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Which colleges do Facebook, Google and other top employers recruit from?

Data from LinkedIn show which companies and industries recruit from different colleges in the US

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Carly Minsky

June 8 2016
Facebook campus Menlo Park

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Facebook and Google hire more than 80 per cent of their employees from the top 200 schools in the US, according to a new report.

In fact, more than half of Facebook employees graduated from a top 10 college, taken from a sample of public LinkedIn profiles.

In comparison, just under 50 per cent of Amazon employees were hired from colleges outside the top 100 of Forbes’ list of the top schools in the US. Less than 10 per cent of its employees are from a top 10 college.

Scroll down for a list of the top 200 universities

Employers recruitment from top universities

The “Welcome to the Real World” report by With My Degree suggests that the data show that “the tides are changing” so that a graduate’s alma mater does not necessarily dictate the companies that will consider hiring them.

It also breaks down the top colleges sending alumni into various industries. Unsurprisingly, Stanford University produces the most graduates working in technology, but Purdue University also boasts a significant number, and leads the way for graduates working in the automotive sector.

Recruitment by industry

The University of Phoenix, which offers degrees online and on campus, is one of the top 5 universities for setting graduates up with careers in technology, aerospace, banking and finance, and military careers.

For students aspiring to make it in the entertainment industry, a college in California or New York is likely to be a good choice. Three of the five schools with the most graduates working in TV, movies or music are based in California, one in New York and the last in Florida.

Graduates of top-tier colleges are likely to be picked up by consultancies such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Accenture, or else the dominant technology and computing companies (Google, IBM, Microsoft and Apple) if the sheer numbers are anything to go by.

Recruiting from top 100 schools

But interestingly, some of the very same companies – including IBM, Deloitte, Intel Corporation and Microsoft – are the top employers of graduates from so-called “party schools”,  classified as such by a reported prevalence of drug and alcohol usage, active fraternities and sororities and a minimal level of studying among students.

Some of these party schools, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also ranked highly in traditional league tables, and so the success of its graduates with top employers is not particularly surprising.

Recruitment from party schools

The authors of the report also postulate that the graduates of party schools have learnt to practise self-restraint, developed a strong network and honed impressive social skills, all of which recommend them to top employers.

Ultimately, graduates cannot rely on a degree from a top university to do all the work for them to secure the career of their dreams. But, as the authors advise: “Enter college with a game plan, know the types of employers you want to get the attention of, and make sure you’re at a school where they’ll be watching.”

Top 200 colleges in the United States 2015 (Forbes)

