With the brand of degree worthless, LinkedIn just revealed the college where Gen Z gets its best shot at a corner office work

There are many The recent graduates struggle Like never going to work – some CEO warns entry-level jobs on the verge of extinction Thanks to AI – Gen Z is questioned whether it is worth spending four years and thousands of dollars. Ultimately, the answer may come down to where you get your degree.

According to graduates from Princeton, Duke and Pennsylvania, most likely to achieve long-term career success. LinkedIn This week.

There are signs that it is higher Educational rewards are slowly dyingAndrew Seaman, senior editor of general job and career development at LinkedIn News, said weighing post-career career achievement and possible ROI is more important than ever.

Seaman tells wealth. “For this list, this means looking at the benefits that a school has set for a longer journey.”

The median annual salary for high school graduates is $48,360 in 2024, while those with bachelor’s degrees usually earn over $80,000, an increase of about 65% U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell and Harvard ranked among the top six best universities, but other usual elite schools are also far away. Ivy League institutions Columbia University and Yale University are No. 18 and No. 19, respectively. (See the full list below).

Getting a degree from a popular school may not be enough

LinkedIn generates rankings using five equally weighted pillars:

• Work placement: The percentage of recent graduate alumni (2019-2024) started a full-time position or graduate school program the same year as graduation.
• Internship and recruitment requirements: Percentage of alumni who recently completed undergraduate internships; based on Inmail Suarther data, the labor market demand for recent populations.
• Career success: Percent of alumni with postgraduate entrepreneur or C-Suite experience.
• The Power of Network: How are the connections between alumni in the same school and how are recent alumni connected with past alumni and current students
• Broadness of knowledge: The unique areas of learning and skills acquired by recent graduates.

Focusing on these data points, LinkedIn generated a ranking that left many well-known schools absent, such as Johns Hopkins, Emory University, Georgia Tech and the University of North Carolina. Instead, some agencies with lower name recognition cut the top 50, such as Bentley University (No. 15), Bucknell University (No. 21) and Fairfield University (No. 28).

Seaman said the findings generally show that there is no need for popular or Ivy League to deliver excellent career outcomes.

Seaman added: “Schools like Bentley and Fairfield University are excellent in connecting students with high-quality internships, building a strong alumni network, and helping graduates quickly get jobs or placement in graduate schools.

Among them BucknellThe 2024 class received career opportunities within nine months of graduation, with an average starting salary of $73,075.

Smaller universities, such as Babson College and Colgate University, are also outstanding in cyber strength and job placement. According to Seaman, Babson has the highest proportion of graduates to become entrepreneurs and founders.

The growing demand for AI skills

As college values continue to be questioned, many business leaders believe students need them Learn AI skills Most importantly, they may be part of a growing number Zers Gen of Neetnot in employment, education or training.

Earlier this year, more than 250 CEOs, including Microsoft’s Satya NadellaAirbnb’s Brian CheskyAnd Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi,,,,, Request for additional computer science and AI education for all students.

“In the AI era, we must prepare our future children, not just consumers,” the CEO wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “The fundamental foundations of computer science and AI are crucial to helping every student thrive in a technology-driven world. Without it, they have the potential to fall behind.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that your college major has to be AI or technology-centric. Actually, when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang What younger versions are you asking recently He said he would choose to focus on today, and he said he would choose “more physical science than software science.”

Top 50 schools for long-term career success

According to LinkedIn

1. Princeton University
2. Duke University
3. University of Pennsylvania
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
5. Cornell University
6. Harvard University
7. Babson College
8. Notre Dame University
9. Dartmouth College
10. Stanford University
11. Northwestern University
12. University of Virginia
13. Vanderbilt University
14. Brown University
15. Bentley University
16. Tufts University
17. Lehigh University
18. Columbia University
19. Yale University
20. Carnegie Mellon University
21. Bucknell University
22. Boston College
23. Villanova University
24. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
25. Wake Forest University
26. University of Chicago
27. University of Southern California
28. Fairfield University
29. Washington and Lee University
30. University of California – Berkeley
31. Rice University
32. Georgetown University
33. Purdue University
34. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
35. University of Miami
36. Colgate University
37. Southern Methodist University
38. Kobe University
39. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
40. Penn State University
41. California Institute of Technology
42. Trinity College
43. Boston University
44. University of Richmond
45. Stevens Technical College
46. University of Texas at Austin
47. Indiana University Bloomington
48. Lafayette College
49. Providence College
50. University of Wisconsin-Madison