The world of college admissions is ever-changing and for students with top university ambitions, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. This week, the New York Times has published a list of universities whose graduates earn the highest salaries. Surprisingly, Harvard and Yale are not on the list, but Caltech comes out at the top. Check back next week to see what’s new and noteworthy in university admissions!

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Caltech Best University for High Salaries in the US

If you are looking to earn a six-figure salary after graduating, then the New York Times has a new tool that could help. And the best choice for this high salary would be to attend the California Institute of Technology. Only two Ivy League schools - UPenn and Princeton - make the top 10 for highest median incomes. 

The new tool helps students come up with their own rankings based on what is important to them. The Times used Department of Education data to inform the tool’s rankings, and specifically looked at median income in 2020 among those who attended the schools 10 years ago — regardless of completion — and received federal aid. Median debt is also a factor that is considered in these rankings. Former Caltech attendees earn a median income of $112,166 a decade after starting school, making them the highest earners among the nearly 900 colleges ranked. The median debt among graduates is $17,747.

Other universities in the top 10 are MIT, Harvey Mudd, Bentley, Carnegie Mellon, Stevens Institute of Technology, Stanford and Georgetown. While Princeton graduates earn a median salary of $95,689, they also have the lowest debt of $10,450. 

Overall, the median annual income for all full-time workers ages 25 to 34 — roughly the age range of those who would have started college 10 years ago — was $52,832 at the end of 2022, Labor Department data shows. College graduates bring in significantly more than those who don’t finish. Bachelor’s degree holders ages 25 to 34 earned a median annual income of $59,600 in 2020, compared with $36,600 for those in the same age group who only completed high school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Other top stories in admissions news this week:

1. A new report from the Common Application looks at international applicants and explores where they are from and whether they apply early (something that relates to their income), whether they submit test scores, the number of applications they submit and more. Since 2014–15, applicant totals from China have risen 26 percent, to 12,113, while counts from India rose 130 percent, to 6,253. The remaining countries with the largest numbers of international applicants in 2021–22 include Canada (3,080), Pakistan (2,267), South Korea (1,983), Turkey (873), Nepal (863), Nigeria (822), Singapore (815) and Taiwan (706).
2. If you want to study in a country where English isn’t an official language, here is a list of some universities that offer programmes in English. The list published by Times Higher Education highlights John Cabot University in Italy, Maastricht University in the Netherlands, Prague University of Economics and Business, Technical University of Munich and Stockholm University, among others. In Asia, there is Hokkaido University in Japan, Tsinghua University in China, Taipei Medical University and Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation in Malaysia. Besides these there is the Port Said University in Egypt as well as Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina.
3. Inside Higher Ed reports starting in July, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) will be reduced by an hour, making it a two-hour exam. The change was made to increase the test’s competitiveness as it has been losing ground to Duolingo, which provides a one-hour language test. Almost all colleges in the US now accept the Duolingo test. The shortened TOEFL iBT will include a more concise writing task, a shorter reading section, and no unscored test questions. Even as colleges have gone test-optional, many continue to require an English proficiency score for international students to prove their fluency.
4. Prospective students are attending fewer university open days when researching where to study due to rising living costs, according to UCAS. Nearly two in five (39%) prospective applicants in the UK said they have cut down on the number of open days they attended due to costs, and 5% said they did not attend any because of the expense, a survey has found. Jo Richards, senior insight lead at Ucas, said its research found that “some students are ruling out places earlier” due to the cost of living. She said: “By restricting their opportunity to explore the different potential environments, they have reduced the options available to them before they even apply.”