It’s great to land a job right out of college — but it’s even more exciting when that job pays well.
The Princeton Review recently compiled a list of the 25 colleges with the best career placement in the country, featured in the book “Colleges That Pay You Back: 2016 Edition,” published in February, based on students’ ratings of career services at their school. The ratings also took into account median starting and mid-career salaries for alumni, using data from PayScale.
Several of these schools, including the top three, focus strongly on engineering, technology, and other STEM-related fields, which typically earn higher than average salaries.
Read on to see the 25 best colleges for landing a high-paying job right out of school.
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25. Tufts University
Location: Medford, Massachusetts
Median starting salary: $53,800
Median mid-career salary: $119,700
No matter what students hope to do after graduation, the Tufts career center wants to help them get there. The center partners with students to develop the skills and contacts needed to start their careers through LinkedIn seminars, internship workshops, and information on alternative types of jobs and career paths.
24. University of California at Berkeley
Location: Berkeley, California
Median starting salary: $60,200
Median mid-career salary: $119,100
“Berkeley’s greatest strengths are the amount of resources and opportunities it provides to students not only to allow them to explore numerous academic fields but to engage them in the community, in the country, and in the world,” one student told the Princeton Review.
Berkeley lives up to this standard through interactive online courses on résumé building and cover letter writing, mock interviews with employers, opportunities to network with Cal grads, and more.
23. Lehigh University
Location: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Median starting salary: $61,000
Median mid-career salary: $108,800
Students cite Lehigh’s extensive career services, which include internship, externship, and co-op programs that help students gain real-world experience, as a major factor that drew them to the school, according to the Princeton Review.
The school’s career services office offers industry-specific advice for finding jobs and internships, as well as helpful links and resources for every major at the university.
