Harvard Law Grads Top Midcareer Earning Survey

UPDATED: October 23, 2014, at 5:50 p.m.

Harvard Law School graduates earn $201,000 a year on average by the time they reach the midpoint of their careers, outpacing all other graduate school degree holders, according to a recent survey by PayScale.

By Kevin H. Lin

Seven out of the top ten high-earning graduate degree programs were law schools, with Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, and Penn’s Wharton School of Business rounding out the list. Harvard Law School was closely followed by Emory University and Santa Clara University’s law schools, each trail Harvard in earnings by less than $4,000.

Graduates of medical and dental schools were not included on the survey.

Harvard Law School graduates average a starting salary of $130,000, surpassed only by Columbia University Law School’s graduates, who earn $153,700 on average right out of school.

However Harvard was not entirely victorious. Alumni of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business earned $184,600 on average at the mid-career point, exceeding graduates of Harvard Business School by $3,500.

While many experts now contend that many graduate programs are simply not worth the pricetag, Harvard’s graduate programs remain a good investment, according to PayScale. For example, coming in last out of 55 law schools surveyed, Western State University’s College of Law earn $65,700 after graduation and only $89,800 at the mid career point on average.

—Staff writer Tyler S. Olkowski can be reached at tyler.olkowski@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @OlkowskiTyler.