Recent data has shown college graduates overestimate starting salary by $50,000. A recent study has found that while the average starting salary for recent graduates is $55,260, students expect to earn almost double that – $103,880 – one year out of college.
Furthermore, high salary expectations are common among students of all majors, but the study found that journalism students are the most unrealistic, expecting 139% more than the median journalist’s salary.
The study also found that gender plays a significant role in salary expectations. Within their first year after graduation, women expect to earn 0.5% less than men with similar degrees. Within 10 years of graduation, this gap widens to 4.3%.
Despite expecting substantially higher-than-average salaries, fewer than half of students surveyed (49%) feel prepared for their postgraduate career, with one in 6 saying they feel very unprepared.
The data further revealed that 85% of college students graduating don’t have jobs lined up yet.
Among students who have jobs lined up after graduation, only half (51%) are satisfied with their starting salaries.
Furthermore, nearly half of students (48%) say they lost opportunities to participate in internships, work-study programs, and student organizations because of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and 81% feel some negative emotions about graduating and joining the workforce.
Source: realestatewitch.com