The University of Pennsylvania does a better job than any other College in the country at boosting students' future earnings, according to the Wall Street Journal /College Pulse rankings.
The WSJ /College Pulse composite takes into account graduation rates, student experience and diversity in addition to salary. But the salary impact rankings use a single criterion, looking only at the impact of a university's undergraduate degree on graduates' earnings.
Penn's salary impact score was higher than Princeton University, which ranked first overall, and the three other Ivy League schools in the top 10 overall. Private schools dominate the pay impact rankings, with 21 in the top 25 and 40 in the top 50.
(Click here to see the full salary impact rankings, as well as those focusing on the student experience and schools' impact on graduates' social mobility, and to see the methodology behind all the rankings.)
To determine how much a school's degree boosts salaries, the Journal and its research partner Statista looked at graduates' earnings from two different angles: One compared graduates' salaries to the expected earnings of students at that school (regardless of which school they went to, only the demographics of students were taken into account); The second is to compare the salary of graduates with the cost of education at school.
With reference to research conducted by the Brookings Institution, we set a projected median salary for each college 10 years after its graduates arrived, based on factors that are the most effective predictors of future earnings, including the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants and median parental income. Two-thirds of the salary impact score is based on what a college's graduates actually earn and how that compares to those predictions.
The one-third score is based on a comparison between the estimated total cost of obtaining a college degree and the increase in graduates' earnings compared to the salaries of high school graduates in the state where the school is located. The analysis draws on research conducted by Third Way, a public policy think tank.
In the case of the University of Pennsylvania, which ranked first, the median salary of its graduates 10 years after enrollment was more than $84,000 higher than that of Pennsylvania high school graduates, and the increase in graduates' salaries from their projections was higher than any other school on the list.
According to Braeden Voyticky, a junior at Penn, one of the school's characteristics is the number of career-preparation groups on campus in fields such as counseling and finance that allow students to gain practical experience.
Wojtiki was a team leader at Black Wharton Consulting, a group that provides pro bono consulting to black-owned businesses in Philadelphia, including one of the city's largest supermarket chains. That experience stood him in good stead, he says, when he interviewed for an internship at Boston Consulting Group this summer.
"You have access to a huge network of alumni who are the best in their fields and you can connect with them," Wojtiki says, sometimes at job fairs, which are often held on campus. "Companies like BCG will come to Penn, and once you've gone to Penn, you have that connection, like 'Oh, yeah, I took this class, I took that class' - it's a natural icebreaker."
Many of the top schools are at the top of the pay impact rankings, but some universities that have been unimpressive in past rankings stand out.
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri University of Science and Technology) ranked seventh, and a number of universities that also excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) also made the top 20, They include Michigan Technological University at No. 12, the New Jersey Institute of Technology at No. 15, Illinois Institute of Technology (16th) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (20th).
Alexander Kwapisz, who will graduate from Michigan Tech at the end of 2024, said he considers Michigan Tech the best engineering college in the Midwest, in part because it helped him embark on a career in electrical engineering. There was "no hesitation" in choosing the school, he said.
"Everyone knows it's a tough place to go" but there's a good salary after graduation, Mr. Kwapiz said, "and I think that's a motivating factor for a lot of people." They know that even though they have to deal with midterms, study pressure and time pressure, it will be worth it in the end because they will have a much better life."
"Michigan Tech taught me how to deal with difficulties and problems and how to solve problems," Kwapiz said. Going to college is not only about growing professionally, it's also about developing yourself as a person." Mr. Kwapitz recently completed an internship at Honeywell International.
At a time when the value of higher education as a whole is being questioned, confidence is at a new low; After a nearly three-year grace period, borrowers are starting to resume paying their student loans. In this context, universities are under unprecedented pressure to provide a meaningful return for students bearing rising tuition costs.
Damon Bell's son was choosing a school based on which one would offer the best return after graduation. His son ended up at Amherst College, No. 19 on the salary impact list. The father says the school was a worthwhile investment.
"We believe this is a top school, so while tuition and room and board are expensive, the school's reputation, academic rigor and reputation far outweigh the return on investment," Bell said. I have great confidence in his future."
Sometimes good career prospects come not only from a school's reputation with employers, but also from the alumni network it has built across the country -- Babson College, No. 10 on the pay impact list, has a stellar alumni network.
James Truslow, a recent Babson graduate who moved to Florida last year for work, said he was pleasantly surprised that alumni had the opportunity to attend networking events at the school's Miami campus, which opened in 2017, as well as attend guest speakers.
"Babson has such a small ecosystem [in Miami] that really makes sense to the alumni community," Truslow said. All the people I've met this way have been particularly helpful."