Author Topic: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015  (Read 4060 times)

Millet

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Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« on: March 12, 2015, 12:08:11 PM »
According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet
 
 

Tropheus76

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2015, 12:52:08 PM »
But does that take into account the difficulty of getting said job in the field. I find it amusing that business is even in the running as that degree is a dime a dozen and no one hires people with a business degree based purely on the degree. Generally its a case of knowing someone.  Its easy to have an average starting salary of 55k when there is only a couple jobs open which happen to be $55k. The important question I guess is, how many jobs are out there for agriculture degrees?

jackedfruit

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2015, 03:24:03 PM »
That actually surprises me, here in Sweden the average starting salary for agriculture is somewhere in the region of $30,000-$40,000. Add to that income + value added taxes at a total of over 50%. I’ve always been under the impression that in comparison the overall US-salary was rather low – as a compensation for your relatively low taxes.

I’ve heard quite a few stories about how tough it’s being American these days. You need multiple jobs to be able to feed your family etc. Worst of all states, from what I’ve heard, is Hawaii - were you have to work 14-16 hours a day just to be able to pay your bills. On the other hand, none of those I’ve spoken to had any higher education. I guess an abundance of uneducated workers have pushed the salaries for the unqualified jobs down quite a bit. 

Anyways, I’m on my first year studying B.Sc. in Production Horticulture but I’ll partly have to agree with Tropheus76. An average salary of 51,220 doesn’t say much; in my opinion using the median would have given a more accurate picture.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2015, 03:43:23 PM by jackedfruit »

Millet

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2015, 03:37:12 PM »
jackedfruit, average and medium is the same thing, - Millet

jackedfruit

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2015, 03:38:44 PM »
Yes, but median isn't.

Millet

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2015, 03:43:42 PM »
My understanding of the English language  tells me that the average salary of an occupation, and the medium salary of an occupation iwould be the same thing. - Millet

jackedfruit

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2015, 03:54:05 PM »
My understanding of the English language  tells me that the average salary of an occupation, and the medium salary of an occupation iwould be the same thing. - Millet

Well obviously your understanding of the English language is a bit dusty. I never wrote medium I wrote median, median being the middle value of a dataset whereas medium/average is the total value of the set divided by the # of values.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2015, 03:59:47 PM by jackedfruit »

jcaldeira

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2015, 03:54:29 PM »
Several problems with this survey.   First, the category is called "Agriculture and Natural Resources" - not just agriculture.   Secondly, the sample size was woefully small - only 20 responses in that category, and we don't know how many of those were actually 'agriculture'.

Most importantly, the survey surveyed employers, asking for the starting salaries of their new employees.  They did not survey job seekers or recent graduates of those disciplines.  We might find quite a different income if all agriculture graduates were surveyed, as it would include the ones working at Wal-mart.

http://www.naceweb.org/uploadedFiles/Content/static-assets/downloads/executive-summary/2015-january-salary-survey-executive-summary.pdf
« Last Edit: March 12, 2015, 04:07:48 PM by jcaldeira »
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Millet

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2015, 04:04:11 PM »

Average Projected Salaries By Discipline--Bachelor's Degrees 

Category

2015 Average Salary▼


Humanities $45,042
Social Sciences $49,047 
Commnications $49,395 
Healthcare $50,839 
Agriculture & Natural Resources $51,220 
Business $51,508 
Math & Sciences $56,171 
Computer Science $61,287 
Engineering $62,998 

Riverland

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2015, 06:04:38 PM »
Mean, mode and median.  Very different concepts!

starling1

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2015, 12:38:32 AM »
According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet

lol

puh-leeze. This is one of the worst designed Surveys I've ever seen.

jcaldeira

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2015, 01:18:45 AM »
According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet

lol

puh-leeze. This is one of the worst designed Surveys I've ever seen.

Starling1, are you agreeing with me again?  I hate it when you do that.
Applying laws and rules equally to all is a cornerstone of a civilized society.

starling1

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Re: Agriculture Among Top Paying College Degrees Of 2015
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2015, 02:42:10 AM »
According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet

lol

puh-leeze. This is one of the worst designed Surveys I've ever seen.

Starling1, are you agreeing with me again?  I hate it when you do that.

This time I'm agreeing with you.

The last time it was you who was agreeing with me.

So I guess we're square.