EDITORIAL
Prosperity shouldn’t measure success of University grads
The 2008 Education and Salary Report ranked the University as no. 1 for producing the highest-paid graduates among liberal arts colleges, with a mid-career median salary of $110,000.
The study, conducted by PayScale Inc., surveyed 1.2 million graduates with at least 10 years of work experience, and compared salaries of alumni from liberal arts schools as well as Ivy League and state universities.
The survey also indicates that starting salaries differ by up to 32 percent between Ivy League and liberal arts college graduates. The University trails behind several other liberal arts schools and most Ivy Leagues, with a median starting salary of $54,100.
We must be doing something right, from the time we get our first jobs until the point where we can answer the mid-career survey questions, to hike up our salaries and top the charts. But, the study fails to answer whether it’s the education, reputation, training or career choices that create these gaps in the initial salaries.
Additionally, the validity of some of the statistics remains under speculation. Ben Marsh, professor of geography and environmental studies, points to some possible mathematical blunders, including a 10 percent margin of error and starting salaries that don’t quite correspond with the data from the 2006 Census.
Overall, it is encouraging to know that we probably won’t have to live out of a cardboard box after graduation, as some of us may fear. With an undergraduate diploma and a vault of information (and plenty of networking opportunities) from the Career Development Center (CDC), we are more or less prepared to venture into the real world and find jobs.
But exactly what kind of jobs are we finding out there?
Of the approximately 900 students the University graduated in 2007, 139 were in the College of Engineering, while about 200 were in the sciences and over 100 were business-related majors. In addition, this semester marks the premiere of the School of Management.
Undergraduate degrees don’t necessarily limit future career choices, but these numbers don’t necessarily speak for the essence of liberal arts education either.
Undoubtedly, students at the University strive to succeed and we are quite an ambitious bunch. But measuring success shouldn’t be limited to the size of our paychecks. Where is the report that reflects on how we have expanded our minds and challenged our worldviews during the four years at the University?
The report is certainly appealing to prospective students but the University shouldn’t forget that it advertises itself as one of the top liberal arts schools, and it promises to produce more than just prosperous businessmen and engineers.
The promise of a high paying job shouldn’t be the main factor that attracts students to the University. And often, the concept of learning for the sake of learning gets lost under the piles of reports.
Let’s keep that in mind and come up with a survey that measures how much we have learned, rather than how much we have earned.
