If all else is even, a University of Virginia degree gives you an edge in the finance sector.
A study compiled by the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit that analyzes employee trends through its data-driven research, ranks UVA as the top public university for high-paying jobs in the finance field.
The ranking, released Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal, aimed to answer the question: If the choice of career and the number of years in the field are the same, what effect does the college somebody attended have on their salary?
University of Virginia graduates, according to the Burning Glass Institute, make more than $19,000 above the average salary for someone in the finance field.
Tom Fitch, the McIntire School of Commerce’s associate dean for career and corporate engagement, said Tuesday’s news speaks to the strength of UVA’s students and curriculum, “as well as McIntire’s rigorous program, its real-world applicability, dedicated faculty, and the commitment of the Commerce School’s career services team.”
“Of course,” Fitch continued, “compensation isn’t the be-all, end-all for determining a great first job in finance, but this ranking reinforces how widely valued UVA and McIntire students are for their ability to provide immediate value to their employers.”
McIntire, which offers world-class programs at the undergraduate, graduate and certificate levels, was recently ranked by the business education website Poets & Quants for Undergrads as the as the fourth-best undergraduate business program in the nation.
Those schools immediately following UVA in the Burning Glass Institute rankings are the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (No. 2), Binghamton University (No. 3), the University of California-Berkeley (No. 4) and the College of William & Mary (No. 5).
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the top school among private institutions.
The rankings were determined by the Burning Glass Institute through an analysis of expertise and pay data from Lightcast, a labor-market data firm, and Glassdoor, a company-ratings website.
Media Contact
Article Information
April 28, 2024
