Expected and Actual Salaries: How much did your peers actually earn?

By Farhan Shah Besides interest and future career prospects, salaries are one of the, if not the most, important factors that influences most people’s degree major choices in university. The Ministry of Education Singapore recently released the results of the 2011 Graduate Employment Survey (GES), an annual survey that crunches the salary data of fresh graduates who have just entered the workforce. Unsurprisingly, Law degree holders came out tops, with the median monthly salary hovering at a whopping S$5,000 for fresh graduates. But, how did the rest fare? Were the salaries they pocketed meeting the expectations that they had when they were studying?

More or less, according to the JobsCentral 2011 Employers of Choice (EOC) survey, conducted approximately 6 months before the GES and asked undergraduates what salaries they were expecting when they finally enter the working world, among other issues. Reality versus Expectations Note: The percentages given are the majority. Business & Accountancy: In the 2011 EOC survey, 32% of Business undergraduates and 44.8% of Accountancy majors expected to earn between S$2,500 and S$2,999 in their first job. Most of them got their wishes with the median salaries of Business graduates from all 3 schools hovering from S$2,700 to S$3,300. Accountancy graduates got slightly lower, with median salaries averaging between S$2,500 and S$3,100. Computing: Computing degree holders got a mixed bag, depending on which school they graduated from and whether their degrees were in the upper echelons of the academic strata or not. 30.4% of Computing students expected to pocket in between S$3,000 and S$3,499 monthly. SMU and NTU graduates were not too far off the mark, getting median salaries that started at S$3,000 and went all the way up to S$3,800 while NUS Computing degree holders fared slightly worse, receiving median salaries between S$2,800 and S$3,000. Engineering: Engineering undergraduates came down to Earth with a big thump when they finally went out into the working world. 40% of them expected to earn between S$3,000 and S$3,499 when they finally became part of the working class but found themselves getting median wages from S$2,850 to S$3,000. The only anomalies were those who majored in Aerospace Engineering, with the median monthly salary holding steady at S$3,500. Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences: Despite their creative mindsets, most Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences undergraduates had a relatively rational and modest outlook when it came to pay expectations with 42.7% expecting between S$2,500 to S$2,999 for their first pay check. During the GES, most reported earning median wages between S$2,850 to S$3,075, with Psychology graduates coming in tops, earning the highest end of the curve. 2010 versus 2011 In 2010, SMU graduates reigned supreme, occupying 7 spots in the top 10 highest-earning fresh graduates while the rest were occupied by NUS graduates. However, they were brought a peg down in 2011, getting just 5 spots in the top 10, with NUS managing to win 2 more spots. Salaries across the board went up a couple of percentage points, with the glaring exception of Information Systems Management graduates from SMU who scored Cum Laude or above. While 2010 graduates experienced lofty average gross monthly salaries of S$4,547, 2011 graduates earned significantly lower, pocketing only an average of S$4,294 per month. Two of the biggest movers were NUS Business and NUS Computing graduates. NUS Business jumped 18 spots, climbing from 22nd in 2010 to 6th in 2011. For these people, average gross monthly salaries went up by more than S$600, from S$3,232 to S$3,871. Future NUS Computing students have even more reasons to rejoice – 976 reasons to be exact. In 2010, they came in at a lowly 52nd. In 2011, they garnered the 5th spot, an incredible leap of 47 spots. Average salaries went up from S$2,935 in 2010 to S$3,911 in 2011! Top 10 Average Gross Monthly Salaries Note: All SMU programmes listed here are 4-year courses and awards degrees with no awards, merit, high merit, cum laude and above. ‘Cum Laude’ means ‘With honour’ 1. NUS Bachelor Laws (LLB) (with honours) – S$5,037 2. SMU Information Systems Management (Cum Laude and above) – S$4,294 3. NUS Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) – S$4,016 4. SMU Economics (Cum Laude and above) – S$3,999 5. NUS Bachelor of Computing (Information Systems) – S$3,911 6. NUS Bachelor of Business Administration (with honours) – S$3,871 7. SMU Business Management (Cum Laude and above) – S$3,777 8. NUS Bachelor of Arts (Architecture) – S$3,677 9. SMU Accountancy (Cum Laude and above) – S$3,671 10. SMU Information Systems Management – S$3,637 -- The JobsCentral Group, a CareerBuilder company, is the owner of JobsCentral.com.sg, one of Singapore's largest job and learning portals. Get a free career personality test and more career- and education-related articles at JobsCentral and JobsCentral Community. Alternatively, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter for more career-centric content!