Engineering, Computer-Science Pay More Than Liberal Arts

From the Wall Street Journal | Oct 25, 2010 | By JOE
LIGHT

The starting pay of certain liberal
arts majors generally clocks in well below that of graduates in
engineering fields, according to a Wall Street Journal study.

Graduates with engineering degrees earned average starting pay of
$56,000 in their first full-time jobs out of college, topping other
majors. Communications and English majors only earned $34,000 in their
first jobs.

The survey, which was conducted by PayScale.com
between April and June of this year, was answered by about 11,000 people
who graduated between 1999 and 2010. The reported starting pay was
adjusted for inflation to make the salaries of graduates from different
years comparable.

The clear career path of engineering and computer science degrees
means students often feel pressure to move into those fields, said
Katharine Brooks, director of liberal arts career services at The
University of Texas at Austin and author of "You Majored In What?"

The pay advantage of graduates with technical degrees often persists
throughout their careers, said Fort Collins, Colo.-based career
counselor Katy Piotrowski. Although liberal arts majors have a wide
range of salaries, Ms. Piotrowski said that mid-career liberal arts
majors she works with in northern Colorado make between $60,000 and
$70,000. Those with technical degrees make at least $10,000 more.

Technical majors even have an advantage in fields that are typically
hotbeds for liberal arts majors, she said. "Technical degrees are valued
in all fields. I've a seen a [company] communications department
actually prefer that someone have an engineering degree rather than a
communications degree," she said.

In the study, among the highest-paying liberal arts majors in the
study was economics, at $42,000.

The most successful liberal arts majors either go to grad school or
begin to develop their career through internships while still in school,
Ms. Brooks said.

The PayScale survey was done as part of The Wall Street Journal's
Paths to Professions project, which looked at a selection of jobs in
careers deemed satisfying, well-paid and with growth potential. PayScale
surveyed people who hold jobs in industries such as health care,
finance and government.

Write to Joe Light
at Joe.Light@wsj.com