New LinkedIn ranking names Notre Dame seventh best U.S. college

EDUCATION
New LinkedIn ranking names Notre Dame seventh best U.S. college

Rayleigh DeatonSouth Bend Tribune
Aug. 10, 2026, 9:48 a.m. ET

SOUTH BEND — The University of Notre Dame has been ranked the seventh best college in the U.S., according to a new top college ranking from LinkedIn

The annual ranking uses LinkedIn data 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. 

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:  

• Job placement, measured as the percentage of recent alumni who start graduate school or full-time work the year they graduate; 
• Internships and recruiter demand, tracking how many alumni completed undergraduate internships, and recruiter interest in those alumni; 
• Career success, the share of alumni with “post-graduate entrepreneurship or leadership experience”; 
• Network strength, how well alumni connect with each other; 
• And knowledge breadth, how many fields of study and unique skills recent alumni pursued. 

Notre Dame shares the top 10 spots in this year’s ranking with other prestigious institutions around the country, including Princeton University, Harvard University and Dartmouth College

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@usatodayco.com

Source: www.southbendtribune.com