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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES (PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY)
OVERVIEW
— Employers looking for new hires largely favor graduates of big state universities over elite private shools, according to a survey.
— Recruiters say graduates of top public universities are often among the most prepared and well-rounded academically.
— Many recruiters say they favor schools near their headquarters or set up offices near colleges that are promising sources of workers
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The 25 Hottest Colleges
Big state universities top our rankings of schools that employers like best
| November 2010 | Cover Story | College & Careers |
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It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a degree from Harvard, Princeton or Stanford listed on your resume.
But when it comes to hiring candidates for entry-level jobs, recruiters for the country’s biggest employers largely favor graduates of big state universities like Penn State, Texas A&M and the University of Illinois over Ivy League and other elite liberal-arts schools, according to a new Wall Street Journal survey.
Under pressure to cut costs and streamline their hiring efforts, recruiting managers find it’s more efficient to focus on fewer large schools and forge deeper relationships with them, according to the survey. With their large student populations and their focus on teaching practical skills, state universities offer employers more bang for their buck.
The survey results highlighted a split in the perception of state and private schools. Recruiters who named an Ivy League or elite liberal-arts school as a top pick say they value the graduates’ intellect and cachet among clients, as well as “soft skills” like critical thinking and communication. But many companies said they need people with practical skills to serve as operations managers, product developers, business analysts and engineers. For those employees—the bulk of their work force—they turn to state institutions or certain other private schools.
Recruiters say graduates of top public universities are often among the most prepared and well-rounded academically, and companies have found that they fit well into their corporate cultures and over time have the best track record in their firms. Employers also like schools where they can form partnerships that allow them to work with professors and their students, giving them an inside track when it comes time to make offers for internships and jobs.
The impact on students is significant. Steve Canale, head of General Electric’s recruiting efforts, says it is critical for prospective students to ask which companies recruit on campus before deciding where to enroll. GE, for example, focuses on about 40 key schools—many of them state schools—to hire its 2,200 summer interns; more than 80% of its new-graduate hires come from its internship pool, said Mr. Canale.
So where do Harvard University and other exclusive schools figure? While many of the companies surveyed say they recruit and hire Ivy League graduates, far fewer ranked those schools as top picks.
Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor who tracks graduates’ career paths, says, “We have none of the basic bread-and-butter courses that serve you well in much of industry.” What’s more, she says, more than 55% of Harvard graduates went on to a doctorate degree, according to a recent survey, so they tend to stay in a first job for a short period of time—often a year or less. It’s an observation recruiters in the Journal’s study also made.
Monica Wilson, acting co-director of career services at Dartmouth College, says it’s partly a numbers game: “How can you compare a large state school to a small liberal-arts school that produces less than 750 students who go into employment each year?”
The Wall Street Journal survey of recruiting executives set out to identify the majors and schools that best prepare students to land jobs that are satisfying, well-paid and have growth potential.
The Journal collaborated with salary- and career-data provider PayScale.com and human-resource management firm Cambria Consulting to seek feedback from large public and private companies in nearly 30 industries, including finance, consulting, technology, engineering, marketing and health care, as well as nonprofits and govern-
ment agencies.
Many recruiters say they are closely eyeing schools in their own backyard. Aside from the obvious convenience of proximity, companies are drawn to nearby schools for year-round access to interns and a greater chance that new-graduate hires reside locally, which eliminates relocation expenses.
Some companies like certain schools so much they set up offices nearby. The University of Michigan “was a huge selling point” in Google’s decision to open a sales and operations office in Ann Arbor, Mich., says recruiting manager Kyle Ewing. The company also opened an office in Pittsburgh where it hires computer-science graduates from Carnegie Mellon University (No. 10 overall, No. 1 for computer science), for the same reason.
Partnerships also play a key role. Universities and companies often strike research collaborations that often include student participation. Companies get an early look at promising students, leading to internships and job offers later on.
The Top 25
Below are the Top 25 schools whose graduates were the top-rated by recruiters. See the Next 20 on the list
Where possible, we've pulled school-related data on number of students, tuition, application deadline, undergraduate enrollment and admissions contact information directly from each institution's website.
