How to Hold Colleges Accountable?

Some schools do make public their post-graduation survey results by major (e.g. Berkeley, Cal Poly, MIT, Virginia Tech). However, caution should be used when comparing between schools, since survey methodology (e.g. how long after graduation?) and reporting methodology (e.g. mean or median pay?) may differ.

@privateadvisor - Very interesting article.

I would be aware that any school will have its success stories of students who hit most or all of these experiences and who go on to excel, but in some cases this can mask large numbers who go through the system taking classes, getting grades, and graduating.

I think a parent or student can increase the likelihood of hitting at least some of these by selecting a school where the student will be among the top entering students in a school or department (and make sure they remain there), a school where they are among the relatively few who seek these experiences (so do not have to wait in line to get to office hours) ,OR selecting a school that has the resources (and will) to invest in any student who is interested in these types of experiences. Some schools offer small freshman seminars taught by senior faculty to balance out the large intro classes that many students take.

Less likely to happen if a school has drastically cut EC funding (but perhaps increased spending on luxury housing), or if research funding is in short supply. It might also help to look for schools that require a capstone project completed in cooperation with a faculty member. Engineering students typically complete a senior design project.

When we were at Carnegie Mellon Accepted Students day they had a chart of what the range of the computer science kids starting salaries were. There was one outlier which they hastened to explain was a kid who wanted to go back to his small community and the only job he could find there was teaching high school.