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What is the relation between an undergraduate degree and a Masters degree

I could not help but notice that the graduate salaries for my subject (Math)
really jump when you get into the elite universities.
like the average salary for my uni after 5 years was smthing like £28000

but for the elite universities that was £35000 which is very significant.
So I happened to actually check and apparently if I got a strong 2.1/1st I would stand a good chance in attaining a place.

I have heard contradictory things basically some sources tell me no one will care where you get your undergraduate degree from if you have a masters. where as others tell me a masters degree usually wont make much difference unless your going for something very specific.

So to make an example then I will avoid COWI in this example to avoid getting to extreme and will take the most extreme case possible.

Assuming my undergraduate degree was at London Met and somehow from there I got into Durham/St andrews/Nottingham

London Met average salary after 5 years is £25000
with Durham St Andrews and Nottingham been £36000,£35000,39000

Could I then expect in excess of £35000

or would the undergraduate degree be more relevant to determining my oppertunities then the masters?

Reply 1

returnmigrant

Average salaries are meaningless - because they are averages, and the jobs/income may have nothing to do with the original degree, and btw, people lie about how much they earn.

Also, 'a Masters' may not be the reason for the enhanced salary. It may also be because those people are older and have more work experience.This is usually far more significant in terms of career building than bits of paper.

Reply 2

Luke7456

Original post by returnmigrant

Well that is not really a useful reply I mean in theory I could just put £10 on a 500/1 sports bet. win it and then put that £5000 on a 500/1 sports bet and get lucky again and be a millionaire. where as someone else could work there ass off do everything right get really unlucky and end up homeless on the streets.

Statistically though one of these options gives better odds. Averages takes into account outliers and one university vs another may be debatable when the figure is say £1000/£2000 but when you start to notice a generic trend where the top ten universities all have graduate salaries after 5 years exceeding £35000 and the bottom ten all have figures below £25000 that is highlighting a clear trend.

I really dont have time to get into a debate regarding facts I have already established. I am well aware of the central limit theorem I would say your probably not but unfortunately a lot of the things I have noticed about society as a whole are a lot worse then I would like to accept.

I am working with what gives me the best statistical chance, not absolute value and I think you misunderstood my question. My question was not will a Masters degree earn more then an undergraduate I already know the answer to that is statistically yes.

my question was if you attained an undergraduate degree from a not so good university but did your masters at a highly respected university would your prospects statistically be be equal or better then people who only completed the undergraduate degree at the highly respected university but did not continue onto masters.