California universities ranked among the best colleges for long-term career success — 5 schools make top 40

The Golden State is proving the gold standard for higher learning.

Five California universities made this year’s list of top 40 institutions in the US according to a new ranking.

Stanford University, ranked 10th overall, leading the pack in LinkedIn’s Top Colleges 2026, which analyzes undergraduate schools across the country that best prepare graduates for long-term career success.

Four other institutions –– University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, University of Southern California and Claremont McKenna College –– represented the state in this year’s top 40.

Thanks to its closeness to the Silicon Valley, UC Berkeley was named as the second best public university after the University of Virginia. California’s Claremont McKenna is a debutant in this year’s rankings.

“We can see how graduates build their careers over time, from landing their first jobs to growing their professional networks and advancing into leadership roles. Our goal is to give students and families another lens to help inform one of life’s biggest decisions,” said Laura Lorenzetti, VP and executive editor at LinkedIn.

The ranking is dominated by schools located on the country’s east coast. Princeton University bagged the top spot, followed by Duke University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The rankings claim that Harvard University, Princeton University and Stanford University have the largest share of alumni who go on to become CEOs at companies with more than 1,000 employees.

In this year’s rankings, 43 of the top 50 schools were the same as listed last year. LinkedIn excludes military service academies, for-profit colleges, highly-specialized colleges and colleges that offer only online programs or degree completion programs from the list.

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