Studying abroad, especially in top universities in the US, can lead to high-paying careers. However, the decision-making process for selecting schools is complex, considering factors like cost, location, research fields, class size, social life, admission rates, etc. A new ranking by Burning Glass focuses on the crucial but rarely considered factor – future salaries. It compares graduates’ earnings across 2,025 colleges to reveal which schools result in the highest salaries for nine professions, including technology, software development, marketing, consulting, law, finance, engineering, data science, and accounting. The analysis looks at graduates’ average salaries in the first ten years after finishing college.
The methodology focuses on the outcome of earning high salaries
The ranking aims to provide useful information for students to make better decisions aligned with desired outcomes. While money is not the sole or best metric for evaluating student success, salary indicates concrete career outcomes. By analyzing experience and pay data, the study reveals which colleges lead to the top lifetime earnings – an important consideration for guiding one’s large educational investment.
Top colleges for high-paying technology and software development careers
For technology careers, the top public universities are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, UC San Diego, UC Davis, while the top private colleges are MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd College. For software development, the leading public schools are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, UW Seattle, UC San Diego and the top privates are MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Caltech, Harvey Mudd College.
Marketing and consulting careers have high salaries from these colleges
The public universities producing top salaries in marketing are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Indiana University, UW Madison. The private leaders are MIT, USC, Carnegie Mellon, Emory. For consulting careers, Berkeley, UCLA, William & Mary, UNC Chapel Hill lead among publics while Harvard, Penn, Notre Dame, Northwestern lead among privates.
Law and finance careers have strong outcomes from these top colleges
For law careers, the public universities with the highest salaries are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, UFlorida, Penn State. The private leaders are Harvard, UPenn, Boston College, Notre Dame. In finance, the top publics are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Indiana University, UW Madison and the leading privates are MIT, NYU, USC, Babson College.
Engineering and data science salaries higher from these top schools
The public colleges producing the highest engineering salaries are UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UT Austin, UMichigan. The private leaders are MIT, Caltech, Lafayette College, Harvey Mudd College. For data science, top publics by salary are UC Berkeley, UT Austin, UW Seattle while privates are led by MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon.
In conclusion, UC Berkeley, UT Austin and UW Seattle frequently lead the public universities while MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Caltech and Harvard lead the privates across these high-paying careers. The ranking provides an additional data-driven perspective to inform prospective students.