I just completed a survey on students' career choices and expectations. In return, I got these results for Oxford.
It amazes me that 32% of Oxford graduates expect their first job to pay upwards of £40,000 per year - indeed for 5% over £60k (page 9). At those wages, the real world doesn't look so scary. And (according to page 7) 14% expect to be working 60 hours+ a week, so they probably deserve it.
Do you know what the actual mean starting salary for an Oxford grad is? Presumably, the Careers Centre has some data.
ReplyDeleteA bit in replying, but reading that the surveyquestion on expected salary seems quite poorly designed, if the lowest category is <£20k and the highest >£60k. If the question is skewed then it's no surprise the expectations are unrealistic: garbage in garbage out.
ReplyDeleteMore reasonable would be the scale of <£10k to >40k, going up in £5k increments. £10k is around the minimum wage (which quite a number of graduates nationally will find themselves earning, their degrees having turned out to be useless), £15-£20k is the right level for a temp, office worker or teacher (I would guess that nationally, most gradautes will earn in this range), £20-£30k is the right range for a junior managerial position or place on a good graduate recruitment scheme (lots of people from Oxford will be here) and £30k+ is realistic for those becoming city lawyers or going into investment banking.