Walking across the stage with the same diploma doesn't mean walking into the same paycheck. Recent University of Southern California graduates are discovering this the hard way, with starting salaries ranging from barely $55,000 to well over $100,000 depending on what they studied.

Personal finance educator Charlie Chang interviewed fresh USC graduates about their first job offers in June, and the results paint a pretty unforgiving picture of today's labor market. If you majored in AI or tech consulting, congratulations—you're probably doing great. If you spent five years studying architecture, well, we need to talk.

The Winners: Tech and Consulting Clean Up

The graduates landing in tech and consulting are commanding serious money right out of school. One graduate told Chang that AI engineer and sales engineering roles are paying "north of $100,000." A mechanical design position in building science comes in between $80,000 and $100,000, while a tech consulting gig at PwC delivers approximately $95,000 to $96,000 when you include bonuses.

Computer science and business administration majors heading into consulting reported base salaries around $86,000–$87,000, with bonuses adding another $7,000 to $8,000 on top. Biomedical engineering roles focused on cardiac rhythm management also hit the $80,000–$100,000 range.

But here's the catch: these positions didn't just fall into anyone's lap. Multiple graduates described the job search as requiring "a lot of effort and a lot of applications." Even in high-paying fields, competition is fierce.

The Reality Check: Architecture and Arts Majors

Now let's talk about the other end of the spectrum. Architecture graduates, despite completing a grueling five-year degree program plus licensing exams down the road, are looking at starting salaries between $55,000 and $65,000. That's less than what some tech majors make before bonuses kick in.

One architecture graduate described the job market as "pretty rough because of the economy" and ended up relocating to London to find better opportunities. It's a harsh lesson in how degree difficulty and time investment don't automatically translate into early-career earnings.

Arts majors face similar headwinds. Dance and other creative fields follow "not a linear path," according to graduates, who were advised to prioritize passion over immediate compensation while finding stable income sources to fund their artistic work.

How to Actually Land the Job

Across every major, graduates hammered home one message: your GPA matters less than your network. USC alumni repeatedly emphasized being "friendly," "open to everything," and actively tapping into university resources, especially the alumni association.

Joining major-specific clubs proved "super helpful" for recruiting efforts. Organizations like the Women's Consulting Practice—a student-run group offering workshops, mentorship, and networking specifically for women entering consulting—created direct pathways to job offers. Faculty relationships and internships also worked as pipelines to full-time positions. One engineering student admitted they "never quite knew what engineering was" until landing an internship that eventually converted into a job offer.

Interview strategy matters too. Graduates recommended sending follow-up emails one week after interviews that reference specific conversation details and ask targeted questions like "how do you define success in this job."

The Debt Question

Several graduates managed to avoid student debt entirely through aggressive scholarship applications and maxing out financial aid opportunities. Smart move, considering USC's steep tuition and the reality that your starting salary could vary by $45,000 or more just based on what you decided to study freshman year.

This creates some tough family dynamics. Multiple students mentioned resisting pressure—particularly from immigrant parents pushing them toward computer science—to pursue what they actually wanted to study. Their reasoning? They'll be working the "8-to-5 lifestyle" either way, so it might as well be in something they care about.

For graduates facing difficult job markets, grad school offers a strategic pause button. Some are pursuing master's degrees because they're genuinely "lifelong learners," while others, especially international students, are using additional degrees to extend their time in the U.S. job market.

The bottom line for 2025: your major and your network matter a whole lot more than your university's name alone. A USC degree opens doors, sure, but which doors and how wide depends heavily on what you studied and who you know.