11 Most Profitable Universities in America

7. California Institute of Technology

Forbes’s rank: 11

Pay scale rank: 11 (early career pay – $77,000; mid-career pay – $126,000)

With a student population of 2,181, California Institute of Technology is one of the smallest schools on this list. Initially, Caltech was founded as a preparatory and vocational school in 1891 but was later transformed into a college which focuses on science and engineering. The school has remarkable 97 retention rate, and two-thirds of its undergraduate students participate in research. Despite its small size, Caltech has been affiliated with 33 Nobel laureates, while Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking were visiting professors. It is also home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. The university was ranked as the fourth best private college by Forbes, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings named it the best in the world in 2011.

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