DeadOriginal said:
That is a little hard to believe but I am extremely biased on that part.
Most of the people I know other than my professors who have math PhD's are in finance and I can guarantee you that just 1 of those guys makes more than all of the undergraduate math degree holders I know. Like I said I am extremely biased so take this with a grain of salt.
I was very skeptical at first when some people started to tell me that, but after networking a lot more over the past few years (since I'm crossing over from being a professional musician to now getting into mathematics and biophysics), I do see a huge difference and the people who told me that tend to be accurate. The first person I heard it from was my one former boss was a guy with M.S. Computer Science + MBA who lead a large team, with many of them being PhDs who made half his salary.
This observation of (Masters>Bachelors>PhD>Associates>High School over an entire career) may be due to the path taken rather than the actual annual salary of each person in question. Like the PhD might make slightly more per year during the middle / end of a career (outside of academia), but they spend an additional 4+ years in school making peanuts while the masters holder was starting at 50-60k. The PhD guys I know often took an additional 5 or so years at post-docs in academia ... again working for peanuts while the guys with masters already had the company they got into pay for their MBA and then got promotions to 6 figure salaries. All that time the PhDs spent in academia without landing professorships really adds up since most of their earnings are spent on basic living and no increase in capital.
Considering a prof (at a PhD granting institution) probably advises 10-15 students over their 35-40ish year career, when they retire only 1 position opens up ... and eh, maybe a 3rd of those PhDs will want to try and stay in academia (the other 2/3 going into industry of some sort) ... that means 5 of them are going to try and stick it out for a while but average of 1 will get a permanent academic job. So those other 4 spent how many years working post-docs for peanuts before they went out into industry / finance and started making $.
This whole system is really similar to that of professional classical musicians (what I have my Bachelors and Masters training in). Most guys spend 4-6 years in school going into some debt, then get out and spend another 4-6 years auditioning for jobs. Auditions for symphonic trumpeters consist of 100s of applicants sending resumes / CDs then 50ish being invited to audition live. after the first day, they usually narrow the field down to 3-10 guys to come back a second day and do in depth playing with the brass section or additional solo playing. Ultimately only 1 guy gets the gig. There is a nice website (musicalchairs.org) that keeps track of all the open trumpet jobs in the U.S. and around the world. Each year maybe 30 jobs are available with literally hundreds if not thousands of grads from conservatories and major music universities trying to win them. Eventually, you get tired of the lifestyle if you don't win a job and 90% or more will end up quitting to move on to a career where you can settle down, get married, buy a house with the white fence and have 2.5 kids.
Think how many years that is of not making much money (sure you get weddings and other substitute gigs, dinner theaters, teach private lessons, etc... to feed yourself). It's the same type of thing for those PhD friends and acquaintances of mine. That's why I truly believe the whole Masters>Bachelors>PhD>Associates>High School thing as an average over an entire career. Sure there are going to be many cases where PhDs make more, but again, an average over a lifetime.
As far as the TS is concerned, I still say going back for a 2nd Bachelors is a complete waste of time and money compared to taking remedial classes and then going for a Masters ... but to each their own ... go with whatever you think will make you most happy, it's hard to put a price on that.
