COLA for salary negotiation

For my MS program, the average starting salary is $75k (in a Southeast city) for folks with my level of work experience (internships only) who stay in my city for work. If I were to move to the northern VA/DC area, this would be equal to about $107k and in NYC (Manhattan) about $123k.

I have a few job interviews coming up in the next month or so. If I'm asked about what to expect as a starting salary, would it be okay to say the above numbers depending on which location this is for?

Sorry if the answer is obvious, but I just get the feeling (despite being an MS as opposed to BS/BA graduate) that the above numbers might be too high seeing that I have no real FT work experience yet.

3 Comments
 

Very, very tactfully. But you should know what the company is paying for MS entrants before you begin discussions. That way you can get a sense of how hard you're pushing and where they're liable to simply drop you.

Double Doubler
 

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