Salary & Selectivity

Rankings

For many people, the purpose of attending college is to land a high-paying job thereafter.

1. Princeton University
2. California Institute of Technology
3. Harvey Mudd College
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Harvard University
6. Stanford University
7. Dartmouth College
8. Williams College
9. Yale University
10. University of Notre Dame
11. Columbia University
12. Brown University
13. Vanderbilt University
14. Amherst College
14. Swarthmore College
16. Carnegie Mellon University
17. Washington and Lee University
18. Colgate University
19. University of Pennsylvania
19. Duke University
21. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
22. Cooper Union
23. Babson College
24. Cornell University
24. Tufts University
26. University of California, Berkeley
26. Lehigh University
28. Polytechnic Institute of New York University
29. Claremont McKenna College
30. U.S. Naval Academy
31. U.S. Military Academy
32. Boston College
33. Rice University
34. Stevens Institute of Technology
35. Georgia Institute of Technology
36. Haverford College
37. University of Southern California
38. Georgetown University
39. Colorado School of Mines
40. Wake Forest University
41. Davidson College
42. Bucknell University
42. College of the Holy Cross
44. Santa Clara University
45. Wesleyan University
46. Carleton College
46. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
48. College of William and Mary
49. U.S. Air Force Academy
50. Bates College
50. Rose Hulman Institute of Technology

PayScale.com publishes the average median mid-career salaries of graduates from almost every college in the U.S. This ranking accords 1/3 of the weight to the 75% SAT score (thinking that you want a selective school) and 2/3 of the weight to the PayScale rank.