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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Rankings for Students

Carly Minsky

June 8 2016

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.

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.

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.

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