They don't have accounting as an undergrad major or accounting as a graduate school program for a reason at Ivy schools. They want to keep you gals & guys dumb at Ivy Leagues. They want you to believe it's about who has the highest income. Unless you went to Ivy League school on full academic scholarship, someone had to pay for it. Most likely either you got deep in debt or your parents drained their net worth paying for your Ivy education. We keep score by net worth not income.
1. Quant Trading -- Quant Trader, SWE, or Hardware Engineer. You will likely have to move to Chicago, but I was making more than your desired amount my first year and that was while working at a 3rd-tier firm 6 years ago. Now, a new grad can be guaranteed double at a top tier firm. Caveat here is that firms are looking for the best of the best, and the trading skillset generally doesn't transfer well to other firms, even between firms. 2. Software Engineering in general. There are firms even in MCOL cities that will start you around $100k, you don't have to work at Google. This is still the consensus top career, since you don't need a crazy gpa or have to go to a top school. 3. Top tier consulting jobs will guarantee six figures. Second tier shops generally won't unless you have a STEM degree. Caveat here is that you absolutely must go to a top tier school. 4. Most "real" banking jobs will put you into the 6 figure rank first year, though base salary tends to be lower. This career offers the best guaranteed career growth through your 20s. Caveat is that you need to go to a target school and perform really well compared to your peers. 5. "Sales Engineer" type roles at companies like Salesforce. You spend a lot of time in meetings and politics play a big part, but there are tons of people who just "look right" and "talk right" and make $100k right out of college despite lacking hard skills. 6. Some extremely sought after engineering roles can get you over $100k, but there are *so many* engineers for so few opportunities that this is a fool's errand. FWIW exactly zero of my friends with engineering degrees have interesting, lucrative, or "what they expected" careers.
Demand for lawyers has been very high for years now. Headhunters are busy, and everyone is making lateral moves. Big Law salaries continue to outpace inflation. When I started it was 160k plus bonus. Now it's 215k plus bonus for first-year associates. Eight years into your career you should be making over 500k. The partnership track is much longer than it used to be at most firms, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: Senior associates get paid pretty similarly to junior partners, and if you assume (correctly) that the odds of making partner are always going to be against you, it means you get a few more years of great compensation. If you're smart with your money, by the time you realize you won't make partner, you're debt-free, and you've got a house, a college fund for your kids, and a nice retirement fund that's growing faster than you can add cash.
To the OP, the money that you make in your first year out of school is irrelevant. You should be asking yourself what career will provide you with the lifetime earnings you want and a lifestyle you can tolerate. Most of my friends who did investment banking out of college were making considerably less than 100k in their first years, even including bonus (roughly 15 years ago), but now they're partners at private equity firms or MDs at big banks, and they make seven figures.
Median starting salary for first year lawyers is $80k. More at more prestigious schools in bigger, more expensive cities. 88% are employed after graduation.
Basically split between huge salaries and regular salaries. If you can make it into a top school or get amazing grades at a top 50ish school, get a summer associate position at a big firm and do well, you will start at $200k. Of course you’ll be working all the time but it’s achievable.
Look into actuarial science. Major in that if they have it, otherwise major in math with heavy finance and Econ electives. Intern during the summer at insurance companies. If you get your ACAS by the time you graduate, you’ll be close to $100K.
After a few years experience, and you get your FCAS, the sky is the limit. Especially if you have half a personality. The exams are brutal, even for me and I was also really good at math, but I majored in Finance so I missed some of the foundational advanced calc and probability that I had to study on my own.
You can be at $200K+ by 30 years old of you make the right connections. Some make half a million or more once they become Chief actuary at a company or Principal at an actuarial firm.
You’ll be super busy at University, but it will play off in a few years.
This is rosy advice. More realistic is you’re hired at $75k, you pass exams and get promotions to hit $100k after 3 years.
I would not say the sky is the limit as a fellow. Eventually you’ll be a top individual contributor making $150-$180k and you’re sort of stuck at that level unless you go into management which is boring and sucks. Or become a consultant and have no life because you work all the time.
