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Comment by FormerBandmate | Hacker News Reader

Academia pays absolutely terribly for an elite job, it's all status. You could make more than 90% of tenured professors as a manager of Buc-ee's

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"Earning" doesn't necessarily come with a truly elite status job, because you're not relying on a salary to live. Having to live off a salary is lower status.

I don't understand what you're saying here.

The comment above mine said "Academia pays absolutely terribly for an elite job". But earning doesn't really come into a truly elite (status-wise) job, because the person doing it doesn't need to earn to live.

The top comment claimed "academia today is essentially a machine for amassing status and money".

Pointing out that it pays terribly is completely on point.

If my daddy makes 7 digits per year and set me up in a trust then I don't have to work to live upper middle class. Therefore an "elite" aka prestige only position that pays pennies may be more elite because i don't depend on the pay like the plebians.

A different way to become a low paying professor is to research and earn 7digits+ from patents

I'm not disputing your point about prestige, and I'm sure that people whose 'daddies make 7 digits per year' would be interested in more prestigious roles and less interested in pay. But I really doubt that most professors are trust fund kids who don't have to work.

Yes, good point, thanks. I was thinking of the high end of disciplines with strong ties to industry, mainly STEM and business, but that's actually just a very small, although prominent, part of academia.

The very high end of academia--especially in areas where consulting gigs are readily available--is pretty nice from what I've seen. But, as you say, it's pretty rare and still probably not that lucrative overall especially if you're in some expensive living area.

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