Top 10 Party Schools of the Past Decade: A Comparison by Salary

Attend a traditional party school and you could learn many
valuable life lessons. “Beer is hydrating.” “Staying up all night drinking
coffee and eating Pop-Tarts improves critical thinking.” But the lesson nobody
ever teaches is that attending a party school will get you ahead in life.
Colleges where afternoon classes and bad hangovers are the norm aren’t known
for turning out big earners, but is that rep even deserved anymore?

In its recent infographic “Top 10 Party Schools of the Past
Decade,” Best Colleges Online creates
its list of winners based on things like the size of the Greek system, levels
of drinking and pot smoking, and sports team success. While those characteristics
[because sports team success doesn’t seem like a vice] can impact the amount of
partying one might do in college, PayScale wanted to take our favorite
perspective, salary comparisons. Using our 2012-13 College
Salary Report, we found the average salaries* of graduates of each school on
the list. Who came out on top and whose graduates are left scrounging the couch
cushions for beer money?

It looks like the University of Texas and UC Santa Barbara, which
ranked 9 and 10, respectively, on Best Colleges Online’s list, tied for the win
in our study, giving you the best chance at packing your pockets with cash,
post-graduation. On the flip side, University of Mississippi grads stand to
earn $20,700 less per year, typically, than those fortunate Longhorns and Gauchos.

“Just because a school is known as a great place to goof off, it
can still give graduates high marks with future employers. This is especially
true for students who major in the sciences, such as engineering,” says
PayScale’s lead analyst Katie Bardaro.

Are you curious which schools are the best for parties and
earnings in 2012? See our list of the Top 10 Party Schools That Pay. 

Tell Us What You Think

Keep the discussion going on Twitter using the hashtag #valueofedu. 

*Salaries shown are median annual salaries for workers with 10 years experience.

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Source: Best Colleges Online