Become a PA, Nurse Anesthetist or Nurse Practitioner. Cheaper and quicker than going to full med school and in a lot of small towns an NP functions essentially as the town doctor.
If you want to make the money, become a physician. Husband is 2 years out of fellowship and making 750k/year.
Sales, if you have the right skills and are a quick learner. My first sales job in telecommunications had a total earnings of $135K over the first year.
I just have bachelors in software engineering. This year is the first time hitting that number, 7-8 years into my career. I had some classmates get jobs right out of college at places like Microsoft in 2015. Supposedly getting $100k with $20k signing bonus. That would be like $125k and $26k signing bonus in today's money. Where I live now is a lot cheaper than Seattle though. They're likely making $150k-$170k base now.
had a buddy from college who got a raise to 140k within 2 years after graduating with an undergrad degree in computer science. depending on the company & location you'll likely make 80-90k right out of undergrad with opportunity to make >100k inside of 2-3 years if you work hard and make an effort to learn about the ins and outs of your company's operation. you will be hard pressed to find a company worth staying at that is going to pay an undergrad with no experience >120k - find somewhere that promotes intelligently and rewards hard work + experience. also consider work-life balance. you don't want to throw away your life in your 20s by diving into 80hr weeks for 120k on a job that is supposed to only consume 40-50hrs / week - unless that's what you want, then you do you.
look into software & data science/analytics roles in the healthcare/medical device space - these degrees might fit well with what you've said are your strengths. i'm biased bc the healthcare/med device space is where i've spent my time, but this sector tends to pay well overall due to the money flowing into it - plus software and analytics are growing rapidly in the space & overall as a whole.
also, ignore the stigma around "job hopping." it is incredibly beneficial to your career for you to have a handful of experiences in your early to mid 20's. rule of thumb, try to stay in a role for at least 12 months unless you absolutely have to leave. you'll get a breadth of experience & you can boost your salary significantly by looking around for different opportunities.
I earn a $170k base salary working remotely from a skitown in the Rocky Mountains. Consumption can really kill you here that's why you need to invest wisely and watch your daily expenses. Once that is under control the lights really go on.
I got a 790 on the SAT math section but only 560 on the reading, so I think it's pretty clear what my strengths and weaknesses are just on that. My major is undecided right now but I'm leaning towards something that's math heavy.
I got similar SAT scores to you in HS and I can tell you straight up-- if you want to be a top earner/performer you're going to have to compete with people who are at least as smart as you AND work hard. Congrats on dong well on one test. You'll realize soon that there are a lot of different ways people are smart and the SAT doesn't do much for you other than get you into college. Studying in college and beyond isn't just time in the books, it's learning and understanding HOW to study efficiently. You'll have to adapt and grow in ways you haven't thought of yet. A sense of entitlement/superiority won't get you anywhere and might cause you to miss valuable opportunities/experiences. I made $40k out of college 15 years ago and I'll gross $190k this year with all my overtime included. I got lucky but I'm not passionate about my job and I still wish I'd opened doors to more fulfilling opportunities for myself back then.
TLDR-- I was super proud of the praise I got for my "potential" in HS too. Get over yourself if you want the best chance of not wasting it.
Don't let all these bitter ppl give you bad advice. Study computer science and be a software engineer or something similar. You don't have to be a super genius, just work really hard and keep at it.
New grad here. Getting $120k base right out of college, but I work as a software engineer within finance in NYC. $120k sounds like a lot, but in NYC it’s not that much. Enough to live comfortably, sure, but certainly not the same quality of living as you’d get on that salary in other states given the high cost of living & taxes.
I don’t commute often — mostly work from home, luckily. If I do go in I’ll either walk, bike, or occasionally take the subway ($2.75). The people in pure finance have to go into the office 3-5x a week, but with the engineers they’re more lenient. I pay $2500 in rent.
That's what I expected. Earn $120k in the midwest and you have a mortgage payment of $2500 plus.$500 in property taxes plus $500 car payment plus $200 car insurance. So tell us why you think it costs more to live in NYC?
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