WORCESTER, Mass.- August 8, 2008 - A recent ranking compiled by Forbes.com recognizing the "Top Colleges for Getting Rich" rated Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) ninth in the nation.
Forbes.com based their rankings on the salaries of both recent graduates and those with 10 to 20 years of experience. Median salaries among WPI graduates with up to five years of experience averaged $61,000. For graduates with 10 to 20 years of experience, the median was $114,000. The median top salary among WPI graduates was $180,000. Other colleges rounding out the top-10 of this ranking include Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, and the Polytechnic University of New York, Brooklyn.
"Having worked in academia for more than 30 years, I say with confidence that WPI's students are among the most remarkable - and marketable - in the nation. As such, I am delighted, but not surprised, by the findings of Forbes.com," said WPI President and CEO Dennis D. Berkey. "From the moment they arrive on campus to the time of their graduation, WPI students are fully engaged in a remarkably fast-paced curriculum. Our students are constantly working in teams and with professors to apply their knowledge to solving real-world problems through our project-based program. Industry recognizes the value of a WPI education, and businesses actively recruit current students and alumni alike."
Top recruiters of WPI students include Raytheon, United Technologies Corp., General Electric, General Dynamics, EMC2, Teradyne, Analog Devices, BAE Systems, Fidelity Investments, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Intel, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Hewlett Packard, Compaq Computer, National Grid, Mass. Electric, IBM Rational, Lucent Technologies, Accenture, Genzyme, and UMASS. The placement rate for WPI's class of 2007 was 90 percent. The majority of WPI students stay in New England, but graduates are employed nationwide.
The Forbes.com survey is based on information that was gathered in a recent study by Payscale.com which looked at earnings of alumni from colleges nationwide. The numbers reflect only the earnings of bachelor degrees recipients; all alumni who went on to earn graduate degrees were excluded. Only colleges with more than 1,000 enrolled students were included in the survey. Salary totals included bonuses, commissions, and profit sharing.
