Ranking: Wall Street Journal’s 2024 Best Colleges In America

by: Kristy Bleizeffer on September 08, 2023 | 0 Comments | 205,508 Views

Babson College ranked No. 10 in the Salary Impact category and had the fourth highest earnings above a high school grad’s yearly salary at $81,604.

SCHOOLS RANKED BY SALARY IMPACT

Here, three of the top 20 schools are public institutions, including No. 7 Missouri University of Science & Technology.

Still, the Ivies and big brand powerhouses still dominate. Think Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton. University of Pennsylvania comes out on top with a salary score of 99.1.

The salary impact rating looks at the impact the school has on its graduates’ salaries in relation to the cost of attending. While the schools at the top generally have high price tags, the salaries their graduates earn 10 years later make up for the high cost. As one example, a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania earns an average starting salary of $100,665 three months after graduation, and up to $111,902 with bonuses, according to Poets&Quants most recent undergraduate business school ranking.

Below, you can see the 20 schools with the highest salary impact from WSJ’s ranking. More detail and the full list can be found here. 

Rank School State Score
1 University of Pennsylvania PA 99.1
2 Princeton University NJ 98.9
3 Columbia University NY 98.4
4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA 98.2
5 Harvard University MA 97.3
6 Stanford University CA 97.1
7 Missouri University of Science & Technology MO 96.9
8 Claremont McKenna College CA 96.7
9 Yale University CT 96.3
10 Babson College MA 96
11 Georgetown University DC 95.6
12 Michigan Technological University MI 95
13 Brigham Young University UT 94.6
14 Lehigh University PA 9.4
15 New Jersey Institute of Technology NJ 94
16 Illinois Institute of Technology IL 94
17 Duke University NC 93
18 Vanderbilt University TN 92.9
19 Amherst College MA 92.6
20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY 92.5

 

STUDENT EXPERIENCE AND SOCIAL MOBILITY

The WSJ/College Pulse Student Experience ranking looks at the schools where students enjoy waking up to go to class.

Student perceptions were measured by an independent survey of verified college students and recent graduates. In this category, public schools have the edge claiming 13 of the top 20 spots. 

Dalton State College in Georgia has the best score in this category at 75.6. It also scored a 77 in community and social life and 81 in diversity. The average net price of attendance is $5,240 with a value added to graduate salaries of $14,230.

See the top 20 schools for student experience in the table below. For the full list and more school detail, click here.

Rank School State Score
1 Dalton State College GA 75.6
2 California Baptist University CA 75.5
3 University of Houston – Downtown TX 74.4
4 Savannah State University GA 74.3
5 Alcorn State University MS 73
6 Florida Institute of Technology FL 72.8
7 Texas Woman’s University TX 72.3
8 Oral Roberts University OK 72.1
9 Pomona College CA 71.9
10 Florida International University FL 71.7
11 University of La Verne CA 71.7
12 California State University – San Marcos CA 71.5
13 Southern New Hampshire University NH 71.3
14 Clayton State University GA 71.2
15 California State University – Fresno CA 71.1
16 University of California – Los Angeles CA 71
17 Prairie View A & M University TX 70.9
18 California State University – Sacramento CA 70.9
19 Iona University NY 70.7
20 California State University – Northridge CA 70.6

For social mobility, WSJ looked at how much schools enhance students’ social mobility after graduation. Institutions with the highest proportion of students that come from lower-income families, high graduation rates, high salary impact for graduates, and lower costs do the best in this metric. 

Again, public schools dominate here with 16 of the top 20 spots.

California State University – Los Angeles is the best school for social mobility at 99.6. It scored a perfect 100 in salary and a 99 in graduation rate. It has an average net price of $2,037 with a value added graduate salary of $26,419.

A table with the top 20 schools for social mobility is presented below. For the full list and more school detail, click here.

Rank School State Score
1 California State University – Los Angele CA 99.6
2 University of California – Merced CA 99.6
3 Berea College KY 99.5
4 Fresno Pacific University CA 99.3
5 California State University – Northridge CA 98.8
6 California State University – Fresno CA 98.6
7 Baruch College NY 97.5
8 University of Illinois – Chicago IL 97.1
9 Florida International University FL 97.1
10 California State University – Sacramento CA 97
11 California State Polytechnic University – Pomona CA 96.9
12 University of La Verne CA 96.2
13 Albion College MI 96.2
14 California State University – Long Beach CA 95.3
15 California State University – Monterey Bay CA 94.6
16 Montclair State University NJ 94.5
17 California State University – San Marcos CA 94.2
18 New Jersey Institute of Technology NJ 93
19 San Francisco State University CA 92.3
20 The University of Texas at El Paso TX 91.6

DON’T MISS: POETS&QUANTS’ BEST UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS OF 2023 and NEW TOOL RANKS COLLEGES BASED ON YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCE

 

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