Anyone notice that private sector salaries went down a lot?

[BAFF213]

Anyone else notice that private sector salaries for most of the schools went down a lot?  I didn't look at every school, but at least for the schools I'm interested in, salaries went to significantly.  UConn's 75th went from 110K to 95K, Northeastern's 75th went from 125K to 115K and I believe BU's 25th went down to 50K!!!  What the hell is going on here?

Note:  I think there's a one-year lag time in the salary statistics (i.e. the salaries listed are for the Class of 2003).

[St. Shaun]

Anyone else notice that private sector salaries for most of the schools went down a lot?  I didn't look at every school, but at least for the schools I'm interested in, salaries went to significantly.  UConn's 75th went from 110K to 95K, Northeastern's 75th went from 125K to 115K and I believe BU's 25th went down to 50K!!!  What the hell is going on here?

Note:  I think there's a one-year lag time in the salary statistics (i.e. the salaries listed are for the Class of 2003).

I didn't notice that, but I did notice that UVA's 75th went up to 135K.  That's better than HYS.

[A.J]

Are you getting this info from a USNWR subscription? 

[St. Shaun]

Are you getting this info from a USNWR subscription? 

No, I went to Barnes and Noble and read it.  It's in the directory in the back.

[BAFF213]

Same here - it's really annoying though.  If I spent all that money to go to BU (which is now ranked top 20) and put in three years of hard work, and I came out making $50K a year (their new 25th percentile in the private sector), I'd kill myself.  And I can't even get into BU!

This is ridiculous - maybe I should find a different profession...

No seriously though, these are 2003 statistics, maybe it was cuz the economy was bad back then.  The stats are probably better now.

Are you getting this info from a USNWR subscription? 

No, I went to Barnes and Noble and read it.  It's in the directory in the back.

[St. Shaun]

Same here - it's really annoying though.  If I spent all that money to go to BU (which is now ranked top 20) and put in three years of hard work, and I came out making $50K a year (their new 25th percentile in the private sector), I'd kill myself.  And I can't even get into BU!

This is ridiculous - maybe I should find a different profession...

No seriously though, these are 2003 statistics, maybe it was cuz the economy was bad back then.  The stats are probably better now.

Are you getting this info from a USNWR subscription? 

Profits were up over 5% generally for law firms (I read this a vault.com), however associates were complaining that
partners were keeping it for themselves.  That will most likely change this year however.  I'm guessing the drop in
pay has more to do with big firms hiring less associates.  That is definately likely to change this year.  Three
years from now is still up in the air.

[the REAL desi]

you'd kill yourself if you made $50k?

outside the t14, those 6 figure jobs are hard to come by.  at BU and other top XX schools, you have to be top quarter or top 1/3 to get 6 figs.  or else, you are scrounging for a job, hoping to make $50k or $70k. 

i'm guessing BU's biglaw cut off is top 1/3

[BAFF213]

Then why is/was UConn's (USNWR ranking between 40 and 50) median salary for the class of 2002 in the private sector $85,000?  (source: USNWR - Ultimate Guide to Law Schools).

In addition, the majority of students were employed in CT, a state which doesn't even house one of the major BigLaw cities (e.g. NYC, D.C., Boston).

you'd kill yourself if you made $50k?

outside the t14, those 6 figure jobs are hard to come by.  at BU and other top XX schools, you have to be top quarter or top 1/3 to get 6 figs.  or else, you are scrounging for a job, hoping to make $50k or $70k. 

i'm guessing BU's biglaw cut off is top 1/3

[Neub]

Most of the median salaries for the private sector through the top 30 are still 6 figures, or 125k to be more specific. So the top 50% are still earning 6 figures.  That applies to even BU, which maintained a 125k median for the 2003 cycle.  However, the issue comes in how fast the drop off is after that point. For instance, BC still kept their 25th percentile relatively high with a private sector salary of 95k, and at the same time BU's fell to 50k.

[ScurvyWench]

If I were to take out $150-$160k in loans I would be pissed about making $50k too. I was making way more than that before I started this law school journey, if it was about the money, I sure wouldn't think it was worth it. I will probably make that or less going in to public interest, but I'm taking out very few loans to compensate.

In short, this is scary.