Colleges with the highest-paid grads

highest paid grads washington lee university

Washington and Lee's campus is in Lexington, Va.

Starting salary: $50,700
Mid-career salary: $124,300
% who think their job is meaningful: 48%

Nestled in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, this liberal arts college offers its 2,000 undergrads a strong alumni network that helps them find jobs fresh out of undergrad.

About 40% of the students are enrolled at the university's Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics, which grooms them for big money jobs at Wall Street banks and major consulting and accounting firms. Alumni work for a number of well-known firms including J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Ernst & Young.

First published March 5, 2015: 1:12 PM ET

Source: Source: PayScale.com. Data used in the College Salary Report came from surveys completed by roughly 1.4 million college graduates of 1,002 colleges and universities, which represent 75% of all bachelor's degree recipients in the U.S. Graduates with advanced degrees were excluded from the results. Only full-time, civilian workers based in the 50 states and District of Columbia were counted. The ranking is based on mid-career results, which comes from median salaries of graduates with 10 years of work experience. Whether a job is meaningful is based on the percentage of graduates who answered "Very much so" and "Yes" to the question: "Does your work make the world a better place?"

7 of 15