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Hefty salaries: Montana Tech degrees are top wage earners
Aug 23, 2009 (The Montana Standard - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
When Jennifer Olsen chose petroleum engineering as her major at Montana Tech, she wasn't focused on the salary waiting upon entering the work force.
Rather, the 2004 Tech graduate said, she was more influenced by her father, who earned the same degree more than three decades ago and has spent his career in the field.
"I actually came in with a biased opinion," Olsen said in a telephone interview from Billings, where she works for JAKE Oil and Gas Consultants LLC. "He definitely steered me that way, and it turned out OK in the end." For the 28-year-old Olsen, it turned out more than OK. Despite her nonchalant attitude about the money she'd earn, Olsen chose the four-year degree that fetches the highest salary right out of school.
The average annual salary for a petroleum engineer graduate just out of college is $83,121 -- that's $18,000 higher than the next highest paying degree, chemical engineering, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The group tracks college graduates' job offers by surveying 200 school career centers throughout the country.
And Tech offers degrees in three of the top five earning fields, petroleum and mining engineering and computer science. That's helping to boost enrollment in those fields and others that offer students an excellent salary for someone fresh out of school, said Mike Johnson, vice chancellor for development and student services.
"Students are following the market," he said. "They're looking for the programs that provide the best and most lucrative job opportunities." The offers at Tech include the highest starting salary, petroleum engineering. Tech's own survey of its graduates found that on average they earn just shy of the national average at $82,538 per year.
But it's not just petroleum engineers who are earning some hefty salaries right out of school.
Tech's degree offers also include the third highest, mining engineering, with an average starting salary nationally of $64,404, and the fifth highest of computer science, which has graduates starting around $61,407. In addition, students at Tech can major in electrical engineering, which comes in sixth nationwide with an average starting salary of $60,125.
Add to that the fact that Tech offers degrees in software engineering and general engineering with a mechanical emphasis and Tech has programs in six of the top seven for earnings. The association's survey included related fields computer engineering and mechanical engineering in the top seven fields.
Clearly, engineering is one of the professions in which graduates can do well. And Johnson noted that the salaries earned often require advanced degrees in other fields.
"This is an undergraduate leaving with four years of education and a few internships," he said.
He added that surveys, like the association's report, are noticed by students. They seek the majors that will ensure them a strong salary.
"Students find this stuff and they want to know, 'Do you place your students and at what salary?'" he said.
That's reflected in what students are choosing to study at Tech. For example, last year 58 percent of students enrolled at Tech were seeking an engineering degree; this year that's climbed to 66 percent -- two thirds of the student body.
Yet, Tech still wants to ensure that students are choosing not only a well-paid profession, but also one they'll like, said Sarah Raymond, director of career services. That's why the college encourages kids to do internships in their fields while in school. That field time is valuable not only to ensure a student is choosing the right profession, but also to better understand the job.
"To work as a laborer in the field helps to solidify the foundation to do that work, because you cannot do the engineering if you don't know how the work is done on the ground," she said.
Raymond added she expected to see salaries level off for Tech graduates last year, but they didn't.
And she expects to see the effects of the economic downturn in this year's survey of graduates. With fewer projects in the works, the demand for engineers is down like other fields.
But engineering, by sheer supply and demand, remains one of the better professions to weather the recession, she said.
"No matter what the market is doing, engineering is still going to be a strong area and an in-need area," she said. "There are just not enough graduates for the needs of industry." Olsen said as someone working in the field, she's already seen the slowdown. Few energy companies are starting new projects and that's cutting back on her hours.
Working as a consultant, she said she often works well more than 40 hours a week when petroleum exploration and production is in full swing. Her career has taken her throughout the country, working mostly in the Rockies, and Olsen said she loves the travel and the work.
It doesn't hurt that the last couple years she'd earned more than $100,000 -- the kind of figure most students entering school are looking at.
"You just have to like what you do, no matter how much money you make," Olsen said. "It's a big thing for most students -- they want to know 'How much am I going to get paid?'" Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.
Survey shows engineer grads' starting salaries are highest Which new college graduates are faring best when it comes to salary in the current economy?
According to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, engineers are pulling down the highest starting salaries.
The organization's Summer 2009 Salary Survey report shows that engineering disciplines account for four of the five disciplines getting the highest starting salary offers. (Montana Tech offers degrees in three of the top five earning fields, petroleum and mining engineering and computer science.) Top 10 four-year degrees in annual starting salaries: 1. Petroleum engineering $83,121 2. Chemical engineering $64,902 3. Mining engineering $64,404 4. Computer engineering $61,738 5. Computer science $61,407 6. Electrical engineering $60,125 7. Mechanical engineering $58,766 8. Industrial engineering $58,358 9. Systems engineering $57,438 10. Engineering technology $56,447 Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers Tech's numbers The top average starting salaries for Montana Tech graduates with a four-year degree follow:
--Petroleum engineering $82,538
--Mining engineering $61,583
--Software engineering NA
--Computer science NA
--Electrical engineering $56,000
--General engineering, mechanical $57,326 Note: Data for salaries in software engineering and computer science were not available because there are so few graduates that individual salaries could not be discerned.
-- Statistics provided by Montana Tech through a survey of graduates
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