In some cases, data was collected via school profiles on collegeboard.com.
| COLLEGE |
TOP-RANKING MAJORS |
DETAILS |
1. Pennsylvania State University
Penn State, with its main campus located in University Park, Pa., has undergraduates enrolled in more than 160 different majors. It has 20 undergraduate campuses, 10 of which offer University-owned housing. The school is 54% male and 46% female, representing 50 states and 131 countries. The average student/faculty ratio is 17:1. |
Accounting (5)
Business/Economics (11)
Computer Science (7)
Engineering (9)
Finance (6)
MIS (2)
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Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 30
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $15,250; Out-of-state $27,114
Undergraduate Enrollment: 38,630
Admissions Phone: 814-865-5471
Admissions Email: admissions@psu.edu |
2. Texas A&M University
This Texas school's main campus is in College Station, about 100 miles northwest of Houston and 100 miles northeast of Austin. The school has 10 individual colleges and boasts more than 800 student organizations ranging from athletics and recreation to professional and community service. |
Finance (5)
Engineering (16)
Business/Economics (24) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Jan. 15; Dec. 1 (priority)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $8,387; Out-of-state $22,817
Undergraduate Enrollment: 38,810
Admissions Phone: 979-845-3741
Admissions Email: admissions@tamu.edu |
3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
U of I, centrally located between Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis, has more than 150 majors and 1,000 student organizations. Students come from all 50 states and 118 countries. The school is 54% male and 46% female. |
Accounting (3)
Engineering (4)
Computer Science (9)
Business/Economics (10) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Jan. 2
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $13,658-$18,386; Out-of-state $27,800-$32,528
Undergraduate Enrollment: 31,209
Admissions Phone: 217-333-0302
Admissions Email: ugradadmissions@uiuc.edu |
4. Purdue University
More than half of this Indiana university's students are from the state (62%) with 38% coming from elsewhere. Its West Lafayette campus offers more than 200 majors for undergraduates along with 18 intercollegiate sports teams and more than 850 student organizations. |
MIS (1)
Engineering (2)
Computer Science (8) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 15, other programs March 1
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $9,070-$10,408; Out-of-state $26,622-$27,960
Undergraduate Enrollment: 29,851
Admissions Phone: 765-494-1776
Admissions Email: admissions@purdue.edu |
5. Arizona State University
Arizona State University's four campuses are within the metro Phoenix area. The West campus is known for professional and liberal arts, its Polytechnic campus focuses on technology and innovation, the downtown Phoenix campus hosts the school's professional programs like journalism and public administration, and its Tempe campus is home to the university's research-based programs. |
 Business/Economics (19)
Engineering (24) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Feb.1
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $8,132; Out-of-state $20,296
Undergraduate Enrollment: 54,277
Admissions Phone: 480-965-7788
Admissions Email: ugrading@asu.edu |
6. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
This school's campus in Ann Arbor offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and several thousand undergraduate research opportunities. There are more than 150 first-year seminars, with no more than 15-18 students each. The university boasts the most living alumni in the world: more than 400,000. |
 Business/Economics (1)
Finance (1)
Computer Science (3)
Accounting (6)
Engineering (6)
Marketing/Adv (7) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (early); Feb. 1 (regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state: $11,837, Out-of-state: $36,001
Undergraduate Enrollment: 26,208
Admissions Phone: 734-764-7433
Admissions Email: n/a |
7. Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech has nine schools and two outreach campuses -- one in Savannah and the other in Metz, France. The student body is 64% male. More than 60% of the university's students come from Georgia, with roughly 30% coming from out-of-state; another 10% are international students. |
Engineering (1)
MIS (3)
Computer Science (4) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Oct. 1 (early); Jan. 15 (regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $8,716; Out-of-state $26,926
Undergraduate Enrollment: 13,515
Admissions Phone: 404-894-4154
Admissions Email: admission@gatech.edu |
8. University of Maryland, College Park
This school's campus, stretching 1,250 acres, is about 10 miles from Washington D.C. It enrolls 67% in-state students; the student body is made up of 47% women. There are 13 colleges and schools within the university, which offers 127 undergraduate majors. |
