I agree that much of the useful commentary about individual college career centers got lost in the barrage of repetitious and at times defensive, off topic or unhelpful posts. Case in point my example of what services Vassar’s career center offers got taken as an opportunity to go down a totally separate rabbit hole. There is also a large difference between someone disagreeing with a comment versus some posters personalizing those differences/comments. (Anyone remember the poster curmudgeon saying some posters would get their panties in a wad?? Miss him and his wit). That personalization seems to lead to a lot of additional and unnecessary posts. JMO.
2 Likes
Additional observations from cc’s “about us” says:
“ But when that information is needed most, it often seems available the least. Families of the college-bound may feel like they’re on their own. And alone, we can only know so much. But what if it could be different? Imagine knowing what others know.”
When it comes to many of these “lists”, many of us know some of the limitations. Readers come here, not to Reddit, to learn from more reliable sources. Again that’s what most of us did when we were going through the process. There are more transparent lists like “rate my professor”, and yes, even niche (as was mentioned) but IMO we are most helpful if we can provide some caveat emptor information so readers go in with their eyes wide open to make educated, personal decisions. And as @blossom has clearly and consistently explained, there is a big difference between statistical data and noise.
2 Likes
Just to emphasize @momofboiler1’s point that this thread is not meant to dissect the LinkedIN methodology (which has been done plenty), but to provide helpful information for prospective students on how to use the career services at certain universities to fulfill their career goals. This is what the LinkedIN ranking is about.
2 Likes
I use it all the time whether I want to or not, and whether it means anything or not. It’s the law.
Data needs to be evaluated within context. That doesn’t always happen.
The data on a child with autism may show test scores that are within normal limits. Observing that child during lunch and recess may not match the data.
Students who attend school in one zip code may do better academically than students in a zip code a few miles away. That’s the data, but context matters.
When it comes to all of these school lists, surveys etc…yes there is data, but context matters. That has always been my point.
Students on the jobs thread are definitely struggling to find work. There are many reasons for this that might not be displayed on a school or LinkedIn survey.
3 Likes
No one said this or any other survey was flaw free.
But people like to invalidate all the findings, especially when they don’t align to their own pre conceived beliefs.
1 Like
I cannot speak for others, I can only speak for myself.
I don’t pay attention to these surveys…never did. They didn’t matter for either of my kids.
4 Likes
And I can appreciate that for your family. Everyone makes choices.
Mine didn’t either. I did - but my students didn’t - one did at first til he fell in love with something by accident. That overcame the rank or lack of.
But my guess is many do, even if indirectly.
Attending a session today at a school on the list, you can bet it’s in the presentation. Whether that unknowingly influences a student on a presentation/tour, I can’t say. I imagine it does for some - maybe someone who considered Bryant or Miami inferior to other like schools they feel they can’t get into might gain a positive perspective.
And each time a ranking comes out, a prospective student may or may not look at the list and think - hmmmmmm - didn’t know about them. I’ll check them out.
Everyone is different. And I think it’s great. Different things work for different people and for different organizations.
In the end, the most important rank is each students - what works for them. And career success won’t be determined for many years after…
2 Likes
I just think that this particular list has a lot of high paying careers- finance, consulting etc.
2 Likes
Noted - those LACs, for example, with b school and / or engineering trumped the normally considered higher ranked (by normally, I mean US News).
This one is about career success, using earnings as a catalyst for defining what career success is. Not purely but it seems that’s what it’s doing.
Payscale ranked Babson #5 and they were high on LinkedIn too. My guess is if you asked most in America, even in the business world, Babson would be an unknown to them outside of New England.
But given the focus of the school, their grads are seen as successful, when using earnings as the measurement.
Princeton - #1 in LinkedIn is #2 in payscale btw. Colgate is #11 on payscale - I recall seeing them on LinkedIn. And Williams was on payscale, but not LinkedIn.
If they do not respond does this mean they do not have pride in their school?
There are students who do not respond for various reasons- they forget, they are busy, they don’t want to share personal info, etc.
Plenty of students do not respond to these surveys yet show pride in their school through volunteering, speaking at events, making financial donations etc.
3 Likes
Perhaps…ps donations are years later. Cant measure that at time of graduation.
I clarified later -it’s a possibility.
Anyway the statistic that brought on the comment was in factt not true. The school reported the statistic but the data they show contradicts the statistic they used.
All the schools I know personally have fundraisers/ class gifts right after college. And they ask for Pledges.
