Lynn O'Shaughnessy

The College Solution

Colleges That Produce the Highest Paid Grads

By Lynn O'Shaughnessy | Jul 23, 2009 |

What college or university can brag that it’s students graduate with the  highest paid jobs?

Harvard? No.  Yale? No. In fact, you can forget all the Ivy League schools.

The paycheck honors belongs to Loma Linda (CA) University, a Seventh Day Adventist school, which educates a large number of students majoring in the health fields.

That was one of the intriguing results of an exhaustive annual survey conducted by PayScale, Inc., which examined salary data for 600 colleges and universities.

Curiously enough, only one Ivy League school — Princeton University — shows up among the top 10 colleges that produce graduates with the best paying jobs.

With the exception of Loma Linda, the schools that dominate the list graduate a heavy concentration of science and engineering majors. Here’s the honor roll:

School                                                  Starting Salary

  1. Loma Linda University                         $71,400
  2. MIT                                                     $71,100
  3. Harvey Mudd College                          $71,000
  4. Calif. Institute of Technology              $69,700
  5. Stanford University                              $67,500
  6. Carnegie Mellon University                  $65,300
  7. Princeton University                             $65,000
  8. Polytechnic University of NY                 $62,700
  9. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute            $62,500
  10. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology   $61,100

By the way, Harvard earned the 15th spot. Yale straggled behind at No. 38th and was beaten by such schools as the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and Kettering University in Flint, MI. Imagine that.

Loma Linda University image by James. CC 2.0.

 
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  •  
    1

    Capital Education Consultants

    07/24/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Colleges That Produce the Highest Paid Grads

    Quite revealing and impressive! I would not have expected
    Loma Linda to trump the Ivy Leagues in salary! However, you
    are comparing universities, not programs!

    For example, Yale's strength is not in Engineering as
    evidenced by the quote "...Princeton University student
    Jennifer Huang said she did not apply to Yale because she
    thought the engineering department was weak..." This quote
    appeared in the Yale Daily News which talks about how the
    faculty of engineering at Yale is working toward improving
    their program.

    Similarly, Harvard's strong programs are in the liberal arts and
    graduate programs, not Engineering.

    Thanks to this blog, I am excited to learn more about Loma
    Linda and hope to visit the campus soon! And Kettering too!

  •  
    2

    dmccammishjr@...

    07/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Colleges That Produce the Highest Paid Grads

    I think the way you have ranked them is correct, versus the original list. Starting salary is probably more indicative of the university, while mid-career would be more a function of what the graduate did with the education once out.

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Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Lynn O'Shaughnessy is a financial journalist and the author of a critically acclaimed book, The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price. She has been a contributor to such publications as BusinessWeek, USA Today, Money Magazine, Medical Economics, The New York Times, Consumer Reports MoneyAdvisor, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, AARP: The Magazine and Kiplinger

Lynn O'Shaughnessy

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