Source: LinkedIn
Atlanta – More than 100 Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have long played a key role in the U.S. educational landscape. And enrollment numbers at HBCUs are rebounding faster from pandemic lows in comparison to other higher education institutions, according to the Washington Post. Atlanta University Center Consortium undergraduate institutions claimed spots 2, 3 & 8 on LinkedIn’s first-ever Top Colleges ranking. The lists identify 50 U.S. schools that best set graduates up for long-term success, as well as top public universities, liberal arts colleges, and HBCUs.
What HBCUs best set students up for long-term career success? LinkedIn’s Top Colleges methodology ranks colleges based on career outcomes of alumni, measuring factors like how quickly graduates land a full-time role or advance into senior levels.
From Howard University (No. 1) to Morehouse College (No. 2) and Spelman College (No. 3), these are the 10 HBCUs that stand out in preparing their graduates for successful careers.
According to LinkedIn, their 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. They 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.
Methodology and insights by: Caroline Liongosari
About the AUCC
The Atlanta University Center Consortium, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of Georgia, formed in 1929 to operate on behalf of its member institutions–Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College—is the world’s oldest and largest association of historically Black colleges and universities. The Consortium is a vibrant intellectual community with a long tradition of scholarship, service, and community engagement.
