LinkedIn's methodology focuses heavily on graduates' career outcomes. Job placement tracks recent graduates from the 2020-2025 cohorts who began full-time employment or a graduate program in the same year they graduated.
The internships and recruiter demand factor combines the share of recent graduates who completed an undergraduate internship with demand from recruiters, measured through LinkedIn InMail outreach.
Career success measures the percentage of alumni who have gone on to gain entrepreneurial or leadership experience after graduation.
Network strength measures how connected alumni from the same school are to one another, as well as how well recent graduates are connected with alumni and current students.
Knowledge breadth measures the diversity of fields of study and skills acquired by recent graduates during their degrees. The four pillars focused on post-graduation outcomes each receive a weight of 1.0, while knowledge breadth receives a lower weight of 0.75.
To qualify for the ranking, a college must be a U.S.-based, regionally accredited four-year bachelor's degree institution that actively enrolls first-year students. It must also have at least 2,000 total alumni and at least 500 graduates from the 2020-2025 cohorts in LinkedIn's data.
The top 20 schools on LinkedIn's 2026 list are:1 - Princeton University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
2 - Duke University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
3 - Harvard University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
4 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Higher Education
5 - Dartmouth College = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services
6 - University of Pennsylvania = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services
7 - University of Notre Dame = Business Consulting and Services; Capital Markets; Technology and Internet
8 - Cornell University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
9 - Yale University = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services
10 - Stanford University = Technology and Internet; Research Services; Capital Markets
11 - Vanderbilt University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
12 - Brown University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Business Consulting and Services
13 - Babson College = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services
14 - Northwestern University = Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services; Capital Markets
15 - University of Virginia = Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services; Credit Intermediation
16 - Bucknell University = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Legal Services
17 - Wake Forest University = Capital Markets; Technology and Internet; Legal Services
18 - Tufts University = Technology and Internet; Business Consulting and Services; Capital Markets
19 - Washington and Lee University = Capital Markets; Credit Intermediation; Business Consulting and Services
20 - Carnegie Mellon University = Technology and Internet; Capital Markets; Advertising Services
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/education/here-are-20-us-universities-with-most-successful-graduates-according-to-linkedin-5107334.html?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4