Engineering (3)
Accounting (7)
Computer Science (10)
Business/Economics (21) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (priority); Jan. 20 (regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $8,415.44; Out-of-state $24,830.44
Undergraduate Enrollment: 26,542
Admissions Phone: 301-314-8385
Admissions Email: um-admit@uga.umd.edu |
9. University of Florida
University of Florida, located in Gainesville, is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. Its freshman retention rate hits 94%, with almost all students attending from in-state (97%). There are 60% women in the student body. Alumni, topping 330,000, live in all 50 states and 135 countries. |
Finance (12)
Business/Economics (23) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $5,045; Out-of-state $27,322
Undergraduate Enrollment: 36,386
Admissions Phone: 352-392-1365
Admissions Email: n/a |
10. Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon, located in Pittsburgh, sits on a 143-acre urban campus. The university boasts a student/faculty ratio of 10:1. It consists of seven schools and colleges with just 17% of students coming from in-state. The school's motto, "My heart is in the work," comes straight from Andrew Carnegie. |
Computer Science (1)
Finance (4)
Business/Economics (7)
Engineering (21) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early I); Dec. 1 (Early II); Jan. 1 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): $42,136
Undergraduate Enrollment: 6,023
Admissions Phone: 412-268-2082
Admissions Email:
undergraduate-admissions@andrew.cmu.edu |
11. Brigham Young University
This Utah school's campus is situated in Provo, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. The most popular majors are exercise science, management and psychology. Students come from 110 countries and are almost evenly split between male and female. Almost one-quarter of students are married. |
Accounting (1) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Dec. 1 (Priority); Feb. 1 (Final)
Tuition (2010-2011): Latter Day Saints $4,420; Non-Latter Day Saints $8,840
Undergraduate Enrollment: 30,745
Admissions Phone: 801-422-2507
Admissions Email: admissions@byu.edu |
12. Ohio State University
Ohio State, located in Columbus, was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university. It's the second-largest university campus in the U.S., offering 14 colleges, 175 undergraduate majors and about 12,000 courses. Almost 80% of first-year classes have fewer than 40 students. The campus stretches across 1,700 acres and 457 buildings. |
 Business/Economics (2)
Accounting (10)
Engineering (13) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Feb.1
*Tuition (2009-2010): In-state $8,706; Out-of-state $22,278
Undergraduate Enrollment: 41,348
Admissions Phone: 614-292-3980
Admissions Email: askabuckeye@osu.edu |
13. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
This school offers nine colleges and 65 bachelor's degree programs. The main campus, located in Blacksburg, includes more than 125 buildings and 2,600 acres, which includes an airport. There's an average of 16 students to every faculty member. |
Engineering (5)
Computer Science (5) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early); Jan. 15 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $9,458; Out-of-state $23,217
Undergraduate Enrollment: 23,558
Admissions Phone: 540-231-6267
Admissions Email: vtadmiss@vt.edu |
14. Cornell University
This Ivy League school is located in the Finger Lakes region of central New York, about 225 miles from New York City. There are more than 500 student organizations, with attendees coming from all 50 states and more than 100 nations. Undergraduates pursue studies in more than 80 academic programs in the university's seven undergraduate colleges. |
Engineering (7) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early); Jan. 3 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): $39,450
Undergraduate Enrollment: 13,931
Admissions Phone: 607-255-5241
Admissions Email: admissions@cornell.edu |
15. University of California - Berkeley
This school campus is just 15 miles from San Francisco. Almost three-quarters of undergraduate classes have fewer than 30 students. There are 14 colleges and schools with 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units. |
Computer Science (2)
Marketing/Adv (3)
Finance (3)
Business/Economics (6)
Accounting (8)
Engineering (12) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 30
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $12,462; Out-of-state $35,341
Undergraduate Enrollment: 25,530
Admissions Phone: 510-642-3175
Admissions Email: ouars@uclink4.berkeley.edu |
16. University of Wisconsin, Madison
UW-Madison sits on almost 1,000 acres. The university also has an arboretum and experimental farms. About 65% of students are Wisconsin residents, 24% out-of-state and 11% come from Minnesota; the school offers discounted tuition to Minnesotans. |
Accounting (2)
Marketing/Adv (5)
Finance (8)
