LinkedIn Ranks Washington and Lee No. 1 for Alumni Network Among 10 U.S. Colleges
Updated
Updated · Forbes · Aug 4
LinkedIn Ranks Washington and Lee No. 1 for Alumni Network Among 10 U.S. Colleges
3 articles · Updated · Forbes · Aug 4
Summary
Washington and Lee University topped LinkedIn’s new top-10 alumni-network ranking, ahead of Dartmouth at No. 2 and Babson at No. 3.
LinkedIn said the list matters in a slow labor market with low quit rates and uneven hiring, where referrals and warm introductions can improve graduates’ odds of landing full-time jobs.
Using LinkedIn profile data, the ranking measured how connected alumni are to one another and to current students; Washington and Lee’s roughly 1,900-undergraduate size was cited as helping build a tight-knit network.
Dartmouth and Babson also scored highly because they bake networking into campus life, including alumni pairing for first-year students and Babson’s annual Babson Connect Worldwide event.
The alumni-network list extends LinkedIn’s broader 2026 college rankings, which evaluate 50 U.S. schools across career-success factors including job placement, internships, C-suite representation, skills and network strength.