.

Then there’s this gem:

Most chemical engineers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. They may have to work additional hours to meet production targets or to troubleshoot problems with manufacturing processes.

Extra hours for salaried employees are a great time.

Newsflash. Chemical Engineers go into many fields that don't involve actually being Chemical Engineers. Top Engineering schools producing Chemical Engineers have graduates go into Top Consulting, Analytics/Quant and a lot of other fields where they make a lot of $$$ my friend even though chemical engineers make very good money . Nice try though butt your premise is laughable.

Then why isn’t the median salary for Chem E majors higher? Riddle me that.

Dude...cool your kid is a cop. But please stop this nonsense.

It’s not cool, and has never been about cool. In some places it’s a job you can do with a high school diploma and make decent money without putting yourself in debt for a B.A./B.S. degree.

The mantra here that you need to spend $120,000 - $400,000 and four years of your life to then spend 2+ more years in school, and more money, to out earn a cop is anything but cool.

I know we need cops but I don't want to worry about my kid like that. I don't need a hero, I need my grandchildren to have a father.
If he decides he wants to be a cop I will throw whatever enticements I can to make other options seem more attractive.

Young people aren’t having kids anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

That might be true within the PE segment of engineering.

It is not true for engineers working at technology companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

That might be true within the PE segment of engineering.

It is not true for engineers working at technology companies.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

That might be true within the PE segment of engineering.

It is not true for engineers working at technology companies.

The ones that are downsizing and/or not taking inexperienced new grads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

That might be true within the PE segment of engineering.

It is not true for engineers working at technology companies.

The ones that are downsizing and/or not taking inexperienced new grads?

In metro DC, I know multiple technology companies actively hiring new grads. My workplace has hired ~6 in my part of the organization (mix of AeroE, MechE, and EE). I hear more will be starting in August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a principal in an engineering company there is not much in the way of salary growth or advancement.

That might be true within the PE segment of engineering.

It is not true for engineers working at technology companies.

The ones that are downsizing and/or not taking inexperienced new grads?

That’s not really impacting engineers. Programmers, sure. But engineers remain in high demand across almost all industries. And these days, even finance and consulting prefer engineers. It’s not a surprise that engineering grads are pulling down the highest salaries five years out. There’s high demand for them everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Remember the Baltimore paramedic that made $358K back in 2024?

“The highest-paid employee was a paramedic, who made more than $245,000 beyond his listed salary, for a total income of $358,586.”

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/sun-a-paramedic-was-the-highest-paid-baltimore-city-employee-in-fiscal-year-2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Medicine is a slog with 4 yrs of fairly greuling studying and clinicals, followed by 80hrs a week for residency making 75-90k for 3-6 years. It is no joke.

^ This right here is the issue.

Average medical school debt is $216,000.

There’s 4 years of med school and 4 more years of residency making $16 - $20 per hour.

A fresh out of college person that joins the Arlington P.D. this summer starts at $90,012 with up to a $25,000 hiring bonus, working 37.5 hour weeks.

Eight years with ACPD = $745,096 without factoring in any overtime. That’s 8 years towards a pension, 8 years towards PSLF, 8 years of contributions to a deferred compensation plan with a match, and 8 years towards the 25 needed to retire.

The average medical student starts $200,000 in the hole. They average $85,000 a year for 4 years working 80 hour weeks. They don’t have pensions. Hopefully they have good deferred compensation plans. In reality they’re behind by $405,000+ in earnings to an Arlington cop who also isn’t carrying $175,000 in med school debt.

When do the hours get better for these poor doctors? What do they actually end up making per hour after their residency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember the Baltimore paramedic that made $358K back in 2024?

“The highest-paid employee was a paramedic, who made more than $245,000 beyond his listed salary, for a total income of $358,586.”

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/sun-a-paramedic-was-the-highest-paid-baltimore-city-employee-in-fiscal-year-2024

This paramedic must never have turned down an extra shift.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember the Baltimore paramedic that made $358K back in 2024?

“The highest-paid employee was a paramedic, who made more than $245,000 beyond his listed salary, for a total income of $358,586.”

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/sun-a-paramedic-was-the-highest-paid-baltimore-city-employee-in-fiscal-year-2024

This paramedic must never have turned down an extra shift.

Good for them. Those med school residents working 80 hours a week for years to make $65k-$85k look like suckers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:silly piece. The answer is humanities into law school = $235K BigLaw Starting Salary. And if you clerked for SCOTUS, you get a signing bonus of $500,000.

- look who is foolish; maybe top 5-10% of law school grads from top schools are getting those starting salaries. Lots of people with JDs not practicing or under-employed. Just like the plethora on online or exec-MBA programs. Top positions go to the top graduates of top schools.