Engineering (20) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (First Notification Period); Feb. 1 (Second Notification Period)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $9,050; Minnesota resident: $10,820 Out-of-state $24,300
Undergraduate Enrollment: 30,343
Admissions Phone: 608-262-3961
Admissions Email: onwisconsin@admissions.wisc.edu |
17. University of California, Los Angeles
Thisschool is situated in Westwood Village in Los Angeles, about five miles from the Pacific Ocean. There are 174 buildings on 419 acres. It has 12 professional schools with 118 undergraduate degree programs. There are more than 4,000 teaching faculty. |
Finance (7)
Accounting (9)
Business/Economics (17)
Engineering (19) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 30
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $10,781; Out-of-state $33,660
Undergraduate Enrollment: 26,687
Admissions Phone: 310-825-3101
Admissions Email: ugadm@saonet.ucla.edu |
18. Texas Tech
Texas Tech is located in Lubbock in the South Plains of West Texas. It boasts students from every county in Texas -- about 95% of students are in-state. The school offers 150 undergraduate degree programs within 11 academic colleges. The school, founded in 1923, is in the Big 12 conference. |
Engineering (25) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: May 1
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $8,260; Out-of-state $17,560
Undergraduate Enrollment: 24,236
Admissions Phone: 806-742-1480
Admissions Email: admissions@ttu.edu |
19 (tie). North Carolina State University, Raleigh
NC State has 10 undergraduate colleges serving students from all North Carolina counties. The majority of students -- 91% -- comes from in-state, and just more than half --56% -- are male. |
Engineering (15) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Oct. 15 (Early Action 1); Nov. 1 (Early Action 2); Feb. 1 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $5,829; Out-of-state $18,314
Undergraduate Enrollment: 25,255
Admissions Phone: 919-515-2434
Admissions Email: undergrad—admissions@ncsu.edu |
20 (tie). University of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson founded this school, located in Charlottesville, in 1819. It offers more than 60 majors in six undergraduate schools. Almost three-quarters are Virginians, with 54% women and 46% men. The university offers more than 480 public service and outreach programs. |
 Business/Economics (9) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Jan. 1
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $10,836; Out-of-state $33,782
Undergraduate Enrollment: 17,981
Admissions Phone: 434-982-3200
Admissions Email: undergradadmission@virginia.edu |
21. Rutgers University, New Brunswick
This New Jersey school's main campus is in New Brunswick, about 35 miles from New York City. There are 27 schools and colleges offering more than 100 major undergraduate programs. Almost all -- 96% -- students are in-state, with 45% of the student body comprised of women. |
 Business/Economics (3) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early); Dec. 1 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $12,560; Out-of-state $24,316
Undergraduate Enrollment: 29,095
Admissions Phone: 732-932-4636
Admissions Email: admissions@ugadm.rutgers.edu |
22. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, founded in 1842, is an independent, national Catholic university adjacent to South Bend, Ind., and 90 miles east of Chicago. It stretches across 1,250 acres containing two lakes with 138 buildings in its four colleges and six major research institutes. The school also offers more than 40 centers and special programs. Just 7% of students come from Indiana. |
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Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early); Dec. 31 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): $39,919
Undergraduate Enrollment: 8,372
Admissions Phone: 574-631-7505
Admissions Email: admissions@nd.edu |
23. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This main campus of MIT is located in Cambridge, extending 168 acres, some of which are across the Charles River Basin. The school accepted 10.7% of applicants in 2009, with just 10% in-state. |
Engineering (8)
Computer Science (6) |
Upcoming Application Deadline: Nov. 1 (Early); Jan. 1 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): $39,212
Undergraduate Enrollment: 4,232
Admissions Phone: 617-253-3400
Admissions Email: admissions@mit.edu |
24. University of Southern California
This school's campus is in University Park, the heart of Los Angeles's downtown arts and education corridor. A little more than half of the students are Californians, and the school enrolls more international students than any other U.S. university. Out of almost 36,000 applicants, 24% were admitted. The student body is made up of 53% women. |
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Upcoming Application Deadline: Oct. 15 (Part 1); Dec. 1 (Scholarship Consideration); Jan. 10 (Regular)
Tuition (2010-2011): $41,172
Undergraduate Enrollment: 16,751
Admissions Phone: 213-740-1111
Admissions Email: admitusc@usc.edu |
