Some of the highest-earning assemblage graduates successful the US whitethorn not person a Harvard grade hanging connected the wall.
In a caller Business Insider ranking of US colleges pinch the highest-earning graduates, a mini Bay Area schoolhouse focused connected wellness sciences outperformed Stanford and Harvard, arsenic good arsenic the remainder of the Ivy League schools.
Meet Samuel Merritt University, a nursing and health-focused backstage nonprofit assemblage successful Oakland, California, pinch less than 1,000 undergraduate students.
Graduates from the assemblage person a median income of $148,182 4 years aft graduation, ranking 3rd successful the state for postgraduate salary according to the US Department of Education's College Scorecard, which measures the yearly post-graduation earnings of students who received national assistance specified arsenic student loans aliases work-study grants.
Student life is much for illustration that of a small-city assemblage than a large-campus assemblage town
Samuel Merritt University doesn't connection on-campus lodging and alternatively partners pinch section properties to supply discounted lodging rates for students. It besides has a nutrient pantry that students tin access.
While the student acquisition is different from that astatine larger colleges, students praise the consciousness of organization and diverseness the schoolhouse offers.
"My peers are not only dedicated to their ain maturation but besides collaborative and supportive, which has created an situation wherever I consciousness encouraged and motivated to do my best," a elder student wrote connected Niche.
Students successful the school's superior nursing bachelor's programme return connected an mean of $20,000 successful national student indebtedness debt and person post-graduation net comparable to those of graduates pinch a wide arts and sciences grade from MIT, which classed first successful the federation for postgraduate salary crossed each disciplines.
The schoolhouse combines high-earning professions pinch a high-earning location
Since Samuel Merritt University has a beardown attraction connected nursing and different related healthcare professions, it helps boost its net ranking.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses earned an mean of $101,420 nationwide successful 2025. In California, the mean was $150,280, the highest of immoderate US state.
Beyond the school's attraction connected healthcare, its premier location successful the Bay Area contributes to its graduates' precocious earnings.
With immoderate of the highest costs of surviving successful the nation, the Bay Area besides has immoderate of the highest incomes successful the US.
In the San Francisco metro area, households person a median yearly income of $135,590, according to the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey. The metro area has the highest median family income among the 25 astir populous US metro areas.
Samuel Merritt's wellness sciences focus, and its graduates' beardown beingness successful California's high-wage healthcare market, apt thief explicate why its federally aided graduates study higher median net than those from immoderate Ivy League schools.
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Kristine Villarroel is simply a newsman connected Business Insider's Editorial Partnerships team.Her reporting often turns information into accessible stories astir really money, education, policy, and spot style Americans’ lives. She covers stories connected college costs and degree outcomes, state-by-state comparisons, public officials’ salaries, the rising costs of living, travel, food, and real estate.She has antecedently worked penning astir culture, entertainment, music, and tech. Her activity has been featured connected Teen Vogue and Wired. She graduated from the University of Florida pinch a grade successful journalism. There, she worked arsenic editor of The Independent Florida Alligator. Email Villarroel astatine [email protected] and travel her connected X @ktnedelvalle
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