Why Howard University is still the ‘Mecca’: LinkedIn ranks it the top HBCU for career success
TheGrio...
Despite recent enrollment drama, new reports say Howard University is among the top HBCUs for long-term career success.
Howard University is often referred to as the “Mecca” of historically Black colleges and Universities, and this week Forbes and LinkedIn confirmed why the Washington D.C. HBCU has been seen as one of the beacons of Black thought.
In a newly published roundup of the Top 10 HBCUs for long-term career success, LinkedIn crowned Howard University with the number one slot. Examining five pillars, job placement, internships, and recruiter demand, career success, network strength, and knowledge breadth, the company concluded that these HBCUs have the best based on alumni career outcomes.
- Howard University
- Morehouse College
- Spelman College
- Hampton University
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
- Tuskegee University
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
- Xavier University of Louisiana
- Clark Atlanta University
- Prairie View A & M University
Looking at LinkedIn hiring data among graduates between 2020 and 2025, the organization found that Howard University students were more likely to start a full-time position or a graduate school program in the same year as graduation. While Linkedin states that this “analysis represents the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data, drawn from the anonymized and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn’s members worldwide,” Howard University also topped the charts of Forbes’ recently published list of America’s private HBCUs that set their graduates up for success.
Similar to Forbes, whose ranking stemmed from a larger evaluation of colleges in the US, LinkedIn’s ranking draws from its 2026 Top colleges list. At a time where professionals are seeing various pathways to success that don’t require college degrees with about 2 in 5 recent graduates having jobs that don’t require a college degree, LinkedIn sought to uncover which universities and programs actually offer a return on the investment.
While the larger list spotlighted predominantly white universities like Princeton, Duke, and Harvard University with high rankings, there is a unique experience and advantage to acquiring degrees from historically Black colleges and universities. Despite opperating with a number of systematic disadvantages, HBCUs like Howard, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Tuskegee University and more produce some of the most notable leaders across industries.