Rank University State Cost Total Student Population
1 Pomona College California $62,632 1,610
2 Williams College Massachusetts $64,020 2,150
3 Stanford University California $62,801 18,346
4 Princeton University New Jersey $58,965 8,014
5 Yale University Connecticut $63,970 12,109
6 Harvard University Massachusetts $62,250 28,297
7 Swarthmore College Pennsylvania $62,450 1,534
8 Brown University Rhode Island $62,694 8,943
9 Amherst College Massachusetts $64,006 1,785
10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts $61,030 11,301
11 United States Military Academy New York $0 4,591
12 University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania $64,200 24,630
13 University of Notre Dame Indiana $62,461 12,124
14 Dartmouth College New Hampshire $65,133 6,342
15 Columbia University New York $66,604 26,957
16 Northwestern University Illinois $65,519 21,592
17 Wesleyan University Connecticut $64,163 3,205
18 Claremont McKenna College California $64,215 1,328
19 Haverford College Pennsylvania $64,226 1,187
20 University of Chicago Illinois $67,572 15,048
21 Bowdoin College Maine $61,650 1,795
22 Duke University North Carolina $63,999 15,467
23 Georgetown University District of Columbia $64,540 17,849
24 Tufts University Massachusetts $63,400 10,872
25 Cornell University New York $63,606 21,593
26 Wellesley College Massachusetts $61,088 2,474
27 United States Naval Academy Maryland $0 4,526
28 Vassar College New York $63,390 2,477
29 Washington and Lee University Virginia $60,084 2,277
30 Carleton College Minnesota $62,465 2,045
31 Davidson College North Carolina $60,921 1,788
32 Rice University Texas $56,316 6,628
33 California Institute of Technology California $60,990 2,181
34 Middlebury College Vermont $61,160 2,495
35 University of California, Berkeley California $57,234 36,198
36 University of Virginia Virginia $56,196 23,464
37 Boston College Massachusetts $63,022 14,309
38 United States Air Force Academy Colorado $0 3,993
39 College of William & Mary Virginia $53,435 8,376
40 Colgate University New York $62,405 2,900
41 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan $55,404 43,710
42 Barnard College New York $63,220 2,489
43 Bucknell University Pennsylvania $63,040 3,608
44 Colby College Maine $61,100 1,820
45 University of California, Los Angeles California $55,856 40,795
46 Oberlin College Ohio $64,396 2,911
47 Vanderbilt University Tennessee $62,320 12,757
48 Kenyon College Ohio $62,160 1,705
49 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill North Carolina $50,732 29,127
50 Whitman College Washington $58,228 1,541
51 Hamilton College New York $61,770 1,926
52 Reed College Oregon $61,910 1,411
53 Lafayette College Pennsylvania $61,905 2,486
54 Smith College Massachusetts $62,330 3,033
55 College of the Holy Cross Massachusetts $59,642 2,912
56 Carnegie Mellon University Pennsylvania $63,822 12,367
57 Harvey Mudd College California $66,627 807
58 Franklin and Marshall College Pennsylvania $63,269 2,297
59 Wake Forest University North Carolina $62,538 7,602
60 University of Rochester New York $63,268 11,020
61 Colorado College Colorado $60,500 2,061
62 Johns Hopkins University Maryland $63,529 20,918
63 Washington University in St. Louis Missouri $66,376 14,032
64 Bryn Mawr College Pennsylvania $61,890 1,738
65 Grinnell College Iowa $59,317 1,721
66 Union College New York $62,205 2,246
67 Macalester College Minnesota $59,743 2,039
68 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Illinois $44,194 44,942
69 University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin $40,644 42,677
70 Bates College Maine $62,770 1,791
71 University of Southern California California $64,694 41,368
72 Villanova University Pennsylvania $60,694 10,696
73 Cooper Union New York $60,345 920
74 Lehigh University Pennsylvania $58,835 7,096
75 Brandeis University Massachusetts $63,250 5,825
76 University of Washington Washington $47,817 43,762
77 York University New York $66,022 44,599
78 DePauw University Indiana $55,896 2,304
79 Emory University Georgia $61,344 14,513
80 Scripps College California $63,740 1,009
81 Trinity College Connecticut $64,256 2,390
82 University of Texas, Austin Texas $51,352 52,059
83 University of Florida Florida $42,831 49,878
84 Sewanee—University of the South Tennessee $49,700 1,701
85 Santa Clara University California $61,638 8,770
86 Wheaton College Illinois $43,740 2,993
87 Dickinson College Pennsylvania $62,289 2,396
88 Skidmore College New York $62,750 2,702
89 Centre College Kentucky $49,460 1,381
90 Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia $44,052 21,471
91 Boston University Massachusetts $63,644 32,411
92 Connecticut College Connecticut $62,895 1,922
93 University of Maryland, College Park Maryland $44,645 37,272
94 Occidental College California $64,804 2,128
95 Mount Holyoke College Massachusetts $57,046 2,251
96 Denison University Ohio $58,700 2,274
97 Wofford College South Carolina $51,504 1,615
98 Rhodes College Tennessee $55,644 2,040
99 University of Richmond Virginia $59,630 4,140
100 Trinity University Texas $50,550 2,358
101 United States Coast Guard Academy Connecticut $2,393 902
102 University of Georgia Georgia $40,890 34,536
