Nonprofit employment trend research company The Burning Glass Institute set out to answer a simple question: How can a four-year finance student’s school choice affect their future salary? The answer is quite a lot.
According to Burning Glass’ data published by The Wall Street Journal, a degree in finance from some of the country’s most esteemed private institutions can earn a student at least $30,000 more than the median B.A. graduate. Specifically, an MIT graduate can earn almost $50,000 more, practically a salary itself. Comparatively speaking, graduates from the University of Chicago, which ranks 10th on the private college list, still makes more at a $31,833 premium than a graduate from the University of Virginia, whose average premium is $19,676.
Burning Glass used the company-ratings website Glassdoor to calculate the average salary employees earn 10 years removed from graduating, and they analyzed data on experience and pay from Lightcast, a labor-market data firm as well.
The Ivy Leagues dominate the private college list, taking up five out of ten top spots among private schools. New York had the greatest number of schools featured across both lists, among them are Columbia University in the City of New York, Binghamton University, CUNY Bernard M Baruch College, Stony Brook University and SUNY at Albany. Out of these five, Middlebury College is the only private school.
Here is the list of both private and public colleges, abridged down from the report’s top 20.
Top 10 Private Colleges
Top 10 Public Colleges
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