If the people studied ranged from recent grades to people aged 76, isn't the entire sample heavily skewed towards older people? People who were looking for jobs in the 50s and 60s faced very different job prospects (and had very different job opportunities) than kids graduating college today. I don't see how much of this is relevant.

Is a lower end Ivy like Brown (just going by the rankings) really better than UC Berkeley or UCLA for an instate CA student?

Anonymous wrote:I would think that part of the reason grads or undergrads from top tier 1 schools out earn counterparts is because a lot of them land the higher paying jobs at more prestigious firms and such due to connections, alma mater, etc....

I think this is the point the author of the paper is trying to make. I skimmed the actual paper. What I found disturbing is the disparity between men and women. The datasets the author used comprised almost 200,000 college graduates of varying ages up to 76. I'd be interested to see if anything can be said about different generations within this group.

Overall it is a pretty interesting piece of research. Certainly disputes the other studies that have said there is no difference in earnings (she addresses that research in the paper-- she uses a different dataset and methodology). If you are interested in this type of research, the full paper is worth a read.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tier 3 heading to grad school at tier 1. Meh.

Did you get a full ride to T3? Or it was in-state to save money? Or did you not apply yourself in HS?

First, I'm not sure why it is any of your business.

Applied myself exceptionally. Uneducated counselors about scholarship opportunities at some places, and applied to places I could afford.

"While a male graduate of a Tier 1 college with a graduate degree from a Tier 1 to 3 school earns on average $185,695 a year, a Tier 4 college graduate with a higher-tier graduate degree earns only $133,236. "

Oh no! Only $133,236 per year!

I haven't read the working paper, only the NYT piece, so maybe the author controlled for confounding variables, but based only on the NYT piece, this working paper is social-scientific junk -- unless it's intended to show that kids with affluent, well-educated parents grow up to earn more money. In that case, it's social-scientific obviousness.

Anonymous wrote:

Read it and weep: Even an elite grad school can't undo the effects of a low-ranking undergraduate school.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/why-you-cant-catch-up.html?ref=edlife

....so this research was done by a professor at a Tier 1 school. of course he would say that; think what you will but all schools are in it for the money. educating your child is just that annoying thing they "have to do"! this article is just a form of advertising. if you don't go to my shiny expensive school you will be doomed to a life of poverty and low achievement...and hanging out on DCUM at 6am on a Monday morning when you should be getting ready to go to your low-level job.

... and you people actually believe what is written in the New York Times...

I would think that part of the reason grads or undergrads from top tier 1 schools out earn counterparts is because a lot of them land the higher paying jobs at more prestigious firms and such due to connections, alma mater, etc....

Anonymous wrote:Tier 3 heading to grad school at tier 1. Meh.

Did you get a full ride to T3? Or it was in-state to save money? Or did you not apply yourself in HS?

Tier 3 heading to grad school at tier 1. Meh.

She might be right, but she's not proving it. Lots of confounding factors and missing data there.

So while I wouldn't discount a more serious paper with the same conclusion, I do discount hers.

Sounds like it's her own self-published paper not appearing in a peer-reviewed journal. I question her methodology and numbers.

Fork in the road, fork in the road. The ship has sailed.

It still doesn't matter. That article is acting like a $133,000/yr salary from a Tier 4 school is horrifying. Sounds great to me and better than the American average salary closer to $45,000.

It really is ok not to be the highest earner.

Read it and weep: Even an elite grad school can't undo the effects of a low-ranking undergraduate school.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/why-you-cant-catch-up.html?ref=edlife