USA Today: Duke outearns Cornell to take salary championship

[gotham devil]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...-madness_N.htm

Duke University may not have a No. 1 seed in the men's NCAA basketball tournament, but it comes in first in a way that all of its students can appreciate: Duke graduates are paid more than the graduates of the 64 other schools in the competition.

The median annual salary of Duke alumni who graduated five to 15 years ago is $102,000, according to PayScale, which says it has the world's largest salary database of more than 16 million.



http://www.payscale.com/2009-march-m...terstitialskip

[BlueintheFace]

...and THAT is just another reason why everyone hates Duke

[PSurprise]

Man, someone must be making some serious dough because I am definitely bringing that average down!

[DukieInKansas]

Man, someone must be making some serious dough because I am definitely bringing that average down!

Me, too.

[FireOgilvie]

I wonder if that average takes into account the professional basketball players from Duke (the highest paid group by school in the NBA). If so, that would account for some of that. Also, Southern California is on the list. That has to be because of the number of pro football players.

[Bluedog]

I wonder if that average takes into account the professional basketball players from Duke (the highest paid group by school in the NBA). If so, that would account for some of that. Also, Southern California is on the list. That has to be because of the number of pro football players.

It's not the average. It's the median. So, outliers such as b-ball players shouldn't affect it much.

[FireOgilvie]

It's not the average. It's the median. So, outliers such as b-ball players shouldn't affect it much.

Good point. Didn't see that.

[yancem]

It's not the average. It's the median. So, outliers such as b-ball players shouldn't affect it much.

Plus it also says graduates, so some of Duke's basketball starts wouldn't count. I don't think that Brand, Avery (still playing over seas I believe) Magettee, Deng have degrees. I'm not sure about Boozer (I know that he was really close but didn't hear if he finished) or Shav. McRoberts also doesn't have his degree but he and Shav are both playing for the minimum so they wouldn't overly inflate the numbers (although I certainly would trade salaries) even if they did graduate.

[sagegrouse]

I wonder if that average takes into account the professional basketball players from Duke (the highest paid group by school in the NBA). If so, that would account for some of that. Also, Southern California is on the list. That has to be because of the number of pro football players.

All earnings comparisons use "medians" -- the midpoint of the distribution, not "means" -- the average of all the earnings. The latter is affected by one or a few very high salaries. The former is not.

sagegrouse
'Once an academic, always a pain in the butt'

[Double DD]

I wonder if that average takes into account the professional basketball players from Duke (the highest paid group by school in the NBA). If so, that would account for some of that. Also, Southern California is on the list. That has to be because of the number of pro football players.

Despite the rep of some of it's athletes, USC has a solid academic reputation. If the US News rankings mean anything, they'd be the 3rd highest ranked school in the ACC, just behind Virginia.

[DukeDevilDeb]

Plus it also says graduates, so some of Duke's basketball starts wouldn't count. I don't think that Brand, Avery (still playing over seas I believe) Magettee, Deng have degrees. I'm not sure about Boozer (I know that he was really close but didn't hear if he finished) or Shav. McRoberts also doesn't have his degree but he and Shav are both playing for the minimum so they wouldn't overly inflate the numbers (although I certainly would trade salaries) even if they did graduate.

has graduated... and unfortunately, I think we probably won't see any of them do so.