1 Like
There seems to be a lot of back and forth about salary as an arbiter of success. Can someone show me exactly where in the LinkedIn methodology salary is discussed, because I don’t see it. It appears to weigh attaining a leadership position at a non-profit as highly as one at a corporate for that dimension. The other three criteria have nothing to do with comp.
2 Likes
Why get specific about the actual methodology 
Next you’ll tell me, people from elite liberal arts schools don’t use linkedin
Our methodology uses LinkedIn data to rank U.S. colleges based on five pillars: job placement; internships and recruiter demand; career success; network strength; and knowledge breadth. Job placement tracks the percentage of alumni from recent graduate cohorts (2019-2024) that start a full-time position or a graduate school program within the same year of graduating. This assessment is based on LinkedIn hiring data. Internships and recruiter demand tracks the percentage of alumni from recent cohorts who completed an undergraduate internship; and labor market demand for recent cohorts, based on InMail outreach data. Career success tracks the percentage of alumni with post-graduate entrepreneurship or C-suite experience. Network strength tracks how connected alumni of the same school are to each other, as well as how connected alumni from recent cohorts are to all past alumni and current students. Knowledge breadth tracks unique fields of study and unique skills gained among recent cohorts during their degree.
Each of the five pillars is weighed equally. Most pillars are made up of two metrics, each accounting for half of that pillar’s weight — except for job placement, which is based on a single metric accounting for the full weight of the pillar.*
To be eligible, colleges must be U.S.-based, regionally accredited four-year baccalaureate programs that are actively enrolling first-year students. Programs must have at least 2,000 total alumni, with at least 500 of them graduating within the recent cohort (2019-2024), based on LinkedIn data. We exclude military service academies, for-profit colleges, highly-specialized colleges and colleges that offer only online programs or degree completion programs from our analysis. Depending on the specific metric in question, our methodology either encompasses all alumni or recent graduate cohorts, as defined by alumni who graduated between 2019 and 2024. This analysis represents the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data, drawn from the anonymized and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn’s members around the world.
Additional insights
Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles and includes alumni profiles associated with the program on LinkedIn. Top industries and locations measure the most common industries and locations associated with a member’s first job position after graduating. Unique skills were derived from measuring the most frequent skills members added to their profile for a given program, while being more rare across other programs during their undergraduate degree.
And so the comp bit…?
For the record, I agree that there seems to be an aversion on these boards to moving away from USNWR as the standard for prestige, despite its worse methodology (in my view).
The hope is that the career counseling organizations at the schools that aren’t the usual suspects will gain some recognition as a result of these findings. I, for one, don’t assume it’s invalid because Williams isn’t on the list.
2 Likes
The methodology raises more questions than answers. For example, 20% of weight is network strength, which is defined as “how connected alumni of the same school are to each other, as well as how connected alumni from recent cohorts are to all past alumni and current students”. How is this measured? I imagine it has some thing to do with number of connections on LinkedIn profiles? Knowledge Breath is defined as " unique fields of study and unique skills gained among recent cohorts during their degree". Does this mean giving extra points to colleges where a lot of grads list unique majors or unique skills in their LinkedIn profile? What specifically qualifies as a unique major or a unique skill?
Perhaps we can get some clues by looking at what colleges scored best on the metrics. A summary of top 5 on subcategories is below.
Top 5 in…
Network Strength – Babson, Colgate, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Washington & Lee
Knowledge Breath – Penn State, Purdue, UIUC, UT Austin, U Wisconsin
Internships + Recruiter Demand – Bentley, Bryant, Caltech, CMU, MIT
Entrepreneurship + C-suite – Babson, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford
Job Placement – Bucknell, Caltech, Notre Dame, Princeton, Washington & Lee
3 Likes
“You” didn’t mean you …
I meant, others …..
Fair point you brought up i.e. methodology.
Very fair.
Over time, and especially during these times, parents and students have more of a career orientation. I can’t judge for certain which data collection methodology is most appropriate, but I do appreciate attempts by new rankings to do something more. Having been involved in the college process for 30+ years, and now going through the process with my own children, I look for signals on campuses that their institutions show emphasis on what is next. I do not disagree that engineering, computer science, and business have an advantage right now, but plenty of liberal arts colleges have made effective tweaks to keep themselves in the game. I am pleased by new rankings like these and do not care at all who wins.
6 Likes
When you put it that way, I think that may be the best measure of connected people that I have ever heard. If they are also adjusted for # of students in a school school, even more impressive.
3 Likes