25. Washington State University
Four campuses with 12 colleges make up this Washington school, which is across the state -- or about 300 miles -- east of Seattle. There are four campuses with 12 colleges offering more than 200 fields of study and more than 100 majors. The student/faculty ratio is 15:1. |
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Upcoming Application Deadline: Jan. 31 (Priority)
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state $9,488; Out-of-state $20,530
Undergraduate Enrollment: 21,726
Admissions Phone: 509-335-5586
Admissions Email: admiss2@wsu.edu |
25. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
This flagship campus of the state university has a diverse student body and offers 77 majors for undergraduates. Nearly 80% of the school's freshman are typically in the top 10% of their high school class. |
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Upcoming Application Deadline:
Tuition (2010-2011): In-state ; Out-of-state
Undergraduate Enrollment: 17,981
Admissions Phone: 919-966-3621
Admissions Email: unchelp@admissions.unc.edu |
THE NEXT 20 PICKS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Boston College
California Polytechnic State University (
#18 Engineering; #22 Business/Economics)
Duke University (#2 Liberal Arts; #2 Marketing/Advertising; #12 Business/Economics)
Howard University
Indiana University, Bloomington
Iowa State University (#14 Engineering)
Michigan State University
New York University (#2 Finance; #3 Liberal Arts; #6 Marketing/Advertising; #11 Accounting; #14 Business/Economic)
Northeastern University
Oklahoma State University
Stanford University (#11 Engineering; #16 Business/Economics)
University of Arizona
University of Georgia
University of Minnesota (#4 Accounting; #4 Marketing/Advertising; #10 Engineering; #11 Financ)
University of Pennsylvania (#5 Business/Economics; #9 Finance)
University of Rochester (University of Texas , Austin
University of Texas at Austin
Wake Forest University
West Virginia University (#23 Engineering)
Schools ranked only in major categories:
Clemson University (#18 Engineering)
Columbia University (#13 Finance; #13 Business/Economics)
Georgetown University (#1 Liberal Arts; #25 Business/Economics)
Harvard University (#4 Business/Economics)
Northwestern University (#1 Marketing / Advertising; #8 Business/Economic)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (#22 Engineering)
University of Chicago (#10 Finance; #15 Business/Economics)
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Methodology
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CLICK TO SEE THE INITIAL LIST OF 100 COLLEGES AND THE 31 THAT RECRUITERS ADDED
These are the 100 colleges and universities that the Journal asked recruiters to rate for the quality of their graduates. Recruiters were also able to write in colleges not on this list; additionally, we've listed 31 colleges that at least five recruiters each added to the list.
Amherst College
Arizona State University (ASU)
Auburn University
Babson College
Baylor University
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brigham Young University
Brown University
California Polytechnic State University
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Clemson University
Colgate University
College of William and Mary
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Fordham University
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Howard University
Indiana University, Bloomington
Iowa State University
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
Marquette University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michigan State University
Morehouse College
New York University
North Carolina State University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Ohio University
Oklahoma State University
Oregon State University
Pennsylvania State University
Pepperdine University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University
Rutgers University
Southern Methodist University
St. John's University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Temple University
Texas A&M University
Texas Tech University
University of Rochester
Tufts University
Tulane University
University of Alabama
University of Arizona
University of California - Irvine
University of California at Berkeley
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of Chicago
University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
University of Florida
University of Georgia
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Mississippi
University of Nebraska
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Oregon
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
University of Texas, Austin
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University
Villanova University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Wake Forest University
Washington State University (WSU)
Washington University - St. Louis
Wesleyan University
West Virginia University
Williams College
Yale University
These are the 31 schools that at least five recruiters each added.
