2022 Best Undergraduate Colleges in the U.S.

Harvard stayed at the top of our list largely on the strength of its humanities and social sciences programs, including history, political science, economics, and social sciences. Computer science rounded out its top five fields of study.

MIT also did not move from its 2021 ranking. Four of its five best programs in terms of salary outcomes are in the STEM field: computer science, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical, electronics and communications engineering. Despite its well-earned reputation as a STEM-focused school, its liberal arts and sciences program also gives its graduates much better salary outcomes than other liberal arts degree holders.

Dartmouth moved up two places from last year to land at number three for Salary Score in 2022. Several top-flight programs seem to have driven that. Dartmouth's political science, economics, and psychology degrees have some of the most competitive salary outcomes in the country, and computer science is not far behind.

Yale dropped one spot in salary outcome rankings, but is doing fine for itself at number four. Some of its best programs by salary outcomes echo its rival, Harvard, ranked at #1. These include history, political science, and economics. Psychology was another popular major at Yale that led to exceptional salary outcomes.

Georgetown, which moved up one spot from last year, broadly lives up to its reputation as one of the premier institutes of higher education in our nation's capital. Some of its best programs in terms of salary outcomes include political science, finance, English, and economics. Another popular field for the foreign policy-oriented university, international relations and national security, had a Salary Score of 88, keeping it out of the top 90th percentile of similar programs nationwide.

Carnegie Mellon moved up two places to secure the sixth spot in our salary outcome rankings this year. Its strongest programs offer the same salary outcome advantages as many of the programs at overall higher-ranked schools. These include computer science, business, and electrical, electronics and communications engineering.

UPenn is the last of the five Ivy Leagues in the top 10 schools by salary outcome. Though it dropped three spots, it still offers exceptional salary outcomes for popular majors such as political science, economics, like the other Ivies above, as well as finance and philosophy.

Santa Clara University dropped one spot but still maintains extremely strong salary outcomes for several majors, including finance, communication, and accounting. Other popular majors with Salary Scores in the top 95th and 90th percentiles, respectively, are biology and economics.

Boston College, which moved up two places from last year to enter the top 10, echoed Santa Clara's excellent salary outcomes in finance and communications. It also boasts strong outcomes in biology, political science, and economics.

Stanford dropped a spot but managed to stay in the top 10 best schools in terms of salary outcomes. A longtime recruiting ground for Silicon Valley companies, its computer science degree is among the best in the country, as is its psychology degree. Stanford's popular human biology program is also in the 95th percentile of salary outcomes.