No, that is not what I meant. Many of my family members are academics so I am familiar with the odds of getting a job in academia. However, I never actually kne

No, that is not what I meant. Many of my family members are academics so I am familiar with the odds of getting a job in academia. However, I never actually knew the real salaries. In fact, this search began because a chemist uncle of mine was curious as to what he could have made if he went into academia instead of industry. (Academia won, envy of college roommate ensued) I was surprised at how much the professors actually do make. I realize it's hard to get a full tenured professor job, but I thought that once you got it, you maybe made $100K, tops. The University of Minnesota is certainly not a top school and the professors are by no means superstars, so their salaries were surprising. If a prof makes $300K at a 2nd tier university, I wonder what they make at a good school like Stanford or Harvard? The engineering school example is actually a job I am trying to get. After finding out these salaries I thought "wow that seems like a nice vacation after killing myself at startups the past 10 years," and started looking for a position I could do myself. I know the salary through personal negotiation. On the salary survey site it is probably one of the ones listed as "instructor." I would prefer not to post the job ad as I don't need more competition. :P