Penn grads ranked 3rd in Ivy for entry-level pay | Interactive Feature

The online global compensation firm PayScale conducted a study earlier this summer that compared the incomes of graduates from the Ivy League schools. Penn ranked third in entry-level salary - a person with an average of three years work experience - with $60,900 and fifth in mid-level salary - average 15 years experience - with $120,000.

Princeton led the starting-level median income pack with $66,500, followed by Harvard with $63,400. The Ivy with the highest mid-career median salary, at $134,000, was Dartmouth College, followed by Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Penn.

Brown and Columbia took the bottom spots in both lowest entry and mid-level salaries.

The results were part of a larger year-long study that surveyed 1.2 million full-time employed bachelor's degree holders from more than 300 schools across the country.

The statistics confirm a broader trend showing that where students go to college impacts how much money they eventually make. Both the starting and mid-level paychecks of Ivy League alumni are a third higher than those of liberal-arts college graduates.

Some at Penn expressed skepticism about the accuracy of the survey, as the methodology did not disclose the numbers of respondents for each school, leaving open the possibility that small numbers of high-paying respondents could skew a school's standing.

"I would take it with a grain of salt," said Barbara Hewitt, senior associate director of Career Services. "A lot of differences are fairly minimal - a few hundred dollars difference is a narrow gauge of success."

Even within Penn, there is a marked variation between how much graduates from each of its four schools make.

According to 2007 career surveys, Engineering alumni earn the highest entry income at $60,151, with Wharton a close second at $59,960. Nursing coming in third at $58,653 and the College significantly lower at $46,996.

One explanation for the discrepancy in incomes is that alumni from different Ivy League and Penn schools tend to enter different industries.

College graduates, for example, are more likely to work in non-profit organizations or the communications sector, which traditionally doesn't pay as much as the finance companies that employ most Wharton graduates, according to Hewitt.

Another key component to the way both surveys were conducted was that they excluded students pursuing graduate school - something many Penn students do, Hewitt added.

From an admissions standpoint, salary compensation does play a role in high school seniors applying to colleges, though other factors may outweigh its importance.

"I think certainly it will affect some people's opinions, but other prestige factors weigh much more heavily than career prospects and salaries," said College senior Dan Ross, who added that he was nonetheless disappointed with Penn's standing and surprised at the discrepancies between the schools at Penn.

Ross said he hopes to work for Teach for America but is also participating in On-Campus Recruiting for a consulting position because he is concerned about not being able to pay off his student debt.

Other students, such as College sophomore David Saginur, saw the survey from a more optimistic standpoint.

"It's very comforting as a sophomore that the chances are I'll have a pretty well-paying entry-level position - it's tangible proof that what we're paying for our tuition is worth it," he said.

And amid the current economic crisis, Hewitt said students are increasingly concerned with simply finding a job and not necessarily with the accompanying salary.

"There's a lot of other things in evaluating whether people have good careers - making a good income is important to some people, others may find it of higher value to work at a non-profit," said Hewitt.

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