You might think people that go to the best universities/colleges produce the top earners but that’s not always the case. Salary comparison site, PayScale analysed 2,646 bachelor’s degree institution throughout the US and when they looked at the median salaries of the graduates who only had a bachelor’s degree.
They found out that 10 colleges produced students with the highest salaries 5 and 10 years into their careers. Surprisingly, only 2 Ivy League Universities came out on top out of the 10 colleges found.
What are Ivy Leagues Universities?
Ivy League are often considered the gold standard of colleges. It comprises of eight private universities in the Northeastern United States. All eight universities place in the top 14 of the US national university rankings and are considered among the best universities in the world.
So who are top earners?
1. Harvey Mudd College
- Early career salary: $85,600
- Mid-career salary: $157,400
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Early career salary: $83,600
- Mid-career salary: $150,400
3. United State Naval Academy
- Early career salary: $78,600
- Mid-career salary: $149,800
4. Stanford University
- Early career salary: $76,500
- Mid-career salary: $143,100
4. California Institute of Technology
- Early career salary: $83,400
- Mid-career salary: $143,100
6. Harvard University
- Early career salary: $72,600
- Mid-career salary: $142,600
6. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Early career salary: $80,200
- Mid-career salary: $142,600
8. United States Military Academy
- Early career salary: $79,300
- Mid-career salary: $141,900
9. Princeton University
- Early career salary: $72,700
- Mid-career salary: $141,300
10. SUNY Maritime College
- Early career salary: $73,300
- Mid-career salary: $140,100
So does that mean Ivy League isn’t as good as it sounds?
Definitely if you use the PayScale’s analyse it might seem like Ivy Leagues aren’t worth going. But there are definitely a lot of advantages of going to these Ivy League Universities. Not just in terms of their salary, but Ivy Leagues are different from standard universities because of the networking within the college. Staying in touch with Ivy League graduates can definitely have a huge impact on your life in terms of employability.
But when there are pros, there are definitely cons as well that comes with it. Trying to attend one of the Ivy League Universities, the total cost of attendance average would be around $69,000. But considering only 2 Ivy League universities came up on the PayScale’s analyse, there would be a lot of thoughts before applying.
