The typical starting salaries for graduates of the 30 best colleges, ranked

The college application process can be grueling, but deciding where to attend college once admission offers start rolling in can be even more stressful.

There are a lot of aspects incoming students need to consider, like undergraduate programs, rankings, location, and tuition — not to mention how much their new degree will earn them in the working world. After all, the end goal after college is to get a good job, and decent pay doesn't hurt considering student loan burdens these days.

GOBankingRates recently released a list of the starting salaries for graduates from the 30 best colleges, based on US News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings. Using Payscale, GOBankingRates researched salaries for alumni graduated from each college with zero to five years of experience.

All the colleges on the list have starting salaries of more than $50,000. The college with the highest starting salary is the California Institute of Technology, at $84,000.

Below, how much you can expect to make post-graduation at the 30 best colleges in the US, ranked from lowest to highest starting salaries.

30. Wake Forest University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

29. Emory University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

28. University of California — Los Angeles

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 21 (tie)

27. University of Chicago

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 3

26. New York University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 30

25. University of Michigan — Ann Arbor

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

24. University of Southern California

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 21 (tie)

23. Northwestern University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 11 (tie)

22. University of Virginia

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 25 (tie)

21. Washington University in St. Louis

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 18 (tie)

20. Tufts University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 29

19. Vanderbilt University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 14 (tie)

18. Georgetown University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 20

17. University of Notre Dame

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 18

16. Brown University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 14

15. Johns Hopkins University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 11 (tie)

14. Duke University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

13. University of California — Berkley

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 21 (tie)

12. Cornell University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 14 (tie)

11. Rice University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 14 (tie)

10. Columbia University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance: $

School ranking: 5

9. Dartmouth College

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

8. Yale University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 3 (tie)

7. University of Pennsylvania

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

6. Harvard University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking:

5. Princeton University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 1

4. Carnegie Mellon University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 25

3. Stanford University

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 5 (tie)

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 5 (tie)

1. California Institute of Technology

Starting salary:

Cost of attendance:

School ranking: 10