Forget Harvard: Here's Where To Go To College If You Want A High-Paying Job
Want a prestigious education? Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are the way to go. But if you're looking for a high-paying career after graduation, you may want to look elsewhere.
A new study from the the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program ranks two- and four-year colleges based on economic outcomes for graduatesand none of the Ivy League even makes it to the top 10 for the four-year institutions. This is the data that the U.S. News and World Report rankings won't tell you.
Some of the major findings: Schools with high completion rates and good financial aid are linked to better economic outcomes. And schools with lots of students in STEM majors (like computer science and engineering), as well as majors with paths to higher paying careers in business and health care, also have superior financial payback.
In order to come up with the rankings, researchers looked at three factors: mid-career earnings, occupational earnings (whether or not they're in a high-paying kind of career), and student loan repayment rates. Then, they compared to the baseline.
For mid-career earnings, this meant looking at what students would be expected to earn based on a number of factorsincluding SAT/ACT test scores, family income (based on Pell grant award amounts), race, gender, and type of collegeand then comparing predicted earnings from a similar school with actual earnings, using data from PayScale.com. The difference between the two is the value added by their college.
"STEM is the biggest measurable factor on average across all the institutional factors," says Brookings Fellow Jonathan Rothwell , who co-authored the report. "The only surprising thing is that it works even if you dont go to an elite school. You dont necessarily have to go to Caltech or MIT and major in computer science there. Even if you go to community college, youll see an earnings premium."
Here are the top four-year schools, based on mid-career earnings:
There are no Ivy League schools in that list, but there are some big-name tech schools. Still, some lesser-known places like the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology made it to the top. MIT graduates have average mid-career earnings of $128,800, but Rose Hulman graduates aren't far behind, with earnings of $114,100. As for those rogue liberal arts colleges, like Carleton College and Colgate University? They're difficult to explain.
"They get there through what we call this X Factor. It's sort of hard to break it down because its kind of inherently unmeasurable, kind of like the dark matter of colleges. You can observe some energy affecting student performance in terms of higher earnings, better student occupations, and loan repayment rates," says Rothwell. He speculates that strong alumni networks, administrative staff that's adept at attracting big recruiters, and high-quality teachers could be contributors.
Here are the top two-year institutions:
Students trying to get a sense of their future earnings may be better served by looking at these rankings instead of more traditional college rankings. "Most of their power in predicting future earnings is related to test scores of students going into [university]. Once you control for that, they dont tell you much," says Rothwell. "For two fairly selective schools with similar admission rates, the rankings in U.S. News and World Report , Money , or Forbes , don't provide any extra information on economic success."
In addition to students, he believes that the data will be useful to regional and state leaders focused on education policy and workforce development, as well as schools themselves.
Check out the full rankings here .
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3045598/forget-harvard-heres-where-to-go-to-college-if-you-want-a-high-paying-job
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Prestige isn't everything.
A look at where students can get the best bang for their education buck !
I was surprised at the list
Cal Tech is an outstanding school.
There is another that didn't make the list, Kings Point in NY. A maritime school, that places 100 per cent of its grads, and there is a waiting list of companies wanting to hire from the school.
Kavika
Thanks for the feedback, I know some folks who went to Cal Tech but King Point is news to me sounds like an excellent program
We need more programs that link more closely with companies for jobs for their graduates and companies that support and contribute to those college programs.
Here is a link to Kings Point RIO.
My nephew graduated in 2009, his starting salary was $90,000. 5 years later he is at $150K, with incredible benefits.
I am going to send this to my grandson, he has interests in (his words) something to do with boats, ships and stuff like that and he also loves biology
Thanks
R W
I have definitely heard of Cal Poly
First I have heard of a school renting bee hives, but then I am always learning new things
Thanks
Top 4 year schools-- the VMI, and Washington and Lee University are in Lexington, VA. Lee was president of the Washington and Lee University, after the war. He is interred there, below the Chapel. It's a great school! George Marshall went to the VMI.
Tuition rates are very high for these schools-- so I guess you get what you pay for. At Washington and Lee, it costs about 63,000 per year. Link
Yeah, I could send my son there for about a semester...
Dowser
No doubt the costs are high, but so are those in the Ivy League which are not as high on the list which is the point the author was making, that the Ivy League did not guarantee a good paying career I guess
Oh, I surely think you're right about that!
I wasn't trying to be contentious-- just that most of those schools are out of our reach. Some of our more local universities are about $10,000 - $11,000 per year...
Let him know this isn't a party college. LOLOL
Kavika
Well so far that would be a good match for him, but he is a teenager and attitudes and moods change quite frequently
Dowser
I know what you mean
My three all have done quite well with a public school education (high school and college). Youngest to oldest they graduate from Florida, Maryland and SW Missouri St and while not getting rich are doing okay for themselves in finance, business managementand business management respectively
It is the quality of the student and the education, not the "prestige" of the school that best prepares one for the real world.