The School Ranking List Harvard Doesn't Top

Photo: harvard.edu

(Time Magazine) By Nick Carbone - Think you’ll be making top dollar with that Harvard diploma hanging on your wall? Sure, the Cambridge, Mass. university topped U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the best colleges in the nation (again), and is third best in the world according to the QS World University Rankings. But no matter how many accolades Harvard rakes in or how much praise it garners, its graduates are paling in comparison to their peers at lesser institutions in one crucial field: starting salary. It’s a list on which Harvard ranks #37.

If money is your object, skip the liberal arts degree from the country’s oldest college and instead look toward a degree from a specialty university. Though the career options might not thrill you, the salaries certainly will. Take, for example, under-the-radar institutions like Loma Linda University near San Bernardino, Calif., or the South Dakota School of Mining and Technology (SDSMT) in Rapid City, S.D. According to a survey by PayScale, Loma Linda grads average salary after graduation is $64,600, thanks to a smattering of degrees in lucrative medical fields including dental and nursing assistants. The 2,300 students graduating with a SDSMT diploma this year will earn an average of $56,700. That highly coveted Harvard degree, on the other hand, will net new grads a median salary of $54,100. Though their Cambridge peers scored nearly double on the SATs, the SDSMT students score bigger paychecks thanks to far more opportunities available in computer science or engineering fields that the school caters to. Read full story

Also see:

College Rankings - The Princeton Review - Check out the lists to see the top schools in 62 categories based on surveys of 122,000 students.

Best Colleges of 2013 - US News & World Report - It's really a list of lists. Get rankings of 1,600 schools. Use their tools to search for your perfect fit. And find details on scholarships, loans, and grants.