10 Colleges That Lead to Graduate School

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.

Earning a graduate degree isn't always a panacea for those searching for higher wages and better job prospects. But in many cases, the extra diploma can indeed give adults a leg up.

Those who obtain a bachelor's degree have a median income of $50,360, according to a 2012 analysis of census data by the State Higher Education Executive Officers. Meanwhile, adults with a graduate degree enjoyed a salary bump of 35.2 percent, earning a median income of $68,064.

[Explore the reasons for going to graduate school.]

For plenty of recent college graduates, the lure of graduate school is too strong to resist. On average, close to 27 percent of college grads enrolled in a graduate program within one year of graduation, according to the most recent alumni data reported by 402 ranked colleges and universities to U.S. News in an annual survey.

That average figure rises to 68 percent at the schools with the highest percentages of graduates pursuing an advanced degree within one year. St. Mary's College of Maryland reported sending 82 percent of alums to graduate school within one year -- the most of any college or university.

[Learn about paying for graduate school.]

New York college students are particularly graduate school bound. Five New York schools made the top 10 list, with Yeshiva University sending the second-largest percentage of students on to further studies.

Below are the schools with the highest percentages of alumni enrolling in graduate school within a year of graduation. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Schools labeled Rank Not Published fell in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking category. U.S. News calculates numerical ranks for RNP schools, but does not publish them.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find data on alumni, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2014 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The alumni data above are correct as of June 2, 2015.

Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.