Most schools have post-graduation survey. Quick google shows mit's 2020 class had 70 bachelor students responding to the survey for jobs in the tech industry, with base salary of:

$97,750, $118,000 $129,000 for 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile respectively

IIRC this number is typically just the base salary so you can roughly double it to include bonus and stock.

Click Employment tab then Page 9 in https://capd.mit.edu/resources/student-outcomes-and-salaries

I think it's hyperbole.

Not that I doubt there are jobs which pay this, but from what I've seen of the market, if money is all you're concerned with you should not be turning your nose up at a 200k TC offer.

I think you should feel fine about 150k and miffed about 100k if it's a gig at a bay area company other than an early-stage startup.

200k is very high for new grads.

It's a hyperbole and its not the best advice for a noob to compare to. It's easy for people to remember special cases and then assume it is the norm.

Last I checked the median salary for a fresh Stanford CS Master's grad was $105k, but that was a few years ago.

I think the 200k figure is inflated by FAANG companies, basically.

Senior devs in my country make around 35k in international companies. Even FAANG is maybe 50k.

Yes, a new grad "feeling lowballed by 200k" was hyperbole because I waste too much time on Blind. But FAANG new grad TC is pushing that number, which is a stark contrast to my new grad numbers ~2010. But it was probably confusing for me to phrase it that way.