103 University of California, Santa Barbara California $57,631 22,225
104 Brigham Young University Utah $17,818 31,123
105 Kalamazoo College Michigan $52,654 1,458
106 Saint Olaf College Minnesota $53,100 3,125
107 George Washington University District of Columbia $63,210 25,264
108 Methodist University Texas $63,985 10,929
109 Pitzer College California $63,750 1,081
110 Furman University South Carolina $59,051 2,953
111 Gettysburg College Pennsylvania $60,320 2,524
112 Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana $47,270 46,817
113 Case Western Reserve University Ohio $59,634 10,325
114 University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado $52,387 32,017
115 Saint John's College (MD) Maryland $60,376 490
116 Hampshire College Massachusetts $62,015 1,492
117 Earlham College Indiana $54,470 1,159
118 Sarah Lawrence College New York $66,392 1,782
119 Bennington College Vermont $64,019 738
120 Hobart and William Smith Colleges New York $62,034 2,372
121 University of California, Davis California $56,637 33,307
122 Virginia Tech Virginia $41,868 31,205
123 University of California, San Diego California $54,132 29,517
124 College of the Atlantic Maine $51,471 370
125 Bard College New York $64,712 2,355
126 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute New York $64,198 6,714
127 University of Miami Florida $62,854 16,935
128 Pepperdine University California $63,482 7,315
129 Lawrence University Wisconsin $53,790 1,553
130 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Minnesota $32,924 51,526
131 Virginia Military Institute Virginia $49,096 1,675
132 Providence College Rhode Island $59,110 4,665
133 Saint Lawrence University New York $61,632 2,506
134 Tulane University Louisiana $63,108 12,938
135 American University District of Columbia $59,120 12,818
136 Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana $41,804 39,794
137 Hendrix College Arkansas $54,302 1,444
138 Willamette University Oregon $57,046 2,855
139 Colorado School of Mines Colorado $48,097 5,790
140 College of Wooster Ohio $55,500 2,116
141 Syracuse University New York $59,320 21,267
142 University of Delaware Delaware $44,550 22,166
143 University of Denver Colorado $57,498 11,778
144 Muhlenberg College Pennsylvania $57,030 2,448
145 Drake University Iowa $46,316 5,139
146 Rutgers University, New Brunswick New Jersey $44,711 48,036
147 University of California, Irvine California $54,455 28,895
148 Lewis & Clark College Oregon $57,690 3,521
149 Marymount University California $58,851 9,661
150 Texas A&M University, College Station Texas $39,873 55,697
151 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Massachusetts $59,504 6,296
152 Pennsylvania State University, University Park Pennsylvania $47,548 46,615
153 Fordham University New York $65,330 15,097
154 SUNY, Binghamton (Binghamton University) New York $35,288 16,077
155 Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio $42,285 57,466
156 University of Vermont Vermont $51,322 12,723
157 Marquette University Wisconsin $50,237 11,782
158 Beloit College Wisconsin $52,270 1,306
159 Hope College Michigan $41,210 3,388
160 Elon University North Carolina $45,414 6,305
161 Loyola University Maryland Maryland $59,925 5,977
162 University of Connecticut Connecticut $48,454 25,911
163 Clark University Massachusetts $50,280 3,551
164 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California $35,843 19,703
165 Knox College Illinois $51,121 1,424
166 University of Redlands California $60,874 5,147
167 Miami University, Oxford Ohio $45,527 17,901
168 Wabash College Indiana $49,380 902
169 University of Puget Sound Washington $57,908 2,812
170 Michigan State University Michigan $47,115 49,317
171 Wheaton College Massachusetts $60,263 1,654
172 Clemson University South Carolina $47,166 21,303
173 University of Tulsa Oklahoma $52,055 4,597
174 University of Portland Oregon $56,202 4,036
175 University of California, Santa Cruz California $57,104 17,203
176 Westmont College California $55,570 1,321
177 CUNY, City College New York $34,087 15,331
178 Creighton University Nebraska $49,356 8,019
179 Juniata College Pennsylvania $51,190 1,635
180 North Carolina State University, Raleigh North Carolina $38,209 34,009
181 Fairfield University Connecticut $59,840 4,919
182 College of New Jersey New Jersey $41,406 7,340
183 Calvin College Michigan $42,620 4,034
184 Gustavus Adolphus College Minnesota $51,540 2,449
185 James Madison University Virginia $38,872 20,181
186 Hillsdale College Michigan $36,800 1,504
187 Gonzaga University Washington $50,501 7,605
188 Emerson College Massachusetts $55,846 4,561
189 Bentley University Massachusetts $58,860 5,658
190 Saint Michael's College Vermont $52,155 2,378
191 Louisiana State University Louisiana $41,867 30,478
192 Saint John's University (MN) Minnesota $50,384 1,979
193 University of Utah Utah $39,959 32,077
194 Southwestern University Texas $49,090 1,535
195 College of Idaho Idaho $36,579 1,122
196 Transylvania University Kentucky $45,760 1,082
197 Baylor University Texas $53,960 15,616
198 Manhattan College New York $54,128 3,883
199 University of Iowa Iowa $40,191 29,748
200 University of Arizona Arizona $43,621 40,621

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