Baruch College
Bentley University
California State University - Fullerton
California State University - Long Beach
California State University - Sacramento
Colorado School of Mines
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Fashion Institute of Technology
Florida A&M University
George Mason University
James Madison University
Loyola University - Maryland
Miami University of Ohio
Missouri University of Science & Technology
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Northern Illinois University
Pratt Institute
Rochester Institute of Technology
San Diego State University
San Jose State University
Spelman College
Stevens Institute of Technology
University of California - San Diego
University of Central Florida
University of Idaho
University of Iowa
University of Oklahoma
University of Pittsburgh
University of South Carolina
University of Tennessee
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
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Our ranking of U.S. colleges and majors is purposefully practical and limited in scope. We wanted to identify the schools that are most likely to help students land a job in key careers and professions—areas that are growing, pay well and offer high levels of satisfaction.
To accomplish this, in collaboration with Boston-based human-resource management firm Cambria Consulting, we surveyed 842 recruiters for the nation's largest public and private companies, nonprofit organizations and federal agencies across every region of the country and spanning nearly two dozen industries. These included more than 80 firms in the accounting, finance, and insurance fields, about 50 in the tech sector, and many of the corporate giants in engineering, marketing and health care, among others. For the most part, recruiting companies received just one survey, typically directed at the director of college or campus recruiting.
In all, 479 recruiters completed the survey, a response rate of 57%. Total, those recruiters reported hiring more than 43,000 new grads in the prior year. We asked recruiters to identify, based on their experience, the schools on our list of 100 top colleges and universities whose bachelor degree graduates were the best-trained and educated, and best able to succeed once hired. Companies could also write-in schools not on our list. We also asked recruiters to identify how many new graduates they hired in the prior year—and from which majors—and then to rate which school's grads were best in each major. Recruiters were asked to name, in rank order, their top schools overall and their top schools by major. Respondents could only rank schools and majors from which they actively recruit.
To calculate the final ranking we did the following: First we assigned 10 points to each No. 1 ranking, 9 points to each No. 2 ranking, 8 points to each No. 3 ranking—and so on—for each school. For the overall ranking, those ratings were weighted by the number of total graduates that a company reported hiring in the prior year. Schools had to have a minimum of 60 companies who said they actively recruited at the institution to be considered for ranking. The school with the most mentions, Penn State, had 187.
For the ranking of schools by major, those ratings were weighted by the number of graduates each company hired in that specific major. To be considered for the majors ranking, a school had to have at least seven companies rank it; most had more. The result is a list of the Top 25 schools that produce the best graduates, according to recruiters and similar rankings broken down by recruiter favorites in eight majors or combination of similar majors. Twenty-one majors were initially considered; two were eliminated and a few others grouped together because certain niche disciplines did not receive enough recruiter votes to be eligible for the ranking.
As the overall results show, the recruiters tended to favor large schools – in part, no doubt, because the talent pool is larger and because they're able to make deeper connections with multiple departments at those schools. But some smaller schools, such as Cornell University, also made the list. And in the rankings of individual majors, a wide swath of schools—large and small, public and private—showed up as recruiter favorites.
How we chose the companies/organizations to survey:
The Journal focused on the nation's largest public and private firms, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. The list included all companies in the Standard & Poor's 500; NASDAQ-100; Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA); the 100 largest private companies according to published reports; and the 50 largest nonprofit organizations ranked by revenue, according to the latest figures in the Nov. 1, 2009 issue of the trade magazine, The NonProfit Times.
How we chose our initial list of 100 schools:
We started with the undergraduate alma maters of the board of directors at the nation's largest companies, including the top 50 from the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500, all 30 firms in the DJIA, and the 10 largest nonprofit organizations. We added the Big 10, Ivy League, and other major state schools based on WSJ career expertise, and then eliminated duplicates. Next, we considered the most common schools that emerged from The Journal's alumni survey, hosted by Seattle-based salary and career-data provider PayScale.com. Our research also included assistance from the Corporate Library and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP).
How we determined the career paths:
The Journal collaborated with PayScale.com, which has a database of 1.7 million bachelor grads in the U.S. and collects data on more than 7,000 job titles, to find professional jobs in fields other than law, medicine or education, that required no more than a bachelor's degree; pay well to start and over five years; offer solid growth in the next decade; and are satisfying to the new generation of grads. We wanted to include jobs that offered unexpected perks, such as a relaxed dress code and flexible hours. Our search revealed 82 professional jobs in 12 careers, and the most common majors for each. |
