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Ivy Leaguers Start Ahead, Stay Ahead

Take that English degree to Wall Street and you'll still cash in

By Clay Dillow, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 1, 2008 12:35 PM CDT

(Newser) – How much you make correlates with where you went to school, a new study finds. Bachelor’s degree holders’ salaries grow at the same rate over the first decade of their careers regardless of the school, the Wall Street Journal reports, but Ivy League graduates’ median starting salary is 32% higher than that of liberal arts grads, a disparity sustained at 34% 10 years into their careers.

But how much credit does Harvard deserve? Said a management consultant: "What we still don't know is whether or not it's the training or education the school provides that drives these pay differences, or if the people from those schools are just wired to self-select into jobs that are likely to be paid more."

[Images (3)]

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Brittney Exline, 15, of Colorado Springs, Colo., center left, walks with her mother, Chyrese Exline, on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007. (AP Photo/George Widman)

A couple walk past Nassau Hall on the Princeton Unversity campus in Princeton, N.J. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer, File)

Dartmouth College students enjoy the afternoon on the campus green in downtown Hanover, N.H. Thursday, May 24, 2007. Dartmouth bachelor's degree holders earn the highest median starting salary. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

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"What we still don't know is whether or not it's the training or education the school provides that drives these pay differences." - David Wise, consultant at global management-consulting firm

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Ivy Leaguers Start Ahead, Stay Ahead