As degrees get branded worthless, LinkedIn's just revealed the universities that give Gen Z the best shot at corner office jobs
Millions of college students are headed back to school in the coming weeks, but the excitement of new classes, reconnecting with friends, and fall weather is being overshadowed by a cloud of uncertainty.
With many recent graduates struggling like never before to land jobs—and some CEOs warning entry-level jobs are on the brink of extinction thanks to AI—Gen Z is left questioning whether spending four years and thousands of dollars on a degree will be well worth it. And ultimately, the answer may come down to where you obtained your degree.
Graduates from Princeton University, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania are most likely to experience long-term career success, according to a list of the top 50 U.S. colleges released by LinkedIn this week.
With indications that higher education payoff is slowly dying, it's more important now than ever to weigh up after-college career results and the likely ROI of a degree, says Andrew Seaman, senior editor-at-large for jobs and career development at LinkedIn News.
'Long-term success isn't just about landing a great first job, it's about sustained career growth and opportunity years after graduation,' Seaman tells Fortune. 'For this list, that means looking at how well a school sets alumni up for the long haul.'
Whereas the median annual salary for high school graduates was $48,360 in 2024, those with a bachelor's degree typically earn just over $80,000—about a 65% increase, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell University, and Harvard University round out the top six best colleges, but other typically elite schools are much further down the list. Ivy League institutions Columbia University and Yale University, are No. 18 and 19, respectively. (See the full list below).
Getting a degree from a popular school might not be enough
LinkedIn produced its ranking using five equally weighted pillars:
Job placement: Percentage of alumni from recent graduate cohorts (2019-2024) who started a full-time position or a graduate school program within the same year of graduating.
Internships and recruit demand: Percentage of alumni from recent cohorts who completed an undergraduate internship; and labor market demand for recent cohorts, based on InMail outreach data.
Career success: Percentage of alumni with post-graduate entrepreneurship or C-suite experience.
Networth strength: How connected alumni of the same school are to each other, as well as how connected alumni from recent cohorts are to all past alumni and current students
Knowledge breadth: Unique fields of study and skills gained by recent graduates.
Focusing on these data points, LinkedIn produced a ranking that saw many well-known schools absent, such as Johns Hopkins University, Emory University, Georgia Tech, and the University of North Carolina. Instead, some institutions with lesser name-recognition made the top-50 cut, such as Bentley University (No. 15), Bucknell University (No. 21), and Fairfield University (No. 28).
The findings overall signal that a popular or Ivy League name isn't needed to deliver exceptional career outcomes, Seaman says.
'Schools like Bentley University and Fairfield University are excelling at connecting students with high-quality internships, building strong alumni networks, and helping graduates secure jobs or graduate school placements quickly, all factors that drive long-term career success,' Seaman adds.
Among Bucknell's class of 2024, 93% of students secured career opportunities within nine months of graduation, earning an average starting salary of $73,075.
Smaller colleges, such as Babson College and Colgate University, were also standouts in terms of network strength and job placement. Babson in particular has the highest percentage of graduates who have become entrepreneurs and founders, according to Seaman.
The growing need for AI skills
As the value of college continues to be questioned, what many business leaders agree is that students need to learn AI skills above all—or they could risk becoming part of the growing number of Gen Zers who are NEET, not in employment, education, or training.
Earlier this year, over 250 CEOs, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Airbnb's Brian Chesky, and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, called for an increase in computer science and AI education among all students.
'In the age of AI, we must prepare our children for the future—to be AI creators, not just consumers,' the CEOs wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers. 'A basic foundation in computer science and AI is crucial for helping every student thrive in a technology-driven world. Without it, they risk falling behind.'
But that doesn't necessarily mean your college major has to be squarely AI or tech-focused. In fact, when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was recently asked what the young version of himself would choose to focus on today, he said he'd opt for 'more of the physical sciences than the software sciences.'
The top 50 schools for long-term career success
According to LinkedIn
Princeton University
Duke University
University of Pennsylvania
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Cornell University
Harvard University
Babson College
University of Notre Dame
Dartmouth College
Stanford University
Northwestern University
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
Brown University
Bentley University
Tufts University
Lehigh University
Columbia University
Yale University
Carnegie Mellon University
Bucknell University
Boston College
Villanova University
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Wake Forest University
University of Chicago
University of Southern California
Fairfield University
Washington and Lee University
University of California-Berkeley
Rice University
Georgetown University
Purdue University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Miami University
Colgate University
Southern Methodist University
Bryant University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
California Institute of Technology
Trinity College
Boston University
University of Richmond
Stevens Institute of Technology
The University of Texas at Austin
Indiana University Bloomington
Lafayette College
Providence College
University of Wisconsin-Madison
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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