opposite of recent thread... what are some high prestige low salary jobs? I am thinking yale law or harvard mba student (yes going to school counts as a job).
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Priest/Pastors/Ministers
say it again
Wouldn’t say child molestation is a high prestige profession but maybe that’s just me
Yeah, have to agree. Ugly clichés left aside, you really are a bit closer to Heaven if you act the way it´s expected of you.
Academia, specifically pre-tenure professorship
Some of my liberal arts professors had PhDs from Harvard and Yale and the like and were well known in their field making $65-80K as a tenured professor after like 10 years. It was always wild to me that these people were so smart and accomplished and were making the same as some 22 year old dumbass from the business school (I say this as a business major) who got a job as a Financial Analyst
Eh - I wouldn't feel too horrible. Tenure is a magical thing and I doubt many of them are working 40 hours a week.
Teach 3-4 classes a week (which a TA can do for you if you're high up enough), grade papers and assignments with no real deadline, and research/write articles or books that while may be required, only help you in the long run.
Being a professor seems like a decent gig if material wealth isn't your primary concern.
Lord of an English country home in the era between WWI and WWII.
municipal work Reporter for NPR
Journos have zero prestige
Super high prestige to me. They can sometimes be the only source of truth or open our eyes to things we didnt know
Med school + residency
Yes, but there's a large payoff.
Since prestige is in the eye of the beholder:
Non-profit CEO (rub shoulders with rich and famous, but you’re not) Doctor trying to save the world in Africa or some other remote poor area Religious icon (Ghandi, Mother Theresa, etc) Civil Rights leader (MLK) McKinsey consultant Astrophysicist Television producer (sounds good (I suppose), but you’re actually poor)
Politician / elected official. Though some would argue that’s low prestige as well
Oh you make a lot of money as a politician, just not from your direct employer.
Nice troll with mckinsey
Do McKinsey people not get paid a lot?
McKinsey consultant? Really? I have a classmate who got 140K all in as a fresh undergraduate/master's hire.
Public prosecutor. Depends what we're calling "low" though since it's lower than what others lawyers will make.
Special Forces
Urm.. not really. I guess it’s relative. Special forces and special operations aren’t the same thing. So special forces is an actual term to specify green berets. I would say on average a Sgt with let’s say, six years in gets about 4500 in pay including BAH but this doesn’t include language pay, dive pay, HALO pay, etc... which can be around 5500 a month? now if you’re an officer in SF, it can be double that.
Wow, so special operations make $4,500+$5,500 = $10,000 per month??
Joining the Indian Civil Service in the 1800s until independence in the 1940s. They basically recruited grads almost exclusively from Oxford and Cambridge, had them take an exam, shipped them off to India, and gave them a fancy title right out of school -- Magistrate. Britain wanted high prestige people from top schools that hopefully would be incorruptible, so while some took advantage of it and made a ton of money, others were nothing more than civil servants. Imagine being 23 years old and your job title is "Magistrate of Calicut."
Another high prestige, low salary job I think is "Admissions Officer" for a school like Harvard or Princeton. Most of these people make $30,000 to $40,000 a year, and are nothing special themselves. But I think these people get a lot of respect, especially from internationals.
I think internationals despise them.
Admission officers get paid in agony and frustration of applicants and then tears of rejected students.
being in the military
Low level film guy on an NBA and NFL team. Typically at the bottom of the totem pole with a 40K salary, but given that there are only so many of these roles it's a fast track to being an assistant coach and eventually a head coaching job
I think the going rate for the towel guy is ~50K.
Also, the guys who do the bottom line stats for ESPN. Super hard to get, pays like ~16K, my brother tried applying years ago when he was fresh out of college, they asked some ridiculous sports trivia in the interview.
Also, intering for a minor league baseball team. My friend did it in college, pays so low, but they house you with all the other interns, and its like a constant party all summer.
Yeah but those jobs are not prestigious. What's the highest a towel guy can go to? Head of equipment? The ESPN stats guy can become head researcher or something, but no one will know who you are.
Film roles can end up being coach (Erik Spoelstra, Mike Budenhozer) and then if you play your cards right can move up to GM or VP of personnel.
Being an accountant is most definitely not "high prestige"
That's what you think. With the TCJA, I'm pretty much a celebrity now.
Agree with this. Most non finance people don't know shit and think working at Big4 is a prestigious.
This was my first thought when opening the thread as well. People have heard of firms like Ernst & Young and Deloitte, they just assume it means you’re smart and make good money if they don’t much know about business.
Most of these are going to be post-JD jobs
These are the first ones that come to mind
Talent Agency kids put up with the $15/ hour (in CA mind you, I believe it's min wage) because it's only 6-12 months and then after that they get paid a lot better. Also, working as an assistant to a top Talent Agent can be very lucrative. Being the top Talent Agent is comparable to an IB MD in terms of sheer compensation.
Being a top agent likely pays way more than an IB MD
AUSA is normally a springboard to bigger and better things - somewhat common to go AUSA and then do deputy AG or something like that which positions you for politics. Barring that biglaw firms love AUSAs for white collar practices.
SCOTUS clerk is not well paid but most big firms will pay extremely large ($275k+) bonuses to scotus clerks when they join the big firm so you make some of it back.
Ontopic, state judges don’t make much (top out at mid 100s, more likely to be between 60-90 depending on the state). Federal does better but those positions are extremely difficult to get.
I'm going to push back on Teach for America being selective. I was the head of a club on college and an organizer reached out to me - I assumed it was to set up come candidate sourcing from the club. Got coffee and talked for an hour, then got an email later asking with some pdf about preparing a sample lesson. 10/10 would unintentional interview again.
Diplomat/working for your country’s foreign service
In very broad categories:
Politics below the level of Congress (any staff/ assistant/ clerk/ campaigner for lower level people) and below the level of Mayor/ Head of Something for a larger city
Most attorneys outside of corporate law (sad facts, $150k+ in debt and making $60k a year)
Pre tenure professors
Many advanced government jobs, think NASA/ CIA/ NSA/ etc. Some software engineers work for these and are paid 1/2 to 1/3 of what they could earn elsewhere (even outside of FAANG)
Scientists. This one is pretty sad. Being an advanced physicist is (in my opinion), one of the most advanced careers one can have but the work isn't valued. But I'm weird and study physics for fun because I like learning about life. Occasionally they break away and become professors (see above), quants, or podcast hosts.
Astronaut
Olympic athlete
Yes
Curious on the numbers here. I'm not surprised they wouldn't make a ton since we probably don't hear about a lot of them
Not Deutsche Bank
Santa Clause. Who doesn't respect Santa? And all he gets paid is milk and cookies.
being a central banker. fairly prestigious, not very lucrative.
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Doctor
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Astronomer
Astronaut
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I think college. The scholarship is very small, although depending on the college, but in many cases it is small
Professor
Foreign service and diplomacy
Some investment banks. Throw all the MS you want. It's true.
The Pope
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