
Recent graduates at the South Dakota School of Mines are experiencing a big jump in starting salaries.
Already boasting a higher starting salary than graduates at Harvard, 2012 graduates from the School of Mines are receiving a $6,000 increase in annual wages compared to 2011 grads.
The School of Mines' Career and Professional Center say a 92 percent job placement number as well as the demand for professionals in oil and gas fields lead to the high figures.
"Well I think it's good in the fact that it's such a significant increase from the year before. And quite frankly at first I was a bit surprised at that thinking that the numbers might have been skewed or we were only hearing from a smaller number or graduates or something, so it's very positive news," said Darrell Sawyer, Director of SDSMT's Career and Professional Center.
Last fall the School of Mines enrolled more than 2,400 students, a five percent growth from the previous school year.