July 2009

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NYT – Do Elite Colleges Produce the Best-Paid Graduates?

July 29, 2009 in Colleges | No comments

Many factors go into choosing a college.  In these economic times, one measure that is getting a lot of attention is level of post grad pay.  According to New York Times writer Catherine Rampell’s article published July 20, 2009, the release of PayScale’s latest, updated data can shed some light on your tuition’s return on investment.  Ms. Rampell states:

“Forget U.S. News’s academic rankings and Playboy’s party-school list. For some prospective college freshmen, here’s the important question: Will I make more money if I go to Harvard, or if I go to Harvey Mudd?

PayScale, a site that collects data on salaries for different professions, argues that it can help students answer that question. Today the company is releasing an updated, gigantic data set on the salaries of graduates from hundreds of universities and colleges, as well as salaries and career choices broken down by department/major. READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

To be honest, part of me wants to agree with this measure.  After all, college is a serious investment of time and money. However, part of me also wants to argue that there is more to life than getting the biggest salary. I’ve known too many people who had great paying jobs but only lived after 5:00 pm and on weekends.  I’ve also know people who have graduated from colleges that are not even “on the map” and have risen to lucrative salaries at the top of Fortune 100 Corporate America.

Bottom line:  Averages are only useful if you want to be average.  Proceed with caution and take into consideration all the tools available to you. Then build a life that is above average.

Wall Street Journal – Unigo.com Gives Everyone a Say About College Picks

July 29, 2009 in College guides, College lists | 2 comments

According to Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg there is a new free resource that provides a fresh, revealing perspective on college selection.  In his February 19, 2009 article, Mossberg writes:

“… there’s a new, free Web site that, while overseen by paid editors, is built on lively content submitted by current students at the colleges. The information isn’t just words and numbers, but includes numerous photos and videos for most schools. You also can create a small social network of people interested in the same schools or who share other common traits.

In other words, this is a college-information resource built for the age of YouTube and Facebook.

The site, Unigo.com, costs nothing to use and supports itself with ads. Although it’s only a few months old, it already covers about 250 colleges and universities, and claims to average dozens of student-created reviews, photos and videos for each college. Its sophisticated search engine lets applicants comb all this material to find just what applies to them. For example, Unigo would let you see all content relevant to an Asian-American female applicant with conservative political views.” READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

Give it a try and let us know what you think?

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