Social media and networking site, LinkedIn released its list of top colleges for 2026, with one prestigious California university ranking in the top 10.
LinkedIn Top Colleges 2026 used data from the site to identify 50 colleges and universities that “best set their graduates up for career success,” in terms of internships, job placement, professional networking and other factors.
College rankings are everywhere these days. U.S. News still offers its venerable list of Best Colleges, a ranking that favors schools with the largest endowments and lowest admission rates. Other rankings focus more on international standing, access and affordability or return on investment.
Which California colleges made it among the country’s best?
Colleges decry rankings. Applicants love them.
College leaders decry rankings as arbitrary: Is it even fair to compare Princeton, the Ivy League campus that ranks first in the latest U.S. News ranking of national universities, to MIT, the science and technology powerhouse that ranks second?
But high school seniors and their families turn to the rankings every fall, hoping to differentiate among the approximately 4,000 degree-granting colleges in America.
The LinkedIn rankings, released Aug. 4, mine data from the massive professional networking site to find the colleges that seem to deliver the strongest career preparation and support to their students, based on five metrics:
“We’re actually looking at what happens to the individuals who graduate from those schools across their careers,” said Laura Lorenzetti, vice president and executive editor of LinkedIn Global Editorial.
The LinkedIn ranking debuted in 2025. The 50 colleges on the 2026 list “really create momentum that lasts well beyond graduation, that lasts well beyond that first job,” Lorenzetti said.
Here are the 10 best colleges, according to LinkedIn
The top 10 on the LinkedIn rankings won’t surprise anyone familiar with the pervasive U.S. News rankings, or with any other list of prestigious universities. They are:
In other words, this ranking “looks like all the rest of them,” said Paul Glastris, editor in chief of the Washington Monthly, which offers alternative college rankings.
Beyond the top 10, though, four other California colleges made the list of 50:
Rankings have evolved from ‘best college’ to ‘best value’
Modern college rankings have existed since at least the 1980s. For many years, they served primarily to help prospective applicants sort colleges by reputation and selectivity.
Recently, however, parents and policymakers have focused more on how well colleges prepare students for the working world, and on the broader question of whether college is worth the cost.
“I’ve been asked that question more times in the last three years than in the previous 30,” said Rob Franek, editor in chief of the Princeton Review, a longtime source of student-centered college rankings.
In 2024, Pew Research reported that only 22% of adults consider college “worth it” for students who have to take out loans. The federal government’s College Scorecard pointedly tracks cost and value in higher education.
“You see this hunger for more evidence of RoI from universities because, frankly, families are getting more skeptical of the value proposition of higher education to begin with,” said Armand Alacbay, chief of staff and senior vice president of strategy at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
Newer college rankings focus less on pedigree and more on outputs, like a good job.
“Our parents, our families and our students are expecting a return on their investments,” said Moe McGuinness, dean of students at Bucknell.
One thing most college rankings do not measure, however, is how much students learn in college.
A classic 2011 book on academia, Academically Adrift, found that many college students don’t gain much actual knowledge. But it’s hard to measure learning in a college ranking.
“You’ve got job placement. You’ve got recruiter demand. These are obviously high on the priority list for a lot of parents,” said Alacbay of ACTA. “But what happens when they get there? What will they learn?”
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com, 805-437-0224 or @ecentenoaraujo on Instagram and X.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California university named among LinkedIn’s 10 best U.S. colleges
Reporting by Daniel de Visé and Ernesto Centeno Araujo, USA TODAY / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daniel de Visé and Ernesto Centeno Araujo, USA TODAY | USA TODAY Network
