If anyone is curious, here are the median starting salaries for graduates from Stanford's CS/EE departments (survey was self selecting so the numbers are probably skewed up, but there were a large number of responses):
The PhD hits the workforce ~6 years later than the undergrad. It is entirely feasible, in fact most probable, for a 80k undergrad to hit ~115k in 6 years.
However, salary usually climbs fastest in the first few years after starting, so if they are both at 115K at some point, the next year the PhD may be at 126, while the undergrad get stuck at 118. This difference only increases and the end-of-career opportunities for the PhD are also larger: on average, he can attain jobs for which he will be preferred above the undergrad, who gets stuck at a lower rung. Of course, this is all 'on average'.
Sure. So maybe instead of trying to pattern our lives according to blog after blog and article after article, we should all do what we believe to be best for our own lives, be it spending more time in formal education, or be it dropping out, or be it starting a startup, or be it working for a huge company.
I think that society today needs people to do all of those things, and more. We all need to find our own place, and excel there.
Without those articles and blog posts and discussions, how are we supposed to find out what the various options are, and their relative benefits and drawbacks? "Finding out own place" doesn't just happen. (Except when it does. But relying on luck is a chancy proposition.)
>We all need to find our own place, and excel there.
I'd posit that writ large this won't actual create a functioning society. Some in society need to be content where they are because we need people to do the "dirty" jobs that others won't do.
keep in mind that elite MBA, JD, and even MD programs have very high completion rates, much higher than PhDs, and that MD and JD degrees can take less than half the time. MD degrees take as long as PhDs when you factor in the residency, but the job prospects and earnings are probably much higher.
From a purely financial point of view, it just doesn't make sense for someone who already has US citizenship to do a PhD. For non-citizens, though, it can be an excellent way to get into the country (though even then, an MS is usually enough to get that first work visa).
In addition to the fact that the Undergrad may be making more than $114K by the time the PhD student has acquired a PhD, there's also the issue of selection bias. Perhaps, on average, people choosing to get PhDs are more capable than people with Bachelor's degrees. In this case, the extra degree could be absolutely useless, and yet people having a PhD would still earn more.
It would be interesting to see how much the undergrads are making after two years (expected amount of time to finish the degree), and the masters after four (to finish the PhD).
And also, the variance in the amount of money undergrads make after 6 years, compared to the variance in the $ that PhDs make. Some undergrads could earn MUCH more money than PhDs, but it's also ENTIRELY possible that undergrads could fizzle out/make a major mistake and end up in a perpetual cycle of low-wage jobs (and this can happen to the highly intelligent too)
Undergrad: 80k Masters: 87k PhD: 114k