Forbes unveils its list of the top 25 STEM colleges for 2018
By Carter Coudriet for Forbes
Colleges and universities whose curricula emphasize STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—rank high on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Colleges. The No. 1 STEM school, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is No. 4 on our national list. MIT’s high ranking is driven by its grads’ career success. According to the federal government’s College Scorecard database, which tracks the earnings of federal student loan recipients, MIT grads earn a median salary of $94,200 ten years after starting school. MIT grads with zero to five years of experience earn $81,500, according to PayScale, a privately-owned website that tracks self-reported salary data.
But MIT is highly selective, accepting just 8% of those who apply. The good news: When we ranked the best 25 STEM schools on our 2018 Top Colleges list, we found six with acceptance rates greater than 50%: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Portland, Clarkson University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Drexel University, and Missouri University of Science and Technology. Their grads’ average alumni earnings ten years after starting school is $68,000, more than $5,000 greater than the average for the overall top 100 schools on our national list.
To learn more, read "Top 25 STEM Colleges 2018" from Forbes.
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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