Toga, toga, toga” and a top paycheck, too? Absolutely. It’s possible to
combine a party-packed undergrad experience with a great-paying job
after graduation if you attend a school offering a great social scene
that also stands out for the high earnings potential of its graduates.
the students who want to maximize both their college
social lives and their postcollege earnings by calculating the typical
starting and mid-career salaries for schools on
The Princeton Review’s list of 20 Top Party Colleges for 2012.
PayScale then picked the winning schools -- the ones that offer a hot
social scene plus above-average earnings potential -- from each region
of the country.
What’s the common thread among these cool
schools? Their students tend to prepare for careers in lucrative fields,
such as science and engineering.
"Illinois is the obvious winner
because of [its] strong engineering program,” says Katie Bardaro, lead
analyst at PayScale. “It's hard to outearn the engineers.”
Here
are five schools whose graduates earn above the typical starting pay
($42,000) and mid-career pay ($74,300) for those with bachelor’s
degrees. We also look at some common jobs their graduates hold.
1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Starting Salary: $51,500
Mid-Career Salary: $94,300
It
seems the Midwest winters don’t bother the students here. They make
time to celebrate every win by their Fighting Illini and prepare for
high-paying gigs as well. Common career choices for these grads include senior finance analyst, senior software engineer and structural engineer.
2. University of California, Santa Barbara Starting Salary: $47,300
Mid-Career Salary: $91,000Life
at the beach is well-worth the effort, apparently. Right by the Pacific
Ocean and boasting its own lagoon, this college prepares its students
for secure, well-paid gigs like mechanical engineer, staff accountant and paralegal.
3. University of Maryland Starting Salary: $49,500
Mid-Career Salary: $89,800Considered
a “public Ivy,” the University of Maryland is located near Washington,
DC, which likely strengthens its many research programs and helps
graduates get into careers like financial analyst, systems engineer and financial controller. It also means plenty of nights out in Dupont Circle.
4. University of Texas at Austin Starting Salary: $48,200
Mid-Career Salary: $89,500Winning
sports teams and plenty of sunshine make it easy for students at the
University of Texas at Austin to find reason to unwind. But since
they’re studying at a strong science and engineering hub, once their
school days are over, graduates are often working in such lucrative
careers as electrical engineer, senior software engineer and IT business analyst.
5. DePauw University Starting Salary: $41,300
Mid-Career Salary: $85,500
“Uncommon
success” is the motto of this Indiana school, which may make more sense
than its founders intended. That’s because this hotbed of liberal arts,
sciences, media and technology studies also ranks high for fraternity
and sorority activity. Graduating Tigers choose jobs like architect, software product manager and registered nurse.
Source: All salary data provided by online salary database PayScale.com.
Salaries are median, annual salaries for full-time starting employees
(zero to five years of experience) and mid-career employees (10 or more
years of experience) who graduated from a party school and earned no
more than a bachelor’s degree. The common jobs are among the five most
commonly reported jobs held by graduates of these schools.
