The colleges that give graduates the strongest career edge, according to LinkedIn

A new report by LinkedIn ranked the top 50 colleges in the U.S. based on how they prepare students for long-term success in their careers, using a range of factors that leverage the career networking platform’s data.

The report uses LinkedIn data to rank colleges based on five categories: job placement, internships and recruiter demand, career success, network strength and knowledge breadth.

The job placement data tracks cohorts of recent graduates from 2020 to 2025 who start a full-time position or graduate school program within a year of their graduation, while network strength tracks how connected recent alumni cohorts are to each other as well as to all past alumni and current students.

“We’re seeing students think about career success differently than previous generations. They want to build skills, grow their networks and position themselves for a labor market that’s rapidly changing,” said Andrew Seaman, editor-at-large for jobs and careers development at LinkedIn.

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“In today’s slower hiring market, professional relationships can make a meaningful difference. Skills and experience remain critical, but a strong alumni network can help open doors throughout a career, whether that’s through internships, mentorship, professional guidance, or new job opportunities,” Seaman added.

Compared with last year’s report, 43 of the top 50 schools, or 86%, returned to the rankings this year, which LinkedIn explained shows the continued strength of institutions that consistently prepare graduates for long-term career success.

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Seven new schools debuted in the rankings, including Middlebury College (No. 37), Claremont McKenna College (No. 40), Washington University in St. Louis (No. 42), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (No. 45), Davidson College (No. 47), Williams College (No. 48) and Bowdoin College (No. 49).

There was modest movement in the top 10 compared with last year’s edition of the report, with Princeton and Duke holding firm in the top two spots. Harvard rose to third and Dartmouth to fifth, while Yale returned to the top 10 with a ninth-place ranking.

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LinkedIn’s Top 50 Colleges

1. Princeton University
2. Duke University
3. Harvard University
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Dartmouth College
6. University of Pennsylvania
7. University of Notre Dame
8. Cornell University
9. Yale University
10. Stanford University
11. Vanderbilt University
12. Brown University
13. Babson College
14. Northwestern University
15. University of Virginia
16. Bucknell University
17. Wake Forest University
18. Tufts University
19. Washington and Lee University
20. Carnegie Mellon University
21. Boston College
22. University of Chicago
23. Lehigh University
24. Columbia University
25. Villanova University
26. Rice University
27. Fairfield University
28. Bentley University
29. University of California-Berkeley
30. Colgate University
31. California Institute of Technology
32. Georgetown University
33. University of Southern California
34. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
35. University of Richmond
36. Trinity College
37. Middlebury College
38. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
39. Southern Methodist University
40. Claremont McKenna College
41. Bryant University
42. Washington University in St Louis
43. Providence College
44. Miami University
45. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
46. Lafayette College
47. Davidson College
48. Williams College
49. Bowdoin College
50. Purdue University