you seem to assume that the goals of students should be to attend the schools which will maximize their future incomes

Where do I assume that? My post shows how this study is miscited and speculates why these miscitations occur so often.

In fact, I even go so far as to state in my conclusion:

It’s not my role to judge your ambitions. Instead, I focus on helping you pursue your educational goals — whatever they are — in a sustainable manner.

I think it is possible that like the reporters misciting Kruger, you’re seeing the boogey man argument you want to see…

I turned down Yale after getting in early action, Dartmouth after receiving a likely letter and plane tickets to visit for their admitted students’ weekend, and Williams after receiving a full scholarship that would have funded both my undergraduate and graduate studies. To Dartmouth and Yale I received nearly 100% financial aid.

Instead, I am at UNC-Chapel Hill, having the time of my life and learning more than ever. And if I make a little less money twenty years from now, that’s ok. That was never my priority. And it should rarely be the main consideration for high school students.

thus, the mean pay is much higher than the median pay (a right skewed log-normal distribution with a very long tail.

Right, I agree. When I said “cap,” I wasn’t referring to income taxes, just the property of a normal distribution that values far from the mean are, effectively, unobtainable.

A good example is pharmacy. It is a fix figure job and now requried a pharm.D. However, all th employer needs is a pharmaicst that is licensed. Having a degree from a top tier school (not that any of them have pharmacy schools) is all a person needs to get a job. Attending the University of Michigan Pharmacy school or the University of Texas does not get anyone a higher pay check or a better job. The same applies to becoming a Nurse Anesthetist (a six figure job where a graduate of Incarnate Word University gets the same as everyone else. In those fields, the mean pay and the median pay are the same and the pay for pharmacist is normally distributed (bell curve). The difference in pay has to to with year experience, management, or speciality such as oncology.

However, look at majority in Drama. Unless you are at an Ivy league such as Yale, NYU, or USC, you are probably wasting your time. Most SAG members make almost nothing but a few make tens of millions. thus, the mean pay is much higher than the median pay (a right skewed log-normal distribution with a very long tail.

Paying Harvard prices to go to Dental School or to become a dentist is a waste of time.

Okay, now I see what you’re saying. I agree. This is a good point. Don’t sweat the Ivy League if you’re interested in a career with a fixed income caps.

Look at going to law schools. A large number of graduates never practice and many who do graduate end up working for middle class pay as government attorneys, family lawyers, etc. But a few lawyers get very rich. Thus the mean is going to be much higher than the median. If one gets into Harvard or Georgetown, one should think about law school.

However, a Dentist gets the same reimbursement from the insurance company whether they went to Harvard of Suny-Buffalo. Paying Harvard prices to go to Dental School or to become a dentist is a waste of time. The credential does not generate more income. One can go to directional state university and become a pharmacist, speech pathologist, or physical therapist and make six figures. However, those programs are usually not offer at elite universities.

You should look at career fields with normally distributed incomes and those with log-normally distributed incomes. If one is accepted to the most competative university, one should plan on a log-normal career field (one where the mean salaryis well above the median salary). However, if one is not accepted to the most competative university, one should think about a normally distributed career field.

This may be true. Certainly more students at elite universities take jobs with much higher earning potential, and this could skew the median — though it’s affect would be much more pronounced on the mean.

Apparently one of the people “misquoting” the study is the author himself. Check out what Alan Krueger said himself in a NYT article and then look at the chart he provides.

The chart and this article focus only on the SAT numbers. In his original study, Kruger said the SAT numbers were a bad indicator and emphasized that selectivity based on school ranking gave a significant earnings increase. My guess is that after he saw the attention he was receiving for a “selectivity doesn’t matter message,” he decided to focus on SAT numbers only to keep the spotlight bright. It’s not misquoting, it’s just academic marketing. A common occurrence, but somewhat distasteful.

As an example, the Ivy league has only one undergraduate nursing program because nursing is normally distributed. One does not get more starting pay as a newly graduated nurse from Penn or Georgetown versus Temple or George Mason. The same can be said for fields like Pharmacy (no Pharmacy schools in the Ivy League), Physical therapy, or civil engineer. Those are fields with licenses are what is required.

However, if one wants to go into consulting, investment banking, or law, one had better get admitted to the most competative school because a graduate of George Mason or Temple has no chance of competing with a graduate on Penn. or Georgetown in those fields.

Apparently one of the people “misquoting” the study is the author himself. Check out what Alan Krueger said himself in a NYT article and then look at the chart he provides.

-Mercy

Article:
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/financial/columns/042700grads-econoscene.html#offsite

Chart:
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/financial/columns/042700grads-econoscene.2.GIF.html

Better Pay for a Better College? Not Really
# Chart Does Prestige Really Pay?
By ALAN B. KRUEGER

Your son or daughter has just been accepted to both the University of Pennsylvania and to Penn State. The deadline for decision is May 1. Where should he or she go?

Many factors should be considered, of course, but lots of parents and students are particularly interested in the potential economic payoff from higher education. Until recently, there was a consensus among economists that students who attend more selective colleges — ones with tougher admissions standards — land better paying jobs as a result. Having smart, motivated classmates and a prestigious degree were thought to enhance learning and give students access to job networks.

But is it true?

A study that I conducted with Stacy Dale of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, “Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College” (available online at http:// papers.nber.org/), has unintentionally undermined this consensus.

….