Purdue University

Purdue was founded in 1874 with just 39 students and six teachers. Now it's a public land grant university with roughly 43,000 students, including more than 32,000 undergraduates. The majority of its students come from Indiana, 34% hail from other states, and 14% are from other countries. Nearly a third of Purdue undergraduates enroll in its well-regarded school of engineering, but students have more than 200 different majors to decide among (offerings include farm management, wildlife, and cybersecurity). Purdue's website has an intriguing feature where students can browse majors by personality type. Boilermaker football is a school-wide obsession at this Big Ten school, and Greek life is a dominant social force on campus. But with nearly 1,000 student organizations to choose from, everyone is likely to find something to match their interests, whether that's volunteering at no-kill animal shelters or preparing for dental school. When students want to venture off campus, West Lafayette boasts its share of student-friendly bars and restaurants. Purdue grads tend to do well in the job market, reporting average early career salaries to PayScale of $61,500, which is about 18% higher than other schools with similar demographics, according